The Trayvon Martin spectacle

[danl08]

The New Black Panther party has apparently raised the bounty to 1 million for Zimmerman. Why is the President silent on this?

First of all, they don't have $10 never mind a million to give out for anything, so theres that. As far as the President getting involved...... it has nothing to do with him. He made one simple comment and the right went ballistic as they always do. Now you want him to say something else so they can further bash him and make fun of him being black (But but but he's only half black. Why isn't he on the side of teh white guy?)? This is a local and/or state issue at best unless they turn it into a civil rights issue (which it should probably not be). So why would you want him involved? When he got involved with the Cambridge MA police and HArvard professor everyone said it was none of his business. He apparently learned from that and is staying out of this one.


In terms of what happened I have some fairly mixed feelings. Zimmerman should have listened to police and stayed in his car. He was Neighborhood Watch and one of the main tenets of NW is "do not get involved". You are always instructed to call the police and let them deal with it. You are there to be an extra set of eyes to watch things, not an extra set of hands to shoot people. This guy was not trained to deal with this type of situation and should have waited for the police to come. He called the police and he should have let them do their job.

While people are trying to paint the kid as being a bad seed or a thug I think that is probably fairly far from the truth. While he is certainly not the model kid (he was only at that particular house because he was on suspension from school) he was probably just a kid whose parents are divorced and going through a tough time, not unlike a million other teenagers. What a shock that a teenager kid was smoking pot....... truly unbelievable. I don't think he deserved to get shot.

What I believe probably happened: Zimmerman chased the kid, yelled at him, threatened him until the kid finally had had enough and turned around to face him. They probably tangled a bit and Zimmerman (whose pants and underwear should have absolutely been checked since I am sure he soiled himself) was getting his ass kicked, took out his gun and shot the kid. There was a witness report that Zimmerman was sitting on top of the kid after he shot him which is very possible if the kid was initially on top pounding on him and then Zimm shot him and sat up.

I don't buy the police video that shows no marks or blood on Zimm (you can't see ANY detail on that video), but I also don't buy that Zimm was in any real mortal danger other than on the receiving end of an ass kicking by a HS kid. It was self defense, but not in a way that Zimm needed to shoot an kill the kid.

[19nate79]

Yeah that video was crap. After my fight the other guy only had a couple bruises on his head and that was thirty minutes. So even if his clothes weren't fubared it had been four hours and he had been treated. Nobody knows what happened. Nobody. Everyone is talking out of their asses anyway though.

Probably the guy yelled at the kid, the kid attacked the guy, they scuffled, the guy started getting whooped, and went fir his gun or martin did, and he shot the kid. If he got his bell rung he probably did fear for his life. Shouldn't have happened. But it did and zimmerman has to live with that. This is involuntary manslaughter at worst. Good luck proving that or anything more beyond a shadow of a doubt

[Thumpin]

As for Obummer speaking out, he should have learned the first time - if it's not a federal issue, stay out of it. A smart man would have said that it's a sad event, local authorities are handing the investigation, and federal resources are ready to assist if needed. Done. Rules are different for presidents, as people are just waiting to jump all over anything they say or do.

[wK78]

What Spike Lee, and he's not the only one, did was ****ing disgusting. Forget a second for the fact he retweeted the wrong address of a nice old couple (glad they got some settlement from him, but I'd rather seen that a hole sued in a long court case). By retweeting that address what was he hoping for. Zimmerman gets jumped, maimed killed, blood is on his hands and everyone else tweeting. Its so outta line.

[wK78]

And this story bothers me in so many ways. Of course its gotta be racism. Uggh. My guess is Zimmerman was like some weekend warrior, who took his position too seriously (like an over the top security guard) got outta hand and something bad happened. Should he be arrested and charged with something, prolly, but not really sure at same time. Heck he did call 911, though didnt heed their advice.

[Guilty]

What we know is that Zimmerman killed this teenager. We also know Zimmerman was the one with the gun. He also went in pursuit of this teenager, who he deemed "suspicious," even though a police dispatcher told him not to.
Was Martin a known criminal? What sort of "rap sheet" did he have? I've heard nothing to that effect.
What is Zimmerman, a federal marshal? He had already called police. He was not in danger. He had done his bit.
It's easy to see how people can jump to conclusions about how Zimmerman may be racist...

