The tragic killing of Trayvon Martin is sparking a much-needed larger conversation about racial bias in America.
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8 Responses to Trayvon Martin and Implicit Racial Bias [Fox News]
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Let’s just leave race out of it for a moment.
Zimmerman was armed. Martin was not.
Zimmerman was physically much bigger than Martin.
Zimmerman PURSUED Martin although the Police told Zimmerman not to do that.
Zimmerman initiated the confrontation and escalated it to deadly force. In most places “self-defense” is an “affirmative defense,”meaning that the burden of proof is on the one claiming self-defense.
Zimmerman was the aggressor, provoked the confrontation,
The “stand your ground” law is fine — BUT it should be applied to MARTIN, not Zimmerman.
MARTIN was the one who was pursued and confronted by Zimmerman; ZIMMERMAN was the one using lethal force; MARTIN was the one with the right to “stand his ground.”
There’s no question in my mind that if both men were of the SAME race, Zimmerman would have been arrested, PRIMA FACIE for homicide. He’d then have a chance to PROVE his self-defense claim in court.
And this begs the question, who the hell is Zimmerman, anyway? What if any lawful authority does he have to confront anyone on the street with no apparent probable cause?
What police training does Zimmerman have? And what’s his prior relationship with the cops, that they would let him walk?
sj
The only ‘pull’ I can identify is Zimmerman was the head of the Neighborhood Crime Watch.
Yes, I can’t understand why Zimmerman’s pursuit of the victim won’t get him the chair.
Thank you sj, you just made the entire case that shows Zimmerman was dead wrong. He self-appointed himself as a watcher, then he carries a gun possibly expecting to use it, maybe even hoping to use, who knows. Naturally, I think the NRA is too damn powerful and they are ultimately responsible for most gun tragedies, as in this case there is talk of the Stand Your Ground law defense for Zimmerman. I think if the situation was reversed Martin would have been arrested immediately. Want evidence? Look at the ratio of people of color in prison to white populations when they are a minority in the population. More folks get welfare who are white than people of color, so why is it not the same for people of color in prison? It makes no sense. Some would assume wrongly that it’s because there are more criminals who are people of color, but that is just nuts, that goes back to black being considered cursed by god, meaning they are inherently defective in some way. I’m white, I know ‘white privilege’ and I also know that only a white person with it can come up with a phrase ‘reverse racism,’ which really means those charging someone with it is just afraid of Karma. I stole that from Wanda Sykes, but I have said either it is nracism, or it is not, ‘reverse racism’ takes on a particular flavor of I don’t want done to me what my people have been doing to others, mostly black people. A video Slavery By Another Name showing online at at pbs.org shows the flaw in the 13th Amendment regarding slavery and involuntary servitude. The South figured out how to re-institute slavery, by making laws and arresting black people mostly and give huge sentences for minor crimes and then hiring them out to businesses on the cheap. Slavery was back in, they just had to come up with an excuse to arrest and incarcerate black people, and a way to keep formoer slaves subjugated and put down via Jim Crow laws. The SCOTUS decision of Plessy vs Ferguson was a debacle that kept black people back for decades and validated the Jim Crow laws. White people have no damn idea all the suffering imposed on slaves and even former slaves put back into the system of slavery. Whites in the US have never known the kind of oppression of being owned mostly by white(I read some Indians had slaves), or the institutional disregard, black people lived through, and to have a white ten year old call you, a grown adult man or woman the n-word, must have been the saddest cut of all in the system.
Yes this Zimmerman-Martin is about race(even though Zimmerman is said to have some Spanish descent), something that this country has really never come to terms with.
Just like obama,holden,jackson, sharpton ,naacp and the rest of obamas’ base.judge before hearing the entire story! It is odd that most non-black families raise their children to love God,Country and Family and to love everyone regardlesas of race or skin color. NOT so for the non-blacks that raise their children to hate white people. This reminds me of a black talk radio host that stated he was raised to love God,Country and Family…The caller told that talk show host that he (the talk radio host) became whiter everyday. I suggest that those of you regardless of color or race,if you do not love this country to get the hell out! Every race has been slaves to another race. Yet it is only the black( race that preaches hate for white people.check out The Black Libertairion Church) just as the moslems preach to hate people that do not accept islam.What would most of the blacks do had they stayed in Africa? Been killed by the U N and obama as only black and people of color were killed..HEARD OF ANY WHITE PEOPLE KILLED OVER THERE? Same as the middle East and unless you are to stupid realize there are white or non-black people in those parts of the world! obama is garbage and his actions show he is not a Christian nor an American!
Self-appointed head. But to hear the Neighborhood Watch national organization spokesman tell it Zimmerman should not have had a gun,nor should have pursued Martin, and so many other rules of being a member of a Neighborhood Watch, Zimmerman violated.
I agree that Zimmerman deserves life in prison …if he is convicted. Seems like we should wait until all the facts, witnesses and other evidence are revealed before hanging the guy. Of course he looks guilty as hell. Still he should not be convicted by the media and driven into hiding by threats from outraged citizens. I realize that there is a racial component in this terrible situation. It appeared that Zimmerman used a racial slur during the nine one one call though it is hard to be sure. My only question re. the racial aspect is what if it was turned around, and a black man was involved with the shooting death of a young white man. Would all of you be ok with condemming him before the evidence is gathered. Would you be ok with the Klu Klux standing in the street and demanding his execution . My only point is give the process a chance. The whipping up of racial tensions and threats of violence only muddy the waters and could prevent justice from being served.
To you RayN. You make me sick. Do you really think any black person today knows what its like to be a slave. If you feel like “our people” owes anything to black people then feel free to pay them back yourself. Oh and by the way i dont know what it is like to be called “The N Word” but i do know what it is like to be called a “Cracker MF” and get jumped for walking down the wrong street and being white. Now dont you feel sorry for poor poor pitiful me for being the wrong color. Slavery does not exist anymore so get over it. Oh and explain to me how there are more blacks in prison than should be when there are just as many black and hispanic cops out there as white ones.
There are still a lot of facts still missing.
However, I believe the errors started with Mr. Zimmerman’s, “This guy is up to no good” (paraphrased.) From here, he continued to make one bad decision after another, regardless of race. Mr. Martin is dead because someone who SHOULD have allowed law enforcement to handle the situation chose not to. Mr. Zimmerman should never have chased Mr. Martin down, should never gotten out of his car, and if he got punched and found himself on the ground getting his head rapped on the sidewalk, his bad decisions are directly responsible for creating the confrontation in the first place. Mr. Zimmerman went out looking for trouble that night, and Mr. Zimmerman got it. I’m just sorry that a life had to be sacrificed in the balance and wish this situation had played itself out in a less confrontational manner than it did.