Any thoughts on Zimmerman's aquittal ?

Why would I not respond?

I don't know ikory, why wont you respond? Why wont you answer the question?

My opinion, you wont answer the question because you are afraid of the answer.

I cannot think of any other logical reason why

Race and racism had a TON to do with this case up front and as far as the spectator is concerned. Both parties, IMO, were racist. Big deal. Lots of people are and if anything, maybe this will open folks eyes to that fact.

You have a neighborhood that is not predominantly black with houses being broken into on the regular. You have a young boy/man, who is guilty of being black, wearing a hoodie and being where he shouldn't be, you have an over excited night neighborhood watchman with a gun. Watchman thinks kid might be the thief, confronts the kid, kid attacks watchman and under Florida law, watchman can defend himself however he sees fit and shoots the kid. It's sad, it happened, if the kid was white or latino or asian and wearing a hoodie and acting the same way, GZ would have confronted him too.

Should GZ not been allowed to pull his gun? What if TM took his gun and used it on GZ or in another robbery, because this kid was no angel.

I was in a store the other day and a couple black guys were yelling "we should start the riots here on STX" and one black guy was yelling in my ear behind me "hey Zimmerman". I just wanted my Pepto.

Maybe people should be outraged by Florida Laws or Gun Laws in general. How about a dozen other things that might solve a hell of a lot more death and suffering than this one sad situation. People love to be upset over something as safe as this case.

My take on this...

There's always a chain of causality leading up to any event. Break any link in the chain and you may get a different result. The causal nexus in this instance was Trayvon Martin's decision to physically assault an armed man - George Zimmerman. That's what directly led George Zimmerman to draw his gun.

Secondary to the tragic loss of a young life, the greatest harm coming from this case is the frequent and repeated play of the race card. So far, there is simply no evidence that George Zimmerman is a racist or that his actions were racially motivated.

Once again, we find ourselves divided - pitted against one another.

It's not broken. It was built this way.

I've been involved in authorized neighborhood watches and the FIRST two things you are told during the police training is NEVER approach a "suspicious" person and NEVER NEVER NEVER go out on your patrol armed. These rules are for everyone's protection. Otherwise, you or someone else could get shot -- which is exactly what happened!!

I'm very curious to know if anyone posting on this thread has ever served as a juror in a felony trial?

Mothers - please teach your children to call 911 if they feel they're being stalked or in danger. This simple task could have prevented this sad situation.

Mothers - please teach your children to call 911 if they feel they're being stalked or in danger. This simple task could have prevented this sad situation.

he did have a cellphone...

how ever, "being stalked" is such a joke of a term, clearly coined by the anti zimmerman crowd to justify.... something....

If I see you across the street, walk over and ask you some questions (rude or not) that is NOT STALKING. that is a simple confrontation and it is perfectly acceptable, legal and normal in society.

That is what happened that night.

This "stalking" meme has gone too far, it does not justify committing a felony or attempted murder (which is what I see it as, you don't bang someone’s head on the ground unless you want to do some very very serious damage.. once Zimmerman was knocked to the ground TM could have just left, he didn't want to, he wanted to fuck zimmerman up and prove a point of some sort, clearly.)

Things wouldn't have happened as they did had TM not wanted to seriously harm GZ... period. thus self defense was the only option, this is probably one of the clearest cases of selfdefense I have heard recently.

Ok, so if Zimmerman walked over and asked Martin what he was doing and Martin was armed and in "fear of his life" because he could see Zimmerman's gun, would it have been ok if Martin had shot Zimmerman. Can't anyone see how crazy this could become?

Ok, so if Zimmerman walked over and asked Martin what he was doing and Martin was armed and in "fear of his life" because he could see Zimmerman's gun, would it have been ok if Martin had shot Zimmerman. Can't anyone see how crazy this could become?

Ridiculous, you are equating seeing someone's gun with someone hitting you in the face, knocking you down and beating your head against the concrete?

