Trayvon Martin shot dead for looking suspicious

[Taochan]

I've listened to the 911 calls before, and it's clear from them that Zimmerman was attempting to take the law into his own hands. Hearing Treyvon scream is one of the most heartbreaking things to listen to and I don't see how Zimmerman hasn't been put on trial for the murder yet. Self defense or not, he murdered a 17 year old boy and needs to face a jury.

[gelandporn]

Let the courts decide. Media needs to get the hell out of this.

This 110%.

I don't think it needs to be said that there's been some really dumb shit said about Trayvon (looking at you Geraldo Rivera- seriously, I'm sorry, but it's a goddamn article of clothing not at all distinct to gang members, goes to show how out of touch he is) and there has been a kind of smear campaign against him by conservative pundits (why should we give a diddly if he was suspended for smoking weed? that has NOTHING to do with the case and that doesn't equate to him being a bad kid).

But even so let's not call the kettle black here. People have been attacking this George Zimmerman to the point where he has gone into hiding due to death threats. You know what? Passing judgement on him like this, when it's all based on bits of evidence and not all of the details have emerged, that's along the same idea as assuming a black kid is bad because he's wearing a hoodie.

The fact of the matter is that we don't know. We weren't there and not all of the evidence has surfaced (as it is being saved for a trial).
Don't get me wrong. It is a tragedy that this kid died regardless of who's at fault. And there's definitely hints of racial motivation there. But we don't know. All we have is word of mouth on a few eye witness accounts and some ambiguous 911 calls. Let the courts decide.

It's impossible to not immediately form an opinion on stuff like this, but the danger is in jumping to conclusions and calling for action based on that knee jerk response. Be objective, remember that whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing (for BOTH of them) and most importantly, let the courts decide. A person's reputation is a very fragile thing and I can tell you that unfortunately both of them have been permanently marred for dumb reasons.

I think the real controversy of the case is that, regardless of motivation, regardless of skin color, George deserved to be arrested and he deserves to go on trial (the problem is that, at this point, good luck finding a competent and impartial jury). Would he have been arrested if Trayvon was white? I can't say, with all this stand-your-ground crap, it may be that the police force was simply being incompetent. Or maybe it was an example of institutionalized racism. But you know what? If that's the case, that's on larger entities than one man, so don't go directing anger and vengeance at him, use this to engage in discussion with law makers and law enforcers, the ones with the real power and the ones who could really be at fault.

[Cosmic+Amarna]

I agree with a lot of what you all have said. In regards to whether or not Zimmerman should be tried, he absolutely should be. He straight up disobeyed what the 911 dispatch said to him. He was told not to pursue, not to act, not to go anywhere or do anything until the police showed up. He didn't follow as ordered, so it's pretty simple really, take him to court.

[The Conquerer]

Though, I think the reason why race comes into play, is because of where this incident occurred, had it happened elsewhere, the guy would have been in jail asap. Sanford Police Department handled a pretty damn shady investigation and guess what, that county isn't painted too brightly to begin with. Parents weren't notified of their child's death until three days later. The victim is then criminalized by having his corpse checked for drugs, etc. IDK, this sounds way too fishy to be a simple murder case.

The motive for Zimmerman isn't what's at issue here, it's how the investigation was handled.

The authorities aren't treating this case with enough scrutiny because the victim was black. We can sit here and ignore the fact that in this country, when something mortally happens to a black person or a minority or if they are accused of a crime with no evidence, it must have happened for a fair reason (that's just how it is); this doesn't address the issue. 17 year old minor is dead, and the killer is loose (despite being within reach), what would normally happened under those conditions had the victim not been a minority? "They were just looking suspicious, oh, he or she probably deserved it, he was a drug dealer, he was up to no good anyway"; shit gets swept under the rug in the end. That's the kind of logic that's in play here, and that's how the cops treated the incident.

[Cosmic+Amarna]

It is because the police, law enforcement, and the judicial system do a pretty shitty job.

10% of law enforcement, etc. are legit, honest, moral people while the other 90% are dirty brown water trash, Dbags, liars, and morally corrupt.

[gelandporn]

The motive for Zimmerman isn't what's at issue here, it's how the investigation was handled.

That's exactly my point, though.
People are making it out like Zimmerman is the one that should be lambasted and strung up already (and, hey, he might actually be a racist piece of shit, but I hardly think that's what matters in the bigger picture), and I'm directing that to all the comments I've seen lately about what kind of punishment Zimmerman deserves.