From reading the transcript it appears he was following the kid to give cops the location of the kid. That's no unreasonable at all. And also from the transcript it sounds like shortly after hte dispatcher said "we don't need you to do that" he quit following and returned to his car to meet the police. And that lines up with his story.

Zimmerman had no way of knowing if the kid was a criminal or not. He's neighborhood watch, probably familiar with who belongs in the neighborhood and who doesn't. He saw a guy that he's never seen before, walking by himself between houses. That's suspicious and what do cops tell you to do when you see something suspicious in the neighborhood? Call the cops. Zimmerman never brought up his dress or race in any way except to describe Martin to the dispatcher. We don't know that he wasn't in danger. From what the eyewitness said it very much sounds like he was in danger. At the very least he was getting his ass kicked as the kid had a dominant position and Zimmerman was screaming for help. Whether he felt like his life was in danger or not, only Zimmerman knows. His side of the story is the kid said words to the effect of "you're going to die now" and reached for the gun. If that happened then Zimmerman was completely justified. There is no evidence to suggest that didn't happen.

[Guilty]

As for Obummer speaking out, he should have learned the first time - if it's not a federal issue, stay out of it. A smart man would have said that it's a sad event, local authorities are handing the investigation, and federal resources are ready to assist if needed. Done. Rules are different for presidents, as people are just waiting to jump all over anything they say or do.

I don't begrudge him offering some sympathy for Martin's parents, but I don't know he's got to say that his son would look like TRayvon. What the **** does that have to do with anything? No condolences if trayvon happened to look like zimmerman? Why is he pouring gasoline on the racial fire? Is he hoping to benefit from this politically?

Seeing these idiots in the streets marching for justice is goddam disheartening. Damn the facts, damn even learning the facts, let's make assumptions then act like a goddam lynch mob. It's easy to see how Hitler was able to gain power, stir up the emotions and have the sheep fall in line.

[TadMcCowski]

Now you want him to say something else so they can further bash him and make fun of him being black (But but but he's only half black. Why isn't he on the side of teh white guy?)?

Obama is "half white" yet looks black so he's considered black. Zimmerman is "half white" yet looks Hispanic so he's considered...white. Funny how that works in this situation.

[Cbear]

Obama is "half white" yet looks black so he's considered black. Zimmerman is "half white" yet looks Hispanic so he's considered...white. Funny how that works in this situation.

exactly. Its a double standard which is nothing new for the racism industry, they will manipulate anything to match their agenda. I still dont know why LULAC isnt stepping in to defend Zimmerman. I guess half Latino isnt good enough for them to join the race fray.

[Cbear]

I don't begrudge him offering some sympathy for Martin's parents, but I don't know he's got to say that his son would look like TRayvon. What the **** does that have to do with anything? No condolences if trayvon happened to look like zimmerman? Why is he pouring gasoline on the racial fire? Is he hoping to benefit from this politically?

Seeing these idiots in the streets marching for justice is goddam disheartening. Damn the facts, damn even learning the facts, let's make assumptions then act like a goddam lynch mob. It's easy to see how Hitler was able to gain power, stir up the emotions and have the sheep fall in line.

Barry never should have made a "personal" comment in the first place, if he was going to say anything he should have kept in mind the national picture and used his bully pulpit to calm the lynch mob mentality and bring Americans together--not to fan the flames of division. That speech was a carefully scripted event designed to solidify Obamas base for the election. He got 98% of the black vote in the last election and now with this media pandering, he will get 125% of the black vote plus the white guilt vote. "If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon" was a strategic political gamble in an election year designed to make the peeps think he is one of them and not the emporer elitist.

Some of you say he "learned" from the first comment and is now smartly staying out of the fray. PUH-LEASE.... thats so much bull**** it makes a cow ashamed to be associated with the term. He made the comment he wanted to make and is laying low. The next smart political thing will for him to play the MLK role of national peacemker in calling for unity and calm, so expect that comment in the next couple of weeks. All the while, the Republicans are forgotten. Hell, it wouldnt surprise me if somehow Mitt Romney gets painted by plants as the face of rich white America whose gated communities killed Trayvon and thus want to hold down the black man. Oh yes....its coming, so get ready for it.