A diverse crowd gathered Tuesday March 27 on the UW campus for a Speak Out designed to highlight the recent deaths of two young unarmed African-American men, both shot dead by individuals who claimed they acted in self defense. Bo Morrison, 20, of West Bend, WI was shot while hiding on a back porch of a house and Trayvon Martin,17, of Sanford, Florida was shot on the street of a gated community as he returned home from the store. The two deaths are tied to similar legislation that allows citizens to defend themselves, Wisconsin’s “Castle Doctrine” law and Florida’s “Stand your ground” law.

Trayvon Martin was killed the night of February 26, 2012, by a neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman, who has stated that he killed Martin after a brief scuffle on the street. Martin was returning from a convenience store to his father’s home and talking on the phone to his girlfriend at the time of the incident. Zimmerman was taken into custody that night and released several hours later, claiming he shot Martin in self defense. To date, he has not been charged.

Bo Morrison was shot and killed in the early morning hours of March 3, 2012, as he attempted to hide from police investigating a noise complaint about a loud party in the neighborhood. He sought refuge on the darkened back porch of a neighboring house, which happened to be the house of the man who called for police. Morrison is thought to be the first person killed under Wisconsin’s “Castle Doctrine” law, which allows for deadly force to be used if a person has entered a home without permission and the homeowner feels that force is necessary to prevent imminent danger of death or bodily injury. The Washington County District Attorney has declined to press charges against the homeowner responsible for the shooting, after compiling a detailed 28 page report on the incident. DA Mark Bensen stated, “After careful review of the evidence in this case,… the Washington County District Attorney’s Office has determined that the homeowner who shot Mr. Morrison on March 3, 20l2, when Mr. Morrison was inside the homeowner’s residence, acted lawfully in self defense.’

“UW Speak-Out for Trayvon Martin & Bo Morrison” was organized by International Socialist Organization-Madison, calling for the repeal of the WI “Castle Doctrine” law and other “Stand your ground’ legislation suggesting that these “shoot first” laws allow ordinary citizens to defend themselves first and ask questions later, a likely recipe for disaster. Dan Suarez, event organizer from ISO-Madison, opened the event with remarks about the two killings, “They were murdered because of the color of their skin. We have been taught in the United States to be afraid of young black men.”

An invitation for all to speak from the stage resulted in more than 2 dozen voices sharing their stories about Bo Morrison, the similarities with the Trayvon Martin killing and the problematic statutes, now law in 25 states and developed from ALEC model legislation backed by the NRA. Friends of Bo Morrison delivered emotional statements.

Christine Bohn, Morrison’s friend who was with him on the night that he was shot, described how they were at a party in a friend’s garage, after having attended the funeral of another friend that day. The parent of the property where the party was held told the kids to leave, after realizing that the police had been notified about possible underage drinking. Bohn explained, “We were a group of kids who were forced to run to avoid underage drinking tickets.”

She continued with her appeal about the legitimacy of the “Castle Doctrine“ law, “….unfortunately the law protected the wrong person that night. It didn’t protect Bo, but instead, the Castle Doctrine made the killing lawful, it protected the man who shot and killed Bo with one gunshot to the chest. Now any law that makes this ok is not ok with me. Even if the man was acting in self defense, he should not be taught by his own state’s law that it is ok for him to kill as a first reaction.”

Watch Christine Bohn’s speech here:

Make your feelings known about ALEC inspired gun doctrine here.