ALEC, the conservative right-wing group responsible for pushing the controversial ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws in many states says it will stop advocating the law. This action comes after activist groups called for a national boycott of ALEC following the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida.
ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, announced its plan to move away from sticky law enforcement policies, such as Stand Your Ground, and return to its economic roots, according to the NY Times.
As a result of the national boycott, numerous corporate sponsors — including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft foods and McDonald’s — announced they have dropped their financial support of ALEC.
“The issue of a young man being killed and linked to this organization made it much harder for companies to say, ‘Gee, this is a great organization that we want to support,’ ” said David Halperin, a senior fellow for United Republic, a liberal nonprofit group.
“We may never know how many families will be denied justice because of the ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws that continue to put communities in danger,” NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous said on Tuesday.
ALEC’s Public Safety and Elections Committee, which encouraged passage of “Stand Your Ground” laws in Florida and other states, will be shuttered.
Since Trayvon’s death, ALEC has lost the support of corporate sponsors and philanthropic organizations, like the Gates Foundation.
“We hate to see any members leave,” said Kaitlyn Buss, a spokeswoman for ALEC, “and we hope to work with these companies that have had problems again in the future.”
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