"Racism is dead in America." Bullshit
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Sunday, August 30, 2026 19:02
VIEWED: 28755
PAGE 3 of 27
I agree, Oonj, and certainly people of ALL color (including Caucasian) have been the victims of racial hatred. After reading the above article, and finding this:Quote:
It was raining the night of Feb. 26 when George Zimmerman, a crime watch volunteer, set out to patrol his neighborhood in his sport utility vehicle, as was his habit. Several break-ins had been reported in the area in recent weeks, and Mr. Zimmerman was especially alert.
It was raining the night of Feb. 26 when George Zimmerman, a crime watch volunteer, set out to patrol his neighborhood in his sport utility vehicle, as was his habit. Several break-ins had been reported in the area in recent weeks, and Mr. Zimmerman was especially alert.
He spotted a young black teenager wearing a sweatshirt, with the hood draped over his head. Mr. Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic man, trailed him a bit. Then he called 911, the first of seven calls from Mr. Zimmerman and panicked neighbors that begin to flesh out the details in the death of Trayvon Martin, 17, whom Mr. Zimmerman shot. The police released the recordings to local reporters late Friday night after nearly three weeks of pressure from Trayvon’s parents and their supporters.
The 911 calls from a gated community in Sanford, north of Orlando, culminate with a faint voice in the distance crying and pleading for help. A gunshot is heard, and then silence. Mr. Zimmerman told the police that he had shot Trayvon in self-defense, after the two got into a fight and Mr. Zimmerman wound up on the ground. There have been no arrests in the case. The unarmed teenager, who carried Skittles and a can of iced tea, was walking to the home of his father’s girlfriend from a convenience store.
“This guy looks like he’s up to no good or on drugs or something,” Mr. Zimmerman told dispatch, in his initial call. “It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.” Mr. Zimmerman continued: “He’s here now just looking at all the houses. Now he’s just staring at me.” Then he added a second later: “He’s coming to check me out. He’s got something in his hands. I don’t know what his deal is. Can you get an officer over here?”
Then he got out of the car with his licensed 9-millimeter pistol, and a worried dispatcher asked: “Are you following him? O.K., you don’t need to do that.”
At that point, Trayvon ran, and Mr. Zimmerman continued to follow. The dispatcher told him to wait for the police. A suggestion was made that Mr. Zimmerman and the police should meet by a mailbox. But then Mr. Zimmerman changed his mind. “Actually, could you have him call me and I’ll tell him where I’m at.”
The next spate of calls came from anxious neighbors. A faint cry for help and terrified howls can be heard in the background. Neighbors said they had seen two men nearby in the dark. They reported hearing a gunshot.
“A guy yelled, ‘Help! Oh, my God,’ ” one man told the dispatcher. “There is two guys in the backyard with flashlights. There is a black guy down and it looks like he’s been shot and he’s dead.”
One caller said: “I think they’re yelling help, but I don’t know. Send someone quickly, please.”
It is not clear from the audio whether one or two shots was fired. And, with the voice muffled in the distance, it is difficult to know which of the two men is crying out for help.
The police told The Orlando Sentinel on Friday that they believed the voice crying for help was Mr. Zimmerman’s. They say that prosecutors have told them they do not have enough evidence to dispute Mr. Zimmerman’s claim that he acted in self-defense. Florida affords people who act in self-defense greater protection than most states, allowing them to take action if they have a reasonable fear that their lives are in peril. The case was turned over to the state attorney’s office last week.
“That is the circumstance we are dealing with: If we arrest, we open ourselves to a lawsuit,” Sgt. Dave Morgenstern, a spokesman with the Sanford Police Department, said. “I would ha
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If you've got 50 to 100 lbs on a KID, you don't need to go to the gun.
Unless he pulls a gun or a knife first.
Truth is, we don't know what happened.
Funny how quick people backpedaled on the "Raciss" call when they found out it was Hispanic vs Black tho...
"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies"
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This is so fucked up. I do blame the guy with the gun, absolutely, and these laws. I don't hear anyone in these articles talking about the KID's right to defend himself. The people defending the shooter (not on this thread, but on other news sites) seem to think the big guy with the gun, who invited himself into this situation against express recommendations from the police, had a right to use deadly force. But a teen getting stalked by someone much bigger than him didn't have a right to bunch his attacker in the nose?
Bullshit. The shooter invited himself into the situation. He created it, and an innocent kid is now dead. That is a crime.
I'm glad there are protests going on about this, and I hope the FBI does step in. And I hope other wanna-be heroes pay attention. This is the likely outcome of thinking you should step in with your big gun and save the world.
I wish I could see inside Zimmerman's head, to see how he's justifying this. I wonder if he's re-constructed the whole thing so it's not his fault, rather than accepting guilt. I wonder if he's capable of thinking of himself as a bully who killed an innocent child.
BTW: I would add that I think it is possible that racism was involved. If it'd been a white kid walking down the street, would it have happened the same? After reading the articles here though, I can't fault the police. They seem to be stuck because of the laws.
