March 23rd, 2012

Southern Baptist Convention Pres. on Trayvon Martin: Don’t rush to judgement; some people scream racism at the drop of a hat

On Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien, Dr. Richard Land, president, Southern Baptist Convention, Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission, explains why he thinks that Americans need to be careful not to rush to judgment in Martin case.

Dr. Land says, “I think that we need to be very careful, however, that we don’t have a rush to judgment. I am shocked, frankly, to find out that Mr. Zimmerman still has his firearm and has not been in any way, shape, or form not put under probationary status.”

He continues, “But at the same time, racism is — to call someone a racist is about the worst thing you can call somebody in our society, and rightly so. And so we don’t want to throw that term around flippantly. I think it’s good the Justice Department is involved, the state government is involved, and we need to encourage the authorities to do a thorough investigation, and make certain that justice is done, because, of course, we sadly in this country have a history where in the past, oftentimes when the victims were black, there was not justice.”

Dr. Land adds, “I’m not sure it hasn’t crossed racial lines in terms of outrage, that there hasn’t been a more swift investigation and the fact that Mr. Zimmerman still is at large with his weapon and with no restrictions. But at the same time, we do have people in our society who scream racism at the drop of a hat.”

Starting Point with Soledad O’Brien airs weekday mornings from 7-9am ET on CNN.