Now tell me your country is not racist, what a bloody disgrace.
Yeah. We've got racism here. It takes several generations to fix something like that, but we've made a lot of progress. Perhaps being on the other side of the planet you haven't heard the news that we elected an Afro-American President. Twice.
BTW, how are you guys doing with the subject of relations with your own native peoples? Last I heard they weren't much better off than our Indians.
George Zimmerman shouldn't have followed Trayvon Martin. He wasn't doing anything wrong. So should we follow every person who we think is suspicious looking, antagonize. And then when we are assaulted ...shoot the person? Regardless of race, Zimmerman felt gutsy that night because he had a gun on him. Had he not, he wouldn't have followed Martin. Going with what Zimmerman said, Martin shouldn't have struck him but Zimmerman put himself there.
Every parent in America teaches every kid in America that, if you find yourself being stalked by a creep, you don't wait for him to make the first move. You use every ounce of strength to disable him and THEN you run.
I don't feel settled. A teenager who was minding his own business that night is dead. Where's the justice for him?(
A century and a half later, there is still no justice for people of African ancestry in the Old South. We should not have accepted their surrender. We should have kept on bombing and burning the place until it was nothing but an ugly scorch mark on the face of the earth.
According to Zimmerman, he followed Trayvon Martin unaware at first of his race. Whether ppl choose to believe that, I don't know.
I'm satisfied by the testimony of people who knew him, that he was not a racist. After all, his own mother is a Latina.
He was not motivated by racism. He's just a typical trigger-happy Redneck troglodyte. Apparently even a convert. He was not born and raised in Dixie.
I guess the jury felt the prosecution didn't prove its case. On any level. I guess I don't understand how a reasonable person could think "neighborhood watch" extended to this.
The only authority Neighborhood Watch units have is to call the cops. They have exactly the same authority as the Cub Scouts. Martin stalked
a child under false pretense of authority. That is illegal everywhere in this country.
The way I see it, Zimmerman followed Martin, until Martin saw him and then doubled back and outflanked him to teach him a lesson. Martin jumped Zimmerman and was beating him like a dog.
Do you have children? I guarantee you would tell them to do the same thing if they see a creep following them slowly in his car and then get out of the car and start following them on foot. That is a textbook case of
stalking. As I said, every child in America has been taught this.
A 17 year old black male who is 6'3" will kick the butt of an out of shape pretend cop with 5 to 1 Vegas odds. Martin was beating Zimmerman but but because Zimmerman was heavier, he was able to reverse ground and pound (MMA) and get to his gun. If Martin had not doubled back and attacked Zimmerman he would be alive. Zimmerman drew his gun after his beating not while following.
At this point it doesn't matter. Zimmerman was stalking a child, and the child had a right to do whatever he felt was necessary to avoid being kidnapped, raped or murdered. Children don't have the same wise judgment as adults, but we teach them to err on the side of their own protection and survival. Martin did what every parent in America would want their own kids to do.
This is just a perfect example of why guns should be outlawed, except for police, who are profiled for temperament and trained for skill, and have an admirable record of killing fewer innocent victims than civilians kill.
All guns, and all people who like guns, should be sent to Antarctica. Or better yet, the Moon. Without a helmet.
I don't think he shot him out of spite but he had no valid reason to follow him.
Neighborhood Watch units are
told to stay home, cover the scene through their window, and report to the
real police. They do not have the training, discipline, skill or judgment to deal with criminals, much less decide who's a criminal and who's not. Zimmerman is a perfect example. He picked the wrong kid based on nothing more than a popular stereotype.
Well I have a popular stereotype too: Rednecks are
scum!
I am for gun rights, I am for self defense . . . .