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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
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Quote:
Originally posted by mal4prez:
This is so fucked up. I do blame the guy with the gun, absolutely, and these laws. I don't hear anyone in these articles talking about the KID's right to defend himself. The people defending the shooter (not on this thread, but on other news sites) seem to think the big guy with the gun, who invited himself into this situation against express recommendations from the police, had a right to use deadly force. But a teen getting stalked by someone much bigger than him didn't have a right to bunch his attacker in the nose?
Bullshit. The shooter invited himself into the situation. He created it, and an innocent kid is now dead. That is a crime.
I'm glad there are protests going on about this, and I hope the FBI does step in. And I hope other wanna-be heroes pay attention. This is the likely outcome of thinking you should step in with your big gun and save the world.
I wish I could see inside Zimmerman's head, to see how he's justifying this. I wonder if he's re-constructed the whole thing so it's not his fault, rather than accepting guilt. I wonder if he's capable of thinking of himself as a bully who killed an innocent child.
BTW: I would add that I think it is possible that racism was involved. If it'd been a white kid walking down the street, would it have happened the same? After reading the articles here though, I can't fault the police. They seem to be stuck because of the laws.
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hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left
That pretty well sums it up for me as well.
What if the kid had had a gun, and used it to defend himself from a stalker who got in his face and confronted him? How would the news be reporting it in that case? "Armed youth guns down neighborhood watch captain"?
And Wulfie? Why do you imagine that Hispanics can't be racist? Where DO you get these nonsensical ideas that still seem to fill your head? And is Zimmerman Hispanic? I heard he was multiracial, which makes him sound like pretty much any other American, really.
The race issue comes into play in this way: What would have happened if the kid were clearly a white kid just walking in the rain with a soda and some candy? Would anyone have felt the need to not only follow him, but to confront him and square off against him?
Or did that happen mainly because he was black?
"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill
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Quote:
Zimmerman's documented actions did not break the law. The fact that he was bleeding after a witness described them fighting gives legitimacy to Zimmerman's decision to use deadly force under Florida's Castle doctrine.
I don't see where the Castle doctrine comes into this as Trayvon Martin was not trespassing - he had every right to be out walking where he was.
Zimmerman's only defence is ordinary self-defence. Self-defence if I'm not mistaken requires that you reasonably consider yourself to be in danger of death, or serious injury. Zimmerman was bleeding on the back of his head and had a nosebleed as a result of the altercation. But he wasn't admitted to hospital, and he didn't suffer from concussion or require stitches. And of course he outweighed his opponent by 100lbs. The idea that he had reason to fear for his life is pretty dubious.
If Zimmerman can legitimately claim self-defence here then anyone anywhere who is involved in a scuffle can draw a gun and use deadly force. So I can start a fight with someone, get knocked on my butt, draw a gun and shoot the person. And when the police turn up I just have to utter the magic words 'self-defence' and then I'll be released on the spot?
More from your cited article that's worth noting:
Quote:
But after the shooting, a source inside the police department told ABC News that a narcotics detective and not a homicide detective first approached Zimmerman. The detective peppered Zimmerman with questions, the source said, rather than allow Zimmerman to tell his story. Questions can lead a witness, the source said.
Another officer corrected a witness after she told him that she heard the teen cry for help. The officer told the witness, a long-time teacher, that it was Zimmerman who cried for help, the witness told ABC News.
It's not personal. It's just war.
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Its an awful situation any way you look at it. I don't know whether it was racially motivated or not, I don't think we have enough info to determine that, sometimes on the surface something looks one way and then when you find out more its more complex than that. But it does sound like Zimmerman has some sort of wannabe hero complex, I think mentioning it to the police should have been sufficient, at the most, that probably wasn't even necessary because he was just walking around not harming anyone. In middle school I had a friend who liked to go outside and lay in the rain just for fun in the summertime, maybe the kid just likes the rain.:(((((
Oh yeah, and what happened with Wendy and the Baptist? Was s/he tresspassing while she was on shift? I know she's a good fighter.
"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya
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Security guard's job: Observe & report.
Kid walking on sidewalk = not illegal.
Zimmerman disregarded advice of dispatch.
News I've read paints Zimmerman as a squirrel; the dispatch tapes verify it.
True, I didn't scan thru the whole media storm looking for a headline: Zimmerman is a fine fellow.
Two things I wonder: Did Zimmerman identify himself to Martin?
Who initiated the assault?
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I'm hoping someone can answer this question: if I decide to murder someone, and I have a gun, and I wait till there is no one else around and then shoot that person - can I get away with it as long as I claim self-defense? B/c as long as there are no witnesses to say any different, the police can't really assume it was murder. Right? It seems like that's what it boils down to in this case.
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Not entirely, Kiki. You gotta beat yourself up beforehand.
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OK - I didn't see that part of the story.
But, ah - what if Trayvon was defending himself against a nut with a gun who accosted him on the street? In fact, I don't buy the idea that Trayvon started it. After all, Zimmerman was stalking Trayvon, not the other way around. I think a reasonable case could be made for manslaughter. B/c it still comes down to having to take the word of the only witness since the other witness was killed - by the first witness.
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