Physically striking someone is assault. Carrying a gun is legal if you have the proper permit. Get serious.
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/07/18/charles-barkley-i-don-t-think-media-has-pure-heart-or-clean-hands-whe

Ok, so if Zimmerman walked over and asked Martin what he was doing and Martin was armed and in "fear of his life" because he could see Zimmerman's gun, would it have been ok if Martin had shot Zimmerman. Can't anyone see how crazy this could become?

You can present all of the scenarios you would like, but these situations just don't happen. Why lament over theoretical situations? They have no bearing on this case.

The key word in stand your ground is "reasonable" fear. A judge or jury decide if the fear you had was reasonable. Simply seeing a gun on someone would not equate to a reasonable fear of death or harm.

If that were the case if I were walking down the street I could just shoot at cars because they could crash into me and kill me.

Lets be reasonable people.

I just think this "shot first and ask question afterwards" (stand your ground) is a dangerous law and needs to be examined further.

To reiterate a point some have missed: the case did not have anything to do with stand your ground. The defense was standard self-defense, and the prosecutors were unable to prove that it wasn't that.

Here's a slightly edited version of my opinion on the Zimmerman trial and verdict posted to my Facebook page this past Wednesday.

-----start-----

Considering that people were supposedly glued to their TV sets watching the Zimmerman trial, it appears that a lot of them paid very little attention to the evidence.

Yes, GZ was stalking TM (more or less). So what does TM do? Call the police? NOPE. Run home and tell his dad? NOPE. He sneaks around to confront GZ, provoking a fist fight.

And by all accounts, TM knew how to fight well. GZ on the other hand... well he flunked out of police school. Sorry people, you can't start a fight that you feel confident you can win and then complain when it goes badly.

I feel bad for the family and their loss, but obviously they hadn't taught TM how to properly handle confrontations. GZ should thank whatever fairytale diety he believes in that he got an unbiased jury.

-----end-----

Actor Romany Malco, who played Zeke in "Think Like a Man, Too", gives his perspective on the Trayvon Martin / George Zimmerman issue.

Romany Malco Pens "Message to Trayvon Sympathizers"

Excerpts:

"To be brutally honest, the only reason people are even aware of Trayvon Martin is because it became a topic within mainstream news and pop culture. Meaning: News directors saw it as a profitable, sensational story. Hundreds of blacks die annually in South Side Chicago without even a blurb. Trayvon isn't in the mainstream news for any reason other than ratings and profit. The news coverage on the Zimmerman case almost implies that the killing of this young black man is somehow an anomaly and I resent that."

"If we really wanted to ensure Trayvon Martin's killing was not in vain, we'd stop perpetuating negative images that are now synonymous with black men in America. We'd stop rapping about selling drugs and killing niggas. The next time we saw a man beating a woman, we'd call for help or break it up, but one thing we would not do is stand by with our cellphones out yelling WORLDSTAR! Instead of rewarding kids for memorization, we'd reward them for independent and critical thinking."

Interesting... Dear Eric Holder; Your attempts at a federal case against George Zimmerman violates the double-jeopardy clause in the constitution and we will defend him if necessary. Sincerely - The ACLU

I am doubting the authenticity of that document.

If you look at the URL it comes directly from the ACLU.

Wow...I'm surprised at this. The doj won't charge anything though because there is no case. They already know it but won't come out and sayit. If you notice though the administration has been wording things in preparation for the announcement that they are not moving forward. They are prepping now...

...They are prepping now...

I agree.

Where was the national outrage on this one? Do you even remember hearing about it?

The boy is white. The two suspects are black. Police are reportedly investigating whether this was a hate crime.
http://www.kctv5.com/story/17048649/teens-set-13-year-old-student-on-fire
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/teenagers-poured-gasoline-boy-walking-home-school-set-fire-cops-article-1.1033062

Other media outlets have reported that one of the suspects said, "You get what you deserve, white boy."
http://www.kctv5.com/story/17260926/mother-of-teen-who-claims-set-on-fire-says-were-being-brushed-off

Or this one. Where was the national outrage?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/male-student-shot-death-mississippi-state-university-suspects/story?id=15997857

