JACKSONVILLE, Florida– According to literature sent out by the Free Marissa Now! Committee leader, Aleta Alston-Toure, “The fight to free Marissa Alexander continues.”
Marissa Alexander is a 31-year-old African woman who Florida pigs sent to prison for no reason other than she is a colonial subject who was put on trial, convicted and sentenced in an American white power courtroom.
The case of Marissa Alexander vs. the state of Florida began with a confrontation with her estranged husband, Rico Gray, in August 2010 at her home in Jacksonville, Florida.
Rico, who was already under a restraining order because of previous violent abuses against Marissa, confronted her with threats on that August day where she armed herself and shot one warning shot into the ceiling.
The police and district attorney decided to file assault with a deadly weapon against her, despite Rico’s restraining order and Florida’s so-called “Stand Your Ground” law.
In May 2012, Marissa was convicted and sentenced to serve 20 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
In September 2013 her conviction was overturned by an appellate court and a new trial was ordered for March 2014.
On November 28, 2013 Marissa’s fight to post bail was gained, where she is now under house arrest.
The Free Marissa Now website states that she is finally home, but there is much work to do to make sure she stays home.
Marissa’s harsh treatment and sentencing by the criminal justice system has all the trappings of the historical colonialist relationship African people have to the U.S. government and white settler colonial population.
Florida state attorney Angela Corey—who reluctantly prosecuted Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman—zealously went forward with the prosecution of Marissa, despite nothing pointing to her having committed a criminal offense.
The problem with Marissa is not that she was a criminal, but rather she was an African with a gun—a legal registered gun at that. This is because it is the common law of not only Florida, but the entire U.S. that Africans should not bear arms.
Thus far, the Free Marissa Now campaign has brought this case before thousands of people in a quest for this African mother of three—11-year-old twins and a three-year-old infant who was nine days old when his mom was arrested—to get justice.
At present, the campaign is raising much needed funds for the legal defense of the upcoming March trial and the organizational work it will take to free this sister. All proceeds go to the Marissa Alexander Legal Defense Fund, which is administered by her family on her behalf.
To donate go to http://tiny.cc/freedomfundraiser
Contact: freemarissanow@gmail.com
Free Marissa Now!
Smash Colonial Violence!
