Posted on 08/11/2013 11:24:29 PM PDT by 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?
The article says he went to Vietnam July 5th, 1970. I went to Vietnam July 14th, 1970, but I am not like him at all.
I don't believe that for a second. That was nothing more than the retarded water buffalo's attempt to try to explain away her "creepy-a** cracker" remark. Martin attacked Zimmerman because he (Martin) was a thug, filled with hate, up to no good, smashed on Lean, whose plans to break into homes and steal peoples' stuff was derailed by a "creepy-a** cracker".
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
Trayvon not problem, shooter wasHow many people did Trayvon help rescue from a car crash or anything?
>> “a walking time bomb and wannabe cop”
An erroneous, shallow characterization.
FWIW, I don’t give a crap about Trayvon’s past either.
I am amazed how often articles as wrong as this are from websites that make it hard to leave a comment.
This guy is proof that not all people who lie about Trayvon™ and Zimmerman are black.
Speaking of that, disqus is pretty good.
I keep thinking we will run out of these frigging idiots, but there is always one more. Trayvon is dead because he attacked the wrong man. Spare your tears and grief for all the innocent people who have been attacked by violent blacks since then. As a symbol of victim-hood, Trayvon fails the test.
Paul Christopher wrote as he did for one reason alone: propagating the meme that Zimmerman had no legitimate provocation makes Paul Christopher feel important.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.Paul Christopher won’t “go there,” even metaphorically - because he really doesn’t think actual people matter at all. Only the theoretical construct in his mind matters to him. And the fact that he can “sound smart” to newspaper editors as long as he ignores how actual people are.4 posted on August 12, 2013 2:30:43 AM EDT by funfan
I remember being followed in stores. Might have been the long hair, jeans & -shirts plus I was a teenager(and had hair).
I’ve had women and men in elevators back away and people on my side of the street cross the street or make a wide path.. might of had something to do with the fingerless gloves, leathers, sleeveless shirt and patched motorcycle vest... but hey I was on motorcycle vacation going across country.
When I was in elevators and walking down the street in business attire on a business trip I never saw any of that behavior from other folks...
If I was in that business attire in the wrong section of town I’d be a target/victim.
If I was in the leathers, sleeveless shirt and patched motorcycle vest in the wrong part of town, I’d be left alone.
It has to do with what you wear and how you carry yourself that might be the issue and you get profiled from both ends of the spectrum.
That doesn’t ring true. I’ve always wondered what part Crump played in Rachel Jeantel getting the story right. The gay bashing and stalking and raping of Black kids came across in the same category as “My dog ate the homework.” excuse when kids lie.
Trayvon was a thug plain and simple. He was out to count coup for bragging rights by giving a beat down to a creepy ass cracker.
,He had the opportunity if he was truly scared, to make it to the house and lock the door before Zimmerman, out of shape as he was, had any chance of catching him. That part about Trayvon not wanting the creep ass cracker to hurt his little brother, Brandy Green’s son, was pure invention. Crump knew Trayvon had plenty of time to escape, thus the need for another lie.
Anyone paying attention knew the lies for what they were when Jeantel spilled the beans on the Piers Morgan Show. Even the idiot Morgan knew immediately what she had revealed and tried to give her a chance to retract the statement.
Jeantel plowed right ahead to let people know Trayvon was just going to whoop Zimmerman’s ass. Since Trayvon wasn’t going to kill him, Zimmerman should have just laid there and took his beating from her point of view.
“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.”
But he didn’t have to use the pistol to defend himself because his head wasn’t being bashed in on the concrete. See how the law really works?
“Worked for State Department of Mental Hygiene”
I think that might have been a misprint....it should have read he was “housed” by the State Department of Mental Hygiene.
I see he has one comment at the link.
Aug-12-13 1:03 AM
Agree | Disagree
What an utter pile of excrement this commentary is. I frankly could not read the entire thing. It is the thinking of people like this that shows exactly what is wrong in this country. Ridiculous.
The law says "reasonably," not "legitimately," though the concepts are similar.
Meeting someone on a trail provides neither reasonable nor legitimate grounds for feeling threatened and shooting in self-defense.
Neither, BTW, does someone following you in a public place.
A serious assault on someone does indeed constitute such "reasonable" grounds, which is why Zimmerman was acquitted.
The writer is an idiot. But his last sentence makes sense.
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? OR A PERSON INTERVIEWING THEM FOR A JOB? Do they ever look at themselves in a mirror. Tattoos , piercings, pants around their knees?
Everything else he writes about is horse dung.
Trayvon was shot because he was trying to kill George Zimmerman. Period, end of argument.
Paul, if I pick up a brick and start smashing your head into it, I could be charged with attempted murder.
Trayvon did the same thing, only in reverse.
He thinks that he knows what "reasonable people think".
Doesn't name a single "study" but most reasonable people know that all blacks are subjected to being stopped because they are black.
Horse pucky. This loon spent 34 years in a state job and his brain is gone.
There is a lesson to learn here. Never try to beat down a man with a gun.
I can only imagine what other BS this brain dead idiot believes. Maybe we can attribute it to Agent Orange.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.