Your fucking gun is
six times as likely to be used by you or a member of your household to commit suicide or to shoot someone in anger or confusion or by accident, or to be stolen and end up in the hands of a criminal who will use it to kill an innocent victim, or to be wrestled out of your hands by an intruder who then shoots you or someone else or sells it to the aforementioned criminal, than it is to be used by you in defense of your life against an armed criminal or a cougar--the only animal in the South 48 that would attack a human without provocation more than about once a year. (Excluding the gators in Florida and nobody gives a shit about those people anymore.)
More Americans are now killed by other Americans with guns than die in auto accidents. Every year our own people kill ten times as many of us as the entire death toll of 9/11, which happened only once in twelve years. Every person reading this thread has a
one percent probability that his death will be caused by an American with a fucking goddamned
GUN.
Creeps like George Zimmerman can walk into any gun store in America and buy one. Doesn't that make us all sleep well?
Martin had a phone and did not call 911, "hey I am being followed by a scary guy please help".
He was a
kid! We don't expect kids to have good judgment, especially when they're scared.
Martin attacked Zimmerman and then it became self defense.
No. You've got it exactly backwards. Zimmerman was stalking a child under pretense of authority. At that point it became self-defense for Martin.
Let's face it, if Trayvon was a white kid in a white neighborhood who got shot by a black man there is no way he would have gotten off. That's why its racism!
Gotten off? There would be no trial. The murderer would have been lynched and his body would be somewhere in a swamp.
Martin did do something wrong which is what got him killed. He attacked someone for no reason. It is not reasonable to attack someone for following you.
Yes it is, if he's
stalking you. Driving behind you in his car at walking speed! How would you feel if someone were doing that at night and you were the only person on the street?
He clearly had a reason, and it turned out to be a very good reason. Zimmerman is a looney with bad judgment, and because of people like Milkweed who make decisions based on feelings instead of facts, this country allows people like that to own guns.
You make some extremely good points. I guess my thought is this. What does "neighborhood watch" REALLY mean? To me...it means that should I see someone acting suspiciously (not merely someone I don't know walking through my neighborhood with a hoodie on) I should notify the police. If I see a crime being committed...I should notify the police. To me, Zimmerman went way beyond what a reasonable person would do as the "neighborhood watch" guy.
Absolutely. Either Zimmerman's particular Neighborhood Watch precinct doesn't do a very good job of training their members, or he was simply looking for some action and violating the rules.
It's been noted that he was pissed off about a series of burglaries. He was out there hoping to catch a perp. Unfortunately he has no police talent or training so he couldn't tell a robber from Mother Theresa in the dark.
So perhaps I need a true definition of " neighborhood watch."
I think it's been defined a couple of times on this thread. They take shifts sitting at their windows, and if they see something suspicious they call the cops.
THAT'S IT! They never go outside, and they
NEVER EVER try to make an arrest: because they are
NOT COPS.
On another note...I'm not anti gun but I'm not pro gun either. I think if someone wants to carry a gun for protection, he/she has that right to do so.
Review my rather angry response to Milkweed a few paragraphs above, about the fallacy of having "a gun for protection." They just don't work that way! Every gun brought into this country makes everyone who lives here a little bit
less safe.
Martin had NO Right to PUNCH Zimmerman. No Right. He became violent and Zimmerman defended himself. There is ~zero~ evidence Zimmerman put a finger on Martin. ~ZERO Evidence~
NO NO NO NO NO! Zimmerman had no right to stalk Martin. It was Martin who had the right to defend himself against a creepy stalker. As I said, every parent in America teaches their children that.
Zimmerman took punches to the face before pulling his gun. He was a legal gun owner in his gated community. Martin was not shot in the back. Martin was the aggressor and he paid with his life.
Martin was not the aggressor! Zimmerman was a stalker! Martin had every right to defend himself against a stalker. Every child in America is taught this.
A couple of years ago there was talk of a movement in the Redneck states to secede again. I tell you, if Florida asks to secede, this time we'll let them. Then we can bomb the damn place into oblivion. After escorting all of the Afro-Americans to new homes.