It is because the police, law enforcement, and the judicial system do a pretty shitty job.

10% of law enforcement, etc. are legit, honest, moral people while the other 90% are dirty brown water trash, Dbags, liars, and morally corrupt.

Or we can not make assumptions about that either.
The Sanford police need internal affairs to conduct an investigation and other independent reviews of the case.

[Cosmic+Amarna]

^my statement was a general one.

[aldrain]

Just thought I'd leave this here, even though I'm sure a few of us have seen it. Ignore the incredibly biased photo in the video if you have to.



To sum up the video for those too lazy to listen, you can hear Trayvon screaming in the background for help, a gunshot, and then no more screams. Stupidest kupoing part about this entire thing is about how the police specifically told Zimmerman not to pursue him any further and he followed him.

of course this may have been posted in any of the numerous links in the thread but I wouldn't know.

Honestly... If somebody is reporting gunshots, stop asking questions, get the adress a bonking go! oh well.. .he would have been dead anyway. This is a load of crap. Try the asshole for murder and move on.

[Ultima Keyblade]

It is because the police, law enforcement, and the judicial system do a pretty shitty job.

10% of law enforcement, etc. are legit, honest, moral people while the other 90% are dirty brown water trash, Dbags, liars, and morally corrupt.

Ok. I'm just going to be up front and say that is stupid and insulting to the officers risking their lives to save your butthurt one. You hate them until they come and save your life.

[gelandporn]

^my statement was a general one.

If I said "90% of black people wearing hoodies are thugs" and then "oh, but I didn't mean Trayvon Martin, just in general," somehow I don't think that makes it better!

[Cosmic+Amarna]

All I'm going to say is that I pray none of you never have to deal with police, whether it is good or bad.

[alexis.anagram]

It is because the police, law enforcement, and the judicial system do a pretty shitty job.

10% of law enforcement, etc. are legit, honest, moral people while the other 90% are dirty brown water trash, Dbags, liars, and morally corrupt.

This. This all over the place.

With regards to this specific case, I think racism is entirely relevant to the case--at the very least, in terms of the response which we've seen attempting to justify Zimmerman's actions. If it was a white kid wearing a hoodie, would he have been preemptively criminalized? And would the person who killed him have gone free without even a trial? Zimmerman acted on a textbook example of racial profiling. Certain advocates have gone on to rationalize this. While I understand that people might be upset because the media has shown bias in their reporting of the incident, which is how the media works, I think there are many other, more appropriate flagship campaigns which could be used to push that message: the whole "Trayvon Martin must have been a bad person/gang member/well he was black anyway" slander reeks of reactionary justification, like these individuals feel personally threatened by the insinuation that the murder was racially motivated and need to jump at every opportunity to assert that racism is Not As Big A Deal as everyone makes it out to be. I'm not even sure what the aim is here. It certainly isn't to prove that Zimmerman didn't kill Martin. If we can accept that he likely did, then the case requires a thorough investigation and Zimmerman should be tried before a jury; whether he's found guilty or not guilty, that would be the proper theoretical procedure by which to ensure justice has been served, correct?

[gelandporn]

guys we live in gotham .

[chihuahuaman]

Everyone hates the police until they save their lives, but then go back to hating them after their five minutes of fame end. My father was busted for pot the other night and I'm not mad with the officer, I know he was doing his job, even if his job costed my father thousands of dollars.

Just a small price to pay in....

[Shinjuku]

Yeah this case is all over the news. Two of the worse things about it so far is that for one the photo that's been circulating showing Trayvon Martin isn't him as a 17 year old it's some other kid from GA apparently from what I hear that happens to be name Trayvon.

Two this case is one of those times where I hate things like facebook and other websites because putting out false pictures like that paints a different picture to most people. Me I more or less didn't care because the boy was still killed in cold blood no matter what.

He had Weed on him so what does that still matter that point is moot now because he's dead. Unless they try to use some BS stunt like the weed killed him or something.


Oh yeah I'm not going full blown racism on this because well it's a difference between racism and prejudice, but this is racial prejudice I'll agree with that fully.

Another thing I hate now is how apparently now not okay to wear hoodies if I have one I'm going to wear it just because a lot of people wear hoodies that rob stores or gas stations doesn't mean everyone does.