Where is the outcry for social justice? Why just for Trayvon Martin?
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2005, 337 blacks were killed by whites; in the same year, 934 whites were killed by blacks. Between 1976 and 2005, 94 percent of black murder victims were killed by other blacks. Fifty-nine percent of all felony murders during that time period were committed by blacks, and only 39 percent by whites. The number of killings perpetrated by blacks, then, is vastly disproportionate to their percentage of the population. According to statistics from the FBI and the Justice Department, 90 percent of interracial crimes are committed by blacks against whites. In 1992, a fairly typical year, nearly a million whites were killed, robbed, assaulted or raped by blacks; meanwhile, 132,000 blacks were victimized by whites
http://greensboroguardian.com/2012/04/02/trayvon-martin-the-inconvenient-truth-on-interracial-crime/

From a year ago. The press promotes controversy.
"Now, it's quite possible that Zimmerman is guilty of everything his worst foes accuse him of. There is plenty about this case that troubles me. But that's exactly the point – I don't know. Neither does anyone else, and both the scope and tone of the media coverage ought to reflect that fact."
http://www.policymic.com/articles/5972/trayvon-martin-and-georg-zimmerman-case-did-we-learn-anything-from-the-duke-lacrosse-trial

Where is the outcry for social justice? Why just for Trayvon Martin?
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2005, 337 blacks were killed by whites; in the same year, 934 whites were killed by blacks. Between 1976 and 2005, 94 percent of black murder victims were killed by other blacks. Fifty-nine percent of all felony murders during that time period were committed by blacks, and only 39 percent by whites. The number of killings perpetrated by blacks, then, is vastly disproportionate to their percentage of the population. According to statistics from the FBI and the Justice Department, 90 percent of interracial crimes are committed by blacks against whites. In 1992, a fairly typical year, nearly a million whites were killed, robbed, assaulted or raped by blacks; meanwhile, 132,000 blacks were victimized by whites
http://greensboroguardian.com/2012/04/02/trayvon-martin-the-inconvenient-truth-on-interracial-crime/

Clearly there's a racism problem, I mean Look at these statistics!

“An analysis of ‘single offender victimization figures’ from the FBI for 2007 finds blacks committed 433,934 crimes against whites, eight times the 55,685 whites committed against blacks. Interracial rape is almost exclusively black on white — with 14,000 assaults on white women by African Americans in 2007. Not one case of a white sexual assault on a black female was found in the FBI study.”

http://www.lewrockwell.com/2013/07/patrick-j-buchanan/white-racism%E2%80%A8/

The data for the above articles came from the Dept of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. The "raw" data is available here.

In this report many types of crimes are reported in many ways, but for purposes of this discussion let's look at Table 42 on page 29. This table shows violent crime broken down by the race of the victim and the race of the offender.

There were 2,788,600 cases where the victim was white. Of these, in 15.4 percent of the cases the offender was black.
There were 570,550 cases where the victim was black. Of these, in 15.9 percent of the cases the offender was white.

It is clear from this report that in the vast majority of cases the victim and the offender were of the same race. But for interracial violent crime it breaks down like this.
There were 427,904 cases of black on white violent crime and 90,717 of white on black violent crime. So out of 518,621 violent interracial crimes, 82% were black on white.

2008 was the last year reported, but for previous years look here.

This happen one week after the Travon Martin shooting. Is this a hate crime? Why didn't the media report it? Why did the few media outlets which mentioned it leave out "You get what you deserve white boy"?

Teen Set on Fire in Racial Attack; Media Silent
"Some may say that the media are reluctant to stir up racial unrest, but this never seems to stop them when the races of the victim and attackers are reversed. Could you imagine the hue and cry if two older white teenagers had set an innocent black child alight while saying, “You get what you deserve, black boy”? The headlines coast to coast would be cast in neon, and the media would love it — it would give them another chance to agitate for more hate-crime legislation."
http://www.thenewamerican.com/reviews/opinion/item/6099-teen-set-on-fire-in-racial-attack-media-silent

Why are hate crimes only reported when the offender is white?

To find out more just Google "Kansas city 13 year old set on fire". What you will not find is coverage by the major networks.

i read that yesterday or sunday and it made me sick