I'm sure you all have heard by now about the 17 year-old African American teen from Stanford, Florida. His name was Trayvon Martin. On his way to his father's fiancee's house, after going to a local convenience store, he was fatally shot in the chest. The man who shot Martin was 28 year-old George Zimmerman white male who was part of the local Community Watch program in the quite gated community of Semiole County.
The man who shot Trayvon has still not been charged, despite the act of murdering an unarmed child. He told police he shot Trayvon in self-defense, and police say they have no evidence to refute his story. The local and state authorities have not even tried to look deeper into the core of this tragedy because it is a state law that you can "Stand Your Ground" if you feel threatened even if it is just a few unfriendly words, or even a look.
This story made headlines when the release hit not only the news but all the social media sites on the Internet; Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Yahoo!, Google and many other sites are speaking up in protest. It is just flat out wrong, no matter what the law says, to shoot a person if you aren't hurt by them. In the 911 call Zimmerman claimed that there was "There's a real suspicious guy. This guy looks like he's up to no good, on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around looking about... These a**holes always get away." Trayvon's father, Tracy Martin, made a statement in reply to Zimmerman's accusations about Trayvon's hoodie pulled over his head and jeans outfit the day of his death, saying "Thousands of people wear that outfit every day, so what was so suspicious about Trayvon that Zimmerman felt as though he had to confront him?" Plus it was raining. Who doesn't want something to over you head while you walk in the rain? The dispatcher on the 911 call told Zimmerman that it was unnecessary to follow the boy after telling the woman that he was running, but Zimmerman didn't listen. 
Since there was no real danger and Zimmerman still felt the need to shoot an innocent boy, many consider his action prejudice or racist. Zimmerman was carrying a 9 millimeter handgun while Trayvon was carrying a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. It's it quite safe to assume that an ice tea bottle and a bag of Skittles on a 17 year-old child would be much safer than with a 9 millimeter handgun? There was no reason to shoot Trayvon.
Zimmerman has quite a reputation for calling 911 on "suspicious" active of African Americans of all ages. He has been tying up emergence phone lines for 14 months, prior to the shooting, complaining of this and that and everything in the book. Nothing he said had ever been a threat to the small, gated community.Recent news has told us that, finally, FBI and Flordia law enforcement are taking a stand and investigating the case. Hundreds of protests and rallies are underway to provide for the arrest of Zimmerman. They believe he has committed a hate-crime. Zimmerman "was charged in July 2005 with resisting arrest with violence and battery on an officer. The charges appear to have been dropped." This is completely whacked! Who blatantly beats a police officer and has their charges dropped. He honestly must be mental, along with any other judges and lawyers involved in letting the charges dropped.
Sources:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-20/trayvon-martin-teen-shot-stereotypes/53677634/1
http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/19/justice/florida-teen-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_bn2
http://www.thegrio.com/specials/trayvon-martin/trayvon-martin-15-facts-you-need-to-know-about-teen-shot-in-sanford-florida.php
http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/20/my-12-year-old-son-knows-he-could-be-trayvon/?hpt=hp_t1
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/03/19/148905661/killing-of-fla-teen-trayvon-martin-becomes-national-story-about-race
http://www.thegrio.com/news/past-zimmerman-911-calls-war.php
Really good, and there's a lot of details! Nice including the links too. Good variety of information.
ReplyDeleteGreat job especially with details
ReplyDeletereally good job! so much great information and i love all the pictures good job!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the father saying what's so wrong with Trayvon wearing that. I even wear that almost daily. I personally think that the Stand your ground law is stupid.
ReplyDeletewell done with the facts. im glad that the fbi and law enforcement is FINALLY getting involved with this tragic case.
ReplyDelete