Trayvon not problem, shooter was

The Dunkirk Observer ^ | August 12, 2013 | Paul Christopher

[2ndDivisionVet]

It would seem obvious, wouldn't it, that Trayvon Martin is dead because he was a black boy in the wrong part of town?

I think most reasonable people know that all blacks are periodically subjected to being stopped for "driving while black" or even "walking while black." There's hardly a study done anywhere by anybody that doesn't show that type of thing to be a common and unfair occurrence in the black community.

Statistical abuse of minorities is well-documented. Me, personally, I say Trayvon Martin is dead for two reasons and neither specifically because of his race. He's dead because of a vigilante gun culture filled with George Zimmermans who want nothing more in life than to shoot a "bad guy" and the routine stereotyping of others by far too many Americans of all stripes.

George Zimmerman would have acted the same way if Trayvon had been a white boy with a Day-Glo Green Mohawk or a Hispanic with baggy pants and a hoodie. Trayvon Martin is dead because he ran into George Zimmerman, a walking time bomb and wannabe cop with a strong streak of traditional American vigilantism running deeply through his DNA.

We all tend to blame issues with kids on violent video games and the like. Maybe George Zimmerman watched one too many episodes of "Law and Order." We'll never know for sure, but in my opinion based on what was said at trial, listening to Zimmerman's 911 call, he was chomping at the bit for an opportunity to pull that piece.

Trayvon made the mistake of not allowing Zimmerman to draw and holler "FREEZE!!!" and it cost him his life.

Unfortunately for a lot of people, Zimmerman has become the worst example of even the most reasonable "Stand Your Ground Laws" and gives fuel to the fire of the anti-gun crowd. Zimmerman is the poster boy for gun control. Try to get past Trayvon's skin color, picture your own kid, or any kid, dressed like I described and walking through Zimmerman's neighborhood that night. Kids do not generally dress like their parents.

Some kids will adopt rebellious clothing and hairstyles just to infuriate adults in general and those in authority in particular, eventually being negatively stereotyped as drug users or criminals or just all-around trouble. The George Zimmermans of the world will be at the forefront of that stereotyping. The Trayvon Martins will be on the receiving end of their wrath.

Historically, Italians, the Irish and Poles, and certainly the Jews, have paid with their lives for those stereotypes. So have Beatniks and Hippies and Transvestites and others obviously not in the mainstream. It doesn't take much in America, and never has.

In New York City, there has been much controversy over a practice called "stop and frisk." That practice allows New York City police to stop and search anyone they deem to be "suspicious." Is anyone surprised that 85 percent of those subjected to that ordeal are black and Hispanic? Another quirk to that practice is that possession of a small amount of marijuana is a violation in New York, the same level of crime as a traffic ticket.

Displaying that same marijuana in public is a misdemeanor, a higher level of crime which will result in an arrest record, preventing many job opportunities and any loans or help for college for anyone convicted of that drug offense. In "stop and frisk," a policeman orders a young man selected to empty their pockets. When they do, if they have any pot, they have now publicly displayed it, and are arrested and charged with a misdemeanor!

This is apparently legal. In America? And people wonder where Zimmerman came from and why Trayvon Martin is dead? We have institutionalized legal discrimination and harassment of people based solely on skin color and ethnicity. (I do wish the ACLU would worry a bit more about this sort of thing and a whole lot less about Christmas displays on government property.)

While in Florida, I read a letter to the local newspaper from a gentleman who'd been hiking in a nature preserve. He was on a smaller, less traveled side trail with some camera equipment. He came upon one of the main trails, and as he exited the woods, he startled another man hiking who was wearing a pistol in a shoulder holster. The man with the pistol grabbed for his gun, then relaxed and continued on his way. As the letter writer pointed out, as long as the man with that pistol could make a claim, he felt legitimately threatened, and mistook the writer's camera equipment for a weapon, and had shot him, under Florida's Stand Your Ground Law, he could not be charged, especially when the only contradicting voice was silenced forever. You know, like Trayvon's. Thank God Zimmerman wasn't hiking those woods, as we all know what he'd have done.

Yes, Trayvon Martin's race had something to do with his death, but I still make the point that our swing to the right, with the accepted abuse of our Constitutional rights by those who claim to be its staunchest supporters, all those "hang 'em high" Law and Order types in love with all things NRA had more to do with it than Trayvon's race. Ignorance and stereotyping was the spice to that deadly stew, ignorance and stereotyping institutionalized by the police, by the court system at all levels and unfortunately by a large percentage of the population. A population that winks at Fourth Amendment violations by all in charge of enforcing those rights ought to scare all of us.

The next time one of your kids or grandkids leaves your house, take a really good look at them, look at their clothing, look at their hair and their makeup and think to yourself, "What would George Zimmerman make of them?" Or the police? Or a judge?

[2ndDivisionVet]

The author (standing)

Christopher describes himself as follows:

"I was born in Fredonia, Dec. 19, 1949. My upbringing was pretty uneventful. I attended college for a bit, but dropped out to work and get more money for tuition, and was drafted. I left for Fort Dix on November 5, 1969. I went Infantry, sent to Fort Polk for training, from there to Fort Benning where I had my Airborne training, and from there to Fort Huachuca, Arizona for training in 'Unattended Ground Surveillance,' or sensors.

