Zimmerman Verdict In...

Duh it's only racist if the target is black.

Inb4: That's racist!

There was no physical evidence Martin was reaching for his gun. Zimmerman claims that he thought he was reaching for his gun while he was on top of him after he said "you're going to die tonight", which is why he pulled his gun and shot him. Legally, it would mean he was fearing for his life, so it fits.

Up to you if you want to believe him. I wouldn't call him a "horrible person" given that we don't know anything about him beyond the usual media circus of "dig up any little obscure minor crime he may have committed in the past as if that's relevant". If the defense isn't allowed to use the evidence that sows Martin's background of suspected drug use, suspension and fighting at school, then the prosecution shouldn't be allowed to use Zimmerman's background training in MMA and study in community college law courses (even though in actuality it was allowed for the prosecution and not for the defense).

Both GZ and TM stereotyped each other before a confrontation and that's the real takeaway from this case.

GZ was convinced TM was a criminal just because he was black in his neighborhood and TM believed GZ to be a 'creepy cracker' because he was being tailed by a white guy in a car. Both walked into the situation convinced the other was malicious and regardless of who initiated the fight, TM would have been alive had GZ not decided to be a wannabe cop and start a confrontation with someone he believed to be a criminal. It demonstrates a poor lack of judgement on GZs part.

Once the fight started (be it TM in defense or GZ trying to subdue a 'criminal') all bets were off since GZ was armed and TM was not. All the character assassination of TM is designed to undercut the reality that he was minding his own business walking up a street and like many black males before him he fell into the "suspicious person" trap and paid with his life.

It's a nice case study of where race relations are in America.

Don't we all know that this wouldn't have been a big deal if it was reversed?

If a black kid shot a Mexican man, he would have been praised.

Heck, even if a black kid pulled out a gun himself and the guy grabbed it out his hands and shot him, they would have condemned the guy for shooting the kid because of the color of his skin and scream racist all over it.

I'm glad that Zimmerman wasn't convicted because of politics. There was absolutely no case against him, and I don't even know why they would have even brought it to court, the prosecutors knew that they had nothing, but they still went with it anyway....

...I smell DoJ intervention on this one...

For the record. If you are brought to trial by the state, you can not use stand your ground as a defense. You have to use self defense. Ironically in this particular situation one could argue the victim was invoking their right to stand their ground against the defendant. The situation could have gone either way in that Martin could have successfully defended himself and be brought to trial and not found guilty. "Walking home, being followed by a SUV, driver gets out of SUV and assaults me. I defended myself". Assault has a very interesting definition in Blacks Law, as does Murder and it's varying degrees.

Now that being said, Zimmerman is indeed an *** hat suffering from over confidence and lack of training and that's why what happened, happened. Now with legal precedent being set; I hope we do not have a wave of *** hats instigating fights with people they have no business getting into altercations with then pulling a gun or knife and killing them as a last resort. Vice versa as well, with people just killing an instigator out right given the potential fact they may pull a weapon once they feel overwhelmed.

From reports i've read GZ seen TM staring into peoples houses (he was seen on a womans front porch, and if he was even just staring blankly at the house while he was doing something on his phone it can be mistaken for looking through the windows easily)
GZ as a neighborhood watch captain is should try to stop anything he doesnt think was right.

Now even if he did follow him just for this reason i also seen an article about there being 2-3 robberies in the neighborhood within the last few months, by "Black Teenagers"

brb im going to try to find both these articles again

Except, not. He was suspicious of Martin because he was darting in between houses, looked like he was high, and the ran away when he saw Zimmerman. He was specifically asked by the dispatch for his race, after which he replied with uncertainty, "He looks black?" Before he got closer and confirmed that he was black.

(Furthermore the burglaries that had been taking place in that area was being committed by black men so he kinda has precedent to assume a black man darting around and looking into cars might be suspect?)

It was a townhouse complex where you have a row of townhouses facing a row of townhouses, there are walkways that go between the houses.

All I'm gonna say is, there are rules to CC, you're only allowed to use it as a last resort, meaning if your life is threatened and the attacker is holding you against your will, thus stopping you from leaving. If it's possible to leave, you leave before you shoot. All that aside, Zimmerman waived "self defense" when he got out of his car and pursued Martin who was unarmed. I don't believe it was racially motivated, I don't believe it was premeditated, but Zimmerman was in the wrong as soon as he stepped out of his car. Secondly, is the Neighborhood Watch issue, Neighborhood Watches are to observe and report, and those in participation are prohibited from carrying a weapon.

For an example on Concealed Carry, atleast in my state which is a very trigger-happy state, say you are in a bank, you are carrying, guy comes in with a shotgun and basically robs the bank, you have no choice but to let it happen or murder him. Now, if he turns and starts pointing the gun at you, demanding your "money or your life" it becomes a matter of self-defense. It's all about the context, not how scared you are or how powerful you feel because you have a gun.

Black guy walks through the neighborhood "looking about", its suspicious. Look, I get that they had some break ins and GZ was doing his neighborhood watch schtick but he immediately profiled TM for no other reason than him being black and walking through the neighborhood.

How exactly do you judge someone is high from a distance is anyone's guess.

Yes, that's the transcript, what's your point? Did you listen to the actual call where Zimmerman's inflection clearly shows he's not certain of the man's race until he gets closer and he says "He's African American" (Or something along those lines)?

