walking while black - Trayvon Martin

[Duchess]

I can say that IF he is at any of the gun shows I attend you will Not see me in line to get his autograph or hear anything he has to say. I won't be shaking his hand, reading his book or even watching his story on Lifetime.
I think he is a fucking Moron and has come too close to costing me some of my hard earned rights. He does not now nor will he ever speak for me.

I appreciate reading that!

[Duchess]

...because I think George is a dick and I don't want anyone to like him. I have juvenile thoughts whenever I consider him.

[HairOfTheDog]

There is nothing more painful to me … than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery, then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved. — the Reverend Jesse Jackson, as quoted in US News, 3/10/96

He's been addressing black-on-black crime since 1994, without much coverage from national media and with backlash from many in the black community.

I don't like it when he exploits white-on-black crime, though I support him or anybody else exercising their first amendment rights when there is good cause to believe that there's an actual civil rights violation that's being ignored. I also dislike what I consider his hypocritical positions on some matters (I feel that way about nearly every politician too).

But, I support his attempts to get the black community to really explore the root problems of black-on-black crime rather than considering discrimination by whites as the only or major contributing factor.

Unfortunately, he and other black activists don't get much issue-specific air time unless the issue is a controversial between-race one. IMO.

[BlueTiki]

I don't like it when he exploits white-on-black crime, though I support him or anybody else exercising their first amendment rights when there is good cause to believe that there's an actual civil rights violation that's being ignored.

"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public.

Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.

There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well." - Booker T. Washington

[HairOfTheDog]

^ I agree with the sentiments of Booker T. wholeheartedly.

[Maggot]

MLK said the same thing, the content of character should be how a person is judged not the color of a their skin. I believe most people think that way, others are trying to keep their jobs.

[SIXFOOTERsez]

My impression is that most blacks don't give a shit how many of their number get whacked by their own. They Only give a shit if its one of us that does the whacking, and that have a chance to get on TV or riot in a walmart.

[HairOfTheDog]

^ I don't know if most blacks are like that, but the ones who are like that are the ones who get the most focus and attention.

Anyway, Trayvon Martin's parents spoke out about the verdict this morning. I feel for them losing their son, no matter what happened that night and why.

On NBC’s “Today” show, Sybrina Fulton questioned whether jurors looked at the shooting from her son’s point of view.

“He was a teenager. He was scared. He did run,” Fulton said, who added that she believes the justice system failed her son.

“We didn’t get the verdict we wanted because we wanted him to be (held) accountable.”

“We felt in our hearts that we were going to get a conviction,” Tracy Martin (Trayvon's father) said. “We felt that the killer of our unarmed child was going to be convicted of the crime he committed.”

On ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Tracy Martin said he felt the jury did not get a chance to get to know the teen. “They didn’t know him as a human being,” he said.

Martin’s parents said they still believe Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, racially profiled their son.

“Obviously, any time you have a person that makes an assumption that a person is up to no good, that’s some kind of profiling,” Martin said. “Was he racially profiled? I think if Trayvon had been white, this never would have happened.”

[BlueTiki]

Martin’s parents said they still believe Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, racially profiled their son.

This is the umpteenth time I've read the phrase ". . . who identifies himself as Hispanic".

Talk about race baiting!

Did the same media outlets or journalists use the phrase " . . . who identifies himself as African-American" when it came to Obama?

[Cynical Ninja]

Zimmerman is a spic isn't he?

He sure as hell looks like one anyway.

[FAHQTOO]

I don't want his autograph. I feel the same as Duchess, he's a puss and deserves the life he's given himself...if not for anything else, then just because he's a stupid idiot.

Don't they have a website to give donations to Z? I'm sure his supporters will keep him comfortable.

[username]

Besides wondering if one or more jurors caved, I wonder if some males on the jury would have been more likely to disbelieve George's fear for his life. Six/CN, guys...would any of you have felt that George used excessive force?

