George Zimmerman charged with 2nd degree murder
- Thread starter DR. B
- Start date
Rey C.
Racing is life... anything else is just waiting.
Even as a gun owner, member of the NRA, supporter of the castle doctrine and a one time concealed weapons permit holder myself, I would agree with that. Martin's race may have had something to do with why Zimmerman was following Martin - I don't know. And Zimmerman's race (and/or Martin's) may have had something to do with why he wasn't initially charged by the Sanford police (given past allegations and complaints about that dept.) - I don't know. All I know is, in a similar situation, not being a police officer, armed or unarmed, I would not have exited my vehicle and tried to take on the persona of a law enforcement officer. That much I do know. So when someone else apparently does, at least to me, something smells funny about a shooting that results from that. And I don't care if the shooter was purple and the victim was hot pink.
Whether from the media, people like Jesse Jackson or neo-