Rapper 50 Cent is not known as a crusader for civil rights, but the man born Curtis Jackson is making a stand in the Jordan Davis case, joining organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the civil rights organization started by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., to demand justice.
The rapper took to Twitter this week to make known his feelings about Davis’ death to his 8.1 million followers.
“First Trayvon Martin now Jordan Davis killed in a gas station for playing music to loud whats next.SMSaudio,” Jackson tweeted on Tuesday.
“The state of Florida does not value black and white life the same. Why isn’t this being covered? JORDAN DAVIS,” he continued.
Jackson followed that by seemngly encouraging followers to join in a nationwide rememberance effort backed by local radio stations who are asking listeners to “turn up their music for Jordan Davis” on Friday Dec. 7 at 5 p.m.
Earlier this week the SCLC Executive Director Damien A. Conners released a statement calling Davis’ death a “travesty and a shame.”
“It is clear that Florida’s ‘stand your ground’ law and the precedence [sic] set by the unsettled Trayvon Martin case gives some in Florida the false assumption that it is acceptable to shoot unarmed young black men if one’s instinct dictates,” Conners said. “That results in troubling and traumatic consequences such as this egregious execution.”
Hundreds of Davis’ friends and family members said goodbye to the 17-year-old last Saturday at his funeral in Marietta. The teen was killed at Jacksonville gas station in what police said was an argument over his music being too loud. His killer, Michael Dunn is said to have fired at least eight rounds into the SUV in which Davis was seated, hitting him twice and ending his life.
“This must stop!” Conners said. “We can no longer tolerate the senseless murdering of our children, no matter their color or perceived difference.
“These acts of brutality against young black men are becoming all too common place. What is most troubling in this case, however, is the fact that Michael Dunn, Davis’ shooter, apparently believes he was justified in shooting young Davis insomuch as he and his lawyers have, as in the case of Trayvon Martin, raised the “stand your ground” law as an argument for acquittal. These most recent instances of murder are modern forms of the lynchings that so deeply stain the moral fabric of our history. We refuse to relive that horrific history. Mr. Dunn should have exercised better judgment in this case.”
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