I know it matters whether George was in fear for his life but if I recall, it had to be reasonable fear.

[Maggot]

Whitey should be left out of this spic/nigga fight. Lets be honest here.

[Duchess]

Fox news managed to snag an interview with the male alternate. I'll go find it. He said George's injuries are what convinced him of the not guilty verdict.

I now think Florida is filled to capacity with tards...except for Sally.

[Maggot]

She is busy hopping on one foot because her other one is stuck up someones ass.

[Duchess]

VALERIE BOEY, FOX 35 ORLANDO REPORTER: What did you think of the verdict?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I was -- I supported the verdict. I agree with it.

BOEY: And was there anything in the evidence, in the testimony that really came out at you?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I think the things that I focused on when I was -- when I was doing my own deliberation was the non-emergency phone call. It did pick up on things out of Rachel Jeantel's testimony. Trayvon Martin's phone records or her phone records when they were talking. The --

BOEY: Of course, Rachel Jeantel is the friend that Trayvon Martin was talking to right before the shooting on the cell phone.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Correct, yep. Yep. And I call them ear witnesses, the ones that heard the noises, when the noises were going, and they helped me fill the gap and then the eyewitness. And I think -- but I think the one thing that stands out the most is the injuries.


Story

[HairOfTheDog]

Besides wondering if one or more jurors caved, I wonder if some males on the jury would have been more likely to disbelieve George's fear for his life. Six/CN, guys...would any of you have felt that George used excessive force?

I know it matters whether George was in fear for his life but if I recall, it had to be reasonable fear.

"Reasonable" for George. That's what the whole pussy defense was about.

I think you may have hit on the reason (or one of them) that O'Mara wanted an all female jury.

George was required to make every "reasonable attempt to escape danger" before addressing his "reasonable fear" with greater force. There was no sign on his or Travyon's body that he did anything other than lay. He says he "shimmied" too. Is that every reasonable attempt? That's what Zimmerman, his lawyers, the gym owner and the justified force expert contended because George was a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10 when it came to his physical abilities at the gym.

Male jurors may have put themselves in George's place and been less inclined to believe that even a marshmallow couldn't get a swing or a scratch or a kick in the nuts in there somewhere before shooting. JMO. Hell, even as a woman who's been in a fist fight and tumble a few times, I doubt that the most George Zimmerman could reasonably do was nothing but scream. The jury obviously believed it.

ETA: Or, the jury believed that Trayvon Martin provoked the altercation and intended to murder Zimmerman, in which case only reasonable fear was required before shooting, if I uderstand the statutes correctly.

[crash]

guys...would any of you have felt that George used excessive force?

He pursues the black kid to the point where the black kid feels like a trapped animal and retaliates, scuffle ensues. George panics because all of a sudden he's in a jackpot that he's not sure he can handle anymore, he panics, draws his gat and said black kid is no more.

Still stand by what I said back then. I believe that George used excessive force, driven by his egotistical want to be a hero...and stupidity.

[Duchess]

Yeah!

[SIXFOOTERsez]

Besides wondering if one or more jurors caved, I wonder if some males on the jury would have been more likely to disbelieve George's fear for his life. Six/CN, guys...would any of you have felt that George used excessive force?

I know it matters whether George was in fear for his life but if I recall, it had to be reasonable fear.

I don't doubt for a second that Z was about to piss his self in fear. The little girl screaming heard on the 911 was call was most likely him. So, by the law in the instant he pulled the trigger he was good, for him anyway. Reasonable fear is very subjective and its entirely up to the guy with the gun what is reasonable. I would not have been in fear of my life had I been so stupid as to get there, but that's me. Unarmed I would have found another way to break the fuckers leg, kick his balls out of joint, bite off a kneecap, something. However, If I had been walking along minding my own and some asshole just jumped me I would shoot daylight in his ass. I am too old and have too many injuries to bother with a fair fight.