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 some bodily harm) but also, IMO, on the part of the local police department who (for some reason?) didn't think it fitting to arrest Zimmerman!?! Thank goodness for the release of the 911 recording AND for the witnesses who have courageously stepped forward to give their accounting of what REALLY happened on that fateful night. This morning it's being reported that the DOJ has announced that the FBI has now opened an investigation into the shooting-death of Trayvon.
This makes me real mad. Like Truth said if this was a White kid shot by a black man he would have been tried and hung by now. That 911 call was disturbing. I had to turn it off when I heard him cry for his life. If this Zimmerman dude doesn't go to jail I bet his safety is gonna be in danger. Justice for Trayvon.
John McWhorter: "What a Florida Teenager’s Death Tells Us About Being Black in America"Excerpts:The repercussions of incidents like the February murder of Martin are guaranteed to linger like the fallout from a nuclear accident, sickening the people, and communities, involved for years afterward. Indeed, the tragedy of this event is twofold. One is that it resulted in the senseless death of a bright, good-natured boy. The other is that it has stoked yet again the embers of racial hurt in this country, reinforcing the main obstacle to any true healing: the ugly relationship between blacks and the police.The very nature of being black in the United States is now marked insidiously and essentially by the perceived reality of constantly being forced to deal with malevolent police forces. Indeed, a representative example of the black condition is what black journalist Deborah Mathis, in her syndicated column in 1997, called “Blackmotheritis”: “a nervous disorder afflicting millions of black women with adolescent or teenaged children, particularly the mothers of boys.” Mathis explains how she told her son:Keep your hands out of your pockets. Don’t reach under your shirt. If there’s an itch, just live with it. In winter, keep your jacket open. [….]Read: http://www.tnr.com/article/101840/trayvon-martin-…
<span>The sad and ugly truth is, that even TODAY, in 2012 America, a Black mother of a son, ANY age, still has to worry about the health and safety of her Black son due to that deadly American disease called RACISM. </span><span></span><span>Yes. I'm very aware of young Black males (and young black females) dying in the streets at young ages due to Black-on-Black violence. It remains a CRISIS, a sin and a sham. And it is absolutley a critical topic worth highlighting and having a Serious discussion. But THAT's another story. THIS story is but another horrific chapter in a book that WE (Black-Americans) have been experiencing, in America, for well OVER 200 YEARS. In this case, Black-American males, having to face possible DEADLY THREATS to their lives EVERY DAY (to say nothing of OTHER injustices) simply FOR EXISTING…SMH.</span><span></span><span>From the details that have emerged thus far THIS story_the MURDER of Trayvon Martin_a young Black male at the hands of some RACIST nut AIN'T nothing new!!! In fact, it's all too "American." And just as BD expressed, I'm real angry about it!</span>
US News-MSNBC: "Trayvon Martin case to go to grand jury, Fla. state attorney announces"<span>A grand jury will investigate the death of Trayvon Martin, a</span><span>n unarmed</span><span> 17-year-old shot to death in a gated community in Florida on Feb. 26, state attorney Norm Wolfinger announced Tuesday.</span><span></span><span>"I share in the desire of the family and the community to accurately collect and evaluate all the facts surrounding the tragic death of Trayvon Martin," Wolfinger said in a news release. "The public is entitled to no less than a thorough, deliberate, and just review of the facts. We intend to honor that commitment." […]</span><span></span><span>Read: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/20/1077…</span><span></span><span>Amazing what a little national exposure can accomplish. </span>
From darn near NO coverage to coverage nearly everywhere. Rod Dreher @the American Conservative: "Trayvon Martin's Killing"The Orlando Sentinel reports that in the 13 months prior to the shooting, <span>Zimmerman called 911 an astonishing 46 times.</span> This is not a vigilant neighbor; this is a paranoid with a 9 mm handgun. Trayvon Martin was not an interloper; he was Zimmerman’s neighbor, and he was gunned down only yards from his own door.The issue here is not only that Zimmerman shot and killed Martin, who, again, was in his own neighborhood, and doing nothing wrong. The issue is also that Zimmerman was not arrested by the police, who appear to have done a slipshod investigation. […]Orlando Sentinel: "Sheriff's Office releases more 911 calls made by George Zimmerman"http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-03-19/ne…
Charles Blow @ the NYTimes: "The Curious Case of Trayvon Martin"The racial sensitivity of this case is heavy. Trayvon’s parents have said their son was murdered. Crump, the the family’s lawyer, told me, “You know, if Trayvon would have been the triggerman, it’s nothing Trayvon Martin could have said to keep police from arresting him Day 1, Hour 1.” Even the police chief recognizes this reality, even while disputing claims of racial bias in the investigation: “Our investigation is color blind and based on the facts and circumstances, not color. I know I can say that until I am blue in the face, but, as a white man in a uniform, I know it doesn’t mean anything to anybody.”Zimmerman has not released a statement, but his father delivered a one-page letter to The Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. According to the newspaper, the statement said that Zimmerman is “Hispanic and grew up in a multiracial family.” The paper quotes the letter as reading, “He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever” and continues, “The media portrayal of George as a racist could not be further from the truth.” And disclosures made since the shooting complicate people’s perception of fairness in the case.According to Crump, the father was told that one of the reasons Zimmerman wasn’t arrested was because he had a “squeaky clean” record. It wasn’t. According to the local news station WFTV, Zimmerman was arrested in 2005 for “battery on a law enforcement officer.”Furthermore, ABC News reported on Tuesday that one of the responding officers “corrected a witness after she told him that she heard the teen cry for help.” And The Miami Herald published an article on Thursday that said three witnesses had heard the “desperate wail of a child, a gunshot, and then silence.” […]Read: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/opinion/blow-th…
The CSM: "Trayvon Martin killing in Florida puts 'Stand Your Ground' law on trial"The shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, in a gated Florida community has raised allegations of racial injustice and highlighted the burden that 'Stand Your Ground' laws impose on law enforcement officers.Excerpt:The shooting also presents a tragic snapshot of so-called "Stand Your Ground" laws, what critics call “license-to-murder.”Such laws eliminate the English Law concept of a “duty to retreat” from dangerous situations outside the home. Without that, an armed citizen has no obligation to stand down in the face of a threat.The problem, as the Martin case highlights, is that making the duty to retreat "totally irrelevant," as <a href="http://cdn.js-kit.com/tags/topic/Stetson+University" rel="nofollow">Stetson University law professor Robert Batey has said, means the law gives prosecutors fewer factors to consider when determining self-defense, including, potentially, the extent to which a person claiming self-defense may have aggravated the situation.Florida became the first state to pass a specific Stand Your Ground law in 2005, essentially expanding self-defense zones from the home to most public places. Seventeen states now have such laws. […]Read: <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0316/Trayvon-Martin-killing-in-Florida-puts-Stand-Your-Ground-law-on-trial" rel="nofollow"> <a href="http://;http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0316/Trayvon-Martin-killing-in-Florida-puts-Stand-Your-Ground-law-on-trial;http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0316/Trayvon-Martin-killing-in-Florida-puts-Stand-Your-Ground-law-on-trial<br />It's important to note that this crazy-azz, very dangeorus, *Law* was enacted in Florida in 2005 NOT in 2008, "after the election of Pres. Obama," as some commenters on other blogsites have claimed.