Hear Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) on the jury’s decision in the Zimmerman case: “The disposition of this case is the antithesis of what we teach our children in school—that the law protects innocent victims and that no one has the right to take the law into his or her own hands.”
Does Weingarten think children should be taught to disagree with Thomas Jefferson’s defense of the rights of the accused: “Better one hundred guilty men go free than one innocent man be condemned.”
Does Weingarten believe children in school should be taught that juries should convict accused individuals even when they think there is reasonable doubt that a crime has been committed?
Why is Weingarten accusing Zimmerman of taking the law into his own hands after a jury of six women found that there was reasonable doubt that he was guilty? Why does she make this accusation without offering any evidence to support her claim?
This has been a teaching moment. We have learned that Weingarten plays politics with basic constitutional rights and liberties. Her ill-advised accusations contrast sharply with Attorney General Eric Holder’s sensible, responsible comments in the aftermath of the decision: “Separate and apart from the case that has drawn the nation’s attention, it’s time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense.”
-Paul E. Peterson