He wasn't just walking around, he was looking into cars, etc. I mean I guess you can say he still didn't have enough reason to suspect him but to say his race had anything to do with his initial reason for being suspicious is proven wrong by the fact that he wasn't even sure what his race was until he got close.

yeah, cause 60 years ago white people in the south were *** crazy it obviously means everyone in the south now hates darkies. while it is a fact that in every part of the country (meaning not just in the south you bigot) young black males are given a disproportionate number of harsher sentences for lesser crimes, it's simply not a statistic that has much to do with this murder case. it has more to do with socio-economic repression. in fact more black people have been moving south than moving north. you know why? it's because the misguided notion that all southerners are ignorant racists is a myth.


not to play the, 'it sucks being a white guy in america card' (cause it totally doesn't), but you say that black lives are undervalued in america. let's be real. if i was shot by pretty much anyone tomorrow for any reason, there wouldn't be a protest about it. people wouldn't show up in work the next day in polo shirts and flip flops cause that's what i had on. russel simons and lebron james wouldn't be lighting up the twitter sphere or give a ***about me. it's because people in america know that young black males like this are at risk to being taken advantage of that people get riled up in these situations. i couldn't name a single victim. there are a billion different groups looking out for the rights of black people in america, because in america every life is considered valuable. you know it's true too, cause no matter what race/ethnicity you are, there is someone who earns a living just looking at laws and watching the news to watch out for ***that might make your life harder cause of who you are.

it just turns out in this case, that a man who self-identifies as a hispanic legally carrying a firearm got his *** whooped by a black teenage male who i'm sure didn't consider himself much of a kid. the *** whooping was not legal, but being a scared person being assaulted does give you the legal right to discharge your firearm. it sucks he died, but the laws are there for a reason. 984 people were murdered in florida in 2011. 5,274 people were raped. i couldn't name a single victim from those. trayvon martins parents had the connections to advocate for him that those other victims didn't. i think that sucks too.

Point is he was racially motivated to chase down TM because he already had it buzzing through his head that a black guy walking through his place at night was reason enough to confront him. The hand in waistband leap in judgement only solidifies that he was stereotyping TM before getting his facts together.

If you think someone is armed why the fk would you go confront them without law enforcement at your back? Why escalate it further? If TMs on drugs his ability to flee the scene is already impaired.

Your text to link here...

You seem to be missing the Zimmerman getting out of the car part.

We'll never know who confronted who nor do I care to discuss that because it's all conjecture. Zimmy has been acquitted and the elephant in the room with regards to the racial tensions in America remains. From what both parties said, TM and GZ both antagonized each other from a distance before any confrontation was made and that is a snapshot of race relations in America.

Black males are a threat until otherwise confirmed and pigeonholed as drug abusers, gangbangers and the source of all ills to peaceful hamlets. It's why everyone was so astounded Barack Obama upended Hilary's campaign afterall. A black man who can speak eloquently and articulate? Impossibru!

Blacks still haven't gotten over the injustices shoveled upon them by their white peers and feel victimized any time they are confronted by 'the man' who is insidious and seeks to undermine what little progress they make regardless of situation.

Neither...

to


Is kinda a funny jump...going from "Eh, not really" to "The kid is taunting me and might be flashing me a weapon in his pants".

I'm still not getting where you get the assumption that Zimmerman thought he was suspicious based on the fact he was black, rather than the fact he was...acting suspicious.

And who thinks GZ or TM thought GZ could out-run him to apprehend him,? The pro-Trayvon crowd is long on fantasy and emotion, short on facts and logic. But hey, after 2008/12 that should come as no surprise.

That's their problem. Slavery ended 150 years ago. No black person alive has ever been a slave. It's time they stop blaming "slavery" and "racism" for all their faults. It is a fact that blacks commit roughly 50% of violent crimes in America while being only 12% of the population. The entire nation is outraged over a self-defense, justified killing of a thug while ignoring the huge amount of innocent blacks killed at the hands of other blacks. It's a serious problem but the media only reports it when they think they can turn it into a racial issue.

I know I'm going to get called a racist for this, but that's only because people have weak minds and aren't able to accept the reality of a situation. It's easy to call names than face the facts, and that way you don't have to upset your perfect little world where there are no racial differences.

I may be mistaken, but wasn't that neighborhood somewhat black? I mean, Martin's dad's girlfriend was there, and I don't know her color definitively, but it is fair enough to assume she was black. Besides, those stereotypes turned out to be true for TM. I always say, if you don't like stereotypes, don't act like one.

Yeah and who were the ones most notably and vocally surprised? Harry Reid, Joe Biden, Bill Clinton...

Wait... What made Trayvon a thug? How did he play into black stereotypes? I'm confused.

The media loved using Trayvons past history, but damned the reports Zimmerman made to the police earlier in his history.

Pretty sure if anyone here had the same "troubles" in life that'd be the ammunition used by the media to frame you as the victim after you are dead from a similar,if not exact, incident.

Hoodie, walking around at night, being "on something" from Zimmermans perspective.

History of violence on multiple occasions, dressing like thugs (i.e. embracing the thug culture), drugs, crime... All well-substantiated.

taking a leisurely stroll in the rain.

conjecture, which is a legal word for ***.

Zimmerman saw a black kid walking around at night, with a hoodie on and immediately arrives at the conclusion that he must be holding a gun in his waistband, is 'on something', the something in his hands must be a concealed weapon and "These *** always get away" cementing his suspicion that all of these 'facts' mean TM is up to no good.

The same Zimmerman then decides to pursue this individual who may potentially be armed. Or was confronted by TM. Whichever you want to believe.

Because black males who completely reject this culture aren't routinely harassed by law enforcement simply because well.. they're black and very nature is one of causing harm to the established order.

That's why I said it doesn't matter about TM or GZ because at the end of the day this case just highlights racial tensions.