As “Stand-Your-Ground” Trial Begins, Arkansas Legislator Whose Debate Went Viral Still Standing Hers

Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law is back in the headlines again. As in the Trayvon Martin case six years ago, this case also involves an unarmed black man gunned down by a white man.  Jury selection is underway in the manslaughter trial of shooter Michael Drejka who fatally shot Markeis McGlockton following Drejka’s heated exchange with McGlockton’s girlfriend over a handicapped-accessible parking space.

The trial places the controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, which removes the duty to retreat before using force in self-defense, back in the spotlight at a time when most Americans are urging lawmakers to enact stricter gun laws after the recent mass shootings in Gilroy, El Paso, and Cincinnati.

At least 25 states have “Stand-Your-Ground” laws. Arkansas does not. And, many credit state Senator Stephanie Flowers whose vigorous opposition to the proposed law went viral and launched her into the national conversation as a social justice advocate.

“Because I was the only one on the committee who looked like me and a mother, I thought to myself, ‘You’ve got a one-sided perspective,’” Senator Flowers said recently during a speech to faculty and staff at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, the HBCU in her district. “I listened to the bill, I read the bill, and it didn’t make sense.”

Flowers pointed out that she believed “we also have a duty to retreat if you safely can.”

Raising the concerns often voiced by Black Americans who are routinely subjected to racially-based misperceptions from whites, Flowers, who is also an attorney, addressed the shortcomings of the law.

“It is unfair for families and individuals who have lost their lives for reasons you can’t even bring up in court,” she stated.

After her exchange with a fellow legislator during a committee hearing hit the internet, Flowers received calls from around the world. She said she received about 14 “ugly” calls which she turned over to the authorities.

“Children called to thank me,” she shared with the audience. “I was overwhelmed by the response…but, people are scared.”

The bill failed in Arkansas’ Senate Judiciary Committee on which Flowers serves. And, according to Flowers, Arkansas remains the only southern state without a “Stand-Your-Ground” law.

She remarked, “I thought ‘not only do we not need it because of the disparity, but how I’d rather not be southern like that.’”

But, in Florida the law is being used as the reason another white man killed an unarmed black man.