Jury Duty

In the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin case, so many of us are looking for answers as to how could this happen. We feel at a loss for what can we do to keep this from happening again.  Solving the race relations problem in this country seems an overwhelming task but one way we ALL can do more is to be more involved. How might this case have turned out differently if there had been a different jury make up? We may never know but we can be proactive and try to make sure that the states have a large and diverse field of people to choose from when the next trial comes before the court.


This is the process to be able to be chosen for Jury Duty:

A court selects potential jurors from a list of names that are often obtained from lists of people with drivers licenses in the state and people who are registered to vote in the state. ~AskVille.Com by Amazon~

So many times I have heard people laughing and talking about ways to get OUT of Jury Duty then a case like the Trayvon Martin case happens and they complain about the job the jurors performed. You can't have it both ways. Get your paperwork in order and make sure your driver's license is up to date and has your correct information on it. A request for Jury Duty that goes to the address that you had three moves and 7 years ago will never make it to you.

REGISTER TO VOTE!! This process is shamefully easy as in the last 5-10 years just about any government paperwork you process (like that above drivers lic) will have a way for you to get registered. Here are some links found on WWW.USA.GOV:

You may be able to apply to register to vote in person at the following public facilities:

• State or local voter registration and/or election offices
• The department of motor vehicles
• Public assistance agencies
• Armed services recruitment centers
• State-funded programs that serve people with disabilities
• Any public facility that a state has designated as a voter registration agency

In some states, you can also register online to vote. To learn if your state offers online voter registration, please contact your state election office.

If you need help a great resource for these things would be your local public library. They typically have forms for free and someone willing to help you if they can with your questions or they know where to direct you if they can not answer your questions.

But registering to vote may be the most important step you can take. Our communities have elections all the time, not just every four years for president. Do you know the name of your local sheriff? The name of your city's counsel members? When or where City Counsel meets? Your Mayor's name?
To start making a change in our world we have to start locally and work our way up. Show up to those counsel meetings pay attention (I know this sounds simple but you can not give your full attention to what's going on and posting cat pics to facebook), when appropriate ASK QUESTIONS, take notes, look things up if you are too shy or unsure to ask publicly so when you participate in those elections you can make an educated decision on why you are choosing whomever you are choosing to elect to each position.
We are all so Internet savvy ignorance is a choice we make not something forced upon us its a matter of what we do with our time when we are on the world wide web.

The last thing I want to say here is we have the right to peaceably assemble:

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that comprise the Bill of Rights. ~Wikipedia~

When we are faced with verdicts we feel are infringing upon our rights we can protest. NOT RIOT, protest. People all over the world are finding out that when enough people stand up for what they believe CHANGE CAN AND DOES HAPPEN.

But these are MY ideas on what we can do. What are yours? Build on the ones posted here, think of the most absurd idea for change because in having those discussions we may come up with a real plan for creating the equality we desire.