Law often functions as a mirror of societal values at a given point in time, but it is also a tool of social construction operating to either reinforce generally acceptable norms or to redefine norms that are no longer generally accepted. Through its use of the subjective fear standard, Florida’s Stand Your Ground functions as a tool of social construction in that it reinforces deeply entrenched racial bias and perpetuates racism by condoning and ratifying behavior consistent with the suspicion heuristic. In this way, it not only declares as acceptable those behaviors that are influenced by racial bias, but it also perpetuates racial bias by further burying individual awareness that the bias even exists.

Study after study confirm that Black men, by virtue of their race, are the most feared individuals in society. The theory of embodied rationality confirms that Americans experience a fear response based on race, a germane, innate biological characteristic that cannot possibly accurately communicate whether the other person is a threat. The suspicion heuristic explains the negative decisions and behaviors that result from the irrational fear created by deep-seated, largely invisible, racial bias.

Viewed through the lens of embodied rationality and particularly the suspicion heuristic, Florida’s Stand Your Ground statutory scheme condones, ratifies, reinforces, and perpetuates both overt and implicit racial bias. American culture is long overdue for major shifts in how it views and perceives race. Until law forces individuals to face the realities of racial bias, however, deep-seated beliefs about the value of Black lives, and the lives of other minorities, will continue to breed in the dark recesses of our minds.