UPDATE: CLICK Here TO SIGN AN ONLINE PETITION IN FAVOR OF JUSTICE FOR TRAYVON MARTIN
Not many stories affect me emotionally, but the story of Trayvon Martin is the exception.
In case you’re unaware of this heart wrenching case, here are the details:
On the night of February 26th in the small community of Twin Lakes in Sanford, Florida, 17-year-old Trayvon decided to go to a nearby 7-Eleven store for some snacks. He never made it home.
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| George Zimmerman |
Self-appointed neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman was sitting in his car surveying the neighborhood for suspicious activity. Apparently, a black teen walking in the neighborhood constitutes “suspicious activity” to Zimmerman, so he called the police to report what he saw. While speaking to police, Zimmerman decided to follow the young man on foot, against the advice of the police dispatcher who told him to back away and wait for officers to arrive. Zimmerman did not comply, complaining “These a**holes always get away.” Soon after, 911 switchboards lit up with frantic calls from Twin Lakes residents reporting hearing a young male screaming for help. During one woman’s call, a voice is clearly heard in the distant background begging for help, and then — BANG! A gunshot.
When police arrive, they see George Zimmerman holding a still smoldering gun and standing straddled over a body. The body was that of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin who was shot in the chest. He is dead.
For weeks, police and the Mayor of Sanford have inexplicably refused to release the 911 tapes to the general public for review. They have also refused to arrest Zimmerman for murder, believing his claims that he “acted in self defense,” despite the 911 recording, the fact that the teen was carrying no weapon, had no prior criminal background and was found laying helpless on the ground with his hands behind his head. Today, Zimmerman still remains a free man.
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| Parents of Trayvon Martin |
Residents of Twin Lakes are calling the 28-year-old Zimmerman a loose cannon who was fixated on crime and focused on young, black males. Many said he would frequently get into his car with a gun and circle the block over and over at all hours of the night, appearing to have a sense of entitlement or delusions that he was a legitimate law enforcement officer, as well as targeting young, black males. Can anyone say “racial profiling?”
“Hey, we’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there’s a real suspicious guy at Retreat View Circle. This guy looks like he’s up to no good,” Zimmerman told the dispatcher on the night of Trayvon’s death. In the just released 911 recordings, Zimmerman said the person was walking slowly, looked drugged and appeared to be looking at people’s houses. Once on the scene, the only thing police found on Trayvon was a package of Skittles and an Arizona iced tea.
Civil Rights leaders including Rev. Al Sharpton and the NAACP are organizing efforts to bring justice to Sanford, Florida and get George Zimmerman behind bars. Trayvon’s family is still grieving the loss of the high school junior whose bright future has been silenced at the hands of a rogue neighborhood watchman gone bad.
In the words of family attorney Natalie Jackson, “This was not self-defense, this was not manslaughter, this was murder.”
WARNING: THE 911 RECORDING IS DISTURBING
Heard a little about this over the weekned and heard a little more about last night. Ed Shultz, on MSNBC, led with this story and he really did a good job with the details. As DJ noted, this tragic incident actually took place on the evening of Feb. 26th. So then I'm left to question, WHY? (given the glaring AND quite disturbing facts os this story) wasn't Zimmerman arrested immediately?! And what took so long in getting the national media to focus on it?!If this had been a young WHITE unarmed teenager gunned down like a dog by a Black man it would have been all we heard about 24/7 from jump. That Black man would've been arrested ON THE SPOT and awaiting trial TODAY. The way this case was handled_or I should say grossly MIShandled_from the start STINKS to high heaven. Not only does it SCREAM *RACISM* on the part of the shooter (who was clearly on a mission to do that young UNARMED Black MALE… Read more »