I went to Vietnam on July 5, 1970, and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. I was attached to Military Intelligence, and was involved with two of the largest battles on that year, FSB Ripcord and FSB O'Rielly. Shortly afterward, a new unit within the Sensor Platoon was formed, called 'Roving Monitor.' I volunteered for that, and basically we became a combination Forward Observer and Recon unit, calling in Air or Artillery strikes, or just tracking movement on the Ho Chi Minh trail. Much of our work was through the Ashau Valley and Laotian border area.

Our unit, which only comprised 28 men, of which I was a squad leader, was heavily involved in recon work leading up to the Laotian invasion of February, 1971. Our unit was specifically cited by Major General Hennesey and Major General Tarpley for our work during that time. I hold a Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal and a Vietnamese Gallantry Cross. Our unit was awarded the same. I got out of the service in August of 1971, worked for the State Department of Mental Hygiene for 34 years until retirement.

I have three sons, and work part time for BOCES. I am also listed as 70 percent disabled from my service. I stayed hidden for many years, like many Vietnam vets, and only recently began to make any sort of public display of my service."

[NoLibZone]

Trayvon attacked George because he thought George was gay.

Trayvon was the problem.

[Little Pig]

Mr. Christopher is doing *nothing* to dispel the “dumb grunt” stereotype of Infantry soldiers. He quite obviously wrote his screed without bothering to learn anything about the Zimmerman case other than what he heard on the news in the runup to the trial.

[funfan]

So what does he think about the white young man who is in a coma and brain damaged because he was attached by 50 black kids and he was attacked because he was in a black part of town and considered ti be an outsider. Maybe this guy should take a trip to that neighborhood and be one with the hoods there.

[Olog-hai]

1. The title has a run-on sentence. The author ought to learn basic English. (Wonder how his skills in cursive writing are?)
   
   
2. Speculation and facts are two different things. Never mind blatant race-baiting. No facts support any of his BS. Now he should start to worry about the black-on-white terrorism that this farce has inspired.

[Olog-hai]

He’ll go from 70 percent disabled to over 100 percent overnight. And if he survives, he will have been “mugged by reality”, never mind by muggers.

[2ndDivisionVet]

It has to be service-connected.

[Vince Ferrer]

The next time one of your kids or grandkids leaves your house, take a really good look at them, look at their clothing, look at their hair and their makeup and think to yourself, "What would George Zimmerman make of them?" Or the police? Or a judge?

That used to be common sense parenting.

[Olog-hai]

I did figure that. That doesn’t explain the liberalism, of course.

[Olog-hai]

Funny how the bit about “their makeup” was not attached to any specific sex.

[Darksheare]

Ah yes, “trayvon just wanted to get his purple drank on!”
Author is guilty of writing while impaired by stupid.

[Billthedrill]

Well, Paul, let me help you out here with a little dose of reality untainted by idiot vacuities such as "culture". Trayvon is not a problem because he is deservedly dead. You are a problem because you are self-righteous and deliberately stupid.

It's going to be like this, Paul, because the country is armed to the teeth and completely out of patience with predators. Don't try to cloud the issue, don't try to pretend that things are how you'd like to imagine them, and don't try to sell any crap about how this might have ended otherwise had Zimmerman been unarmed. We know how that would have ended. It didn't, and that's a good thing.

[South40]

He should have stayed hidden.

[pepsionice]

I would pretty much agree...patience has run out across most of the nation. Waiting for cops isn’t a priority anymore. Waiting for some law to pass isn’t reality anymore. Waiting for judges and the authorities to enforces laws on the books isn’t going to work anymore. Waiting for something to change stupid behavior patterns....simply isn’t part of our patience any longer.

[GeronL]

When someone is sitting on your chest and pounding your face and bouncing your head off the concrete, shooting him is not being a vigilante it’s being someone who wants to live.

[LOC1]

I do not believe that most blacks care very much that Trayvon Martin died. After all, they seem to ignore more black on black violent deaths every day.

I think what blacks care about is that some “white” guy had the temerity and the means to defend himself from a beat down.

That is really what this is about, cow white people so that the black hoodlums can rob, steal and kill more of them with impunity.

The Obama administration panders to this approach, because it buys black votes, just like Obama phones.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Christopher? Or demonopher?

This is a nationwide craze. To be fair I haven’t traced it to its sources to see whether it’s really getting much mindshare. But the devil it is, I say. With people buying into it. It should serve as spiritual caution.

Yeah, I am a gruff Christian. I try to be loving and kind to people and only rude to the devil, but alas I fall short. Please forgive me if I fail. Better to give the devil trouble than not to give the devil trouble.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It’s more than an individual people thang, I say. It is a spirit thang.

[rawcatslyentist]

>"I say Trayvon Martin is dead for two reasons "

I'd like to see him try typing that while having his skull pounded to mush on the sidewalk!

[John Valentine]

Mr. Christopher,

Trayvon Martin is dead for one reason alone: George Zimmerman was unwilling to let Martin continue using his head for a basketball.

Too bad for Trayvon Martin that he chose to assault someone with the will and the means to resist.

Better for Trayvon if he had assaulted you, but I am sure you might not feel the same way. After all, what’s the head of a liberal white man worth these days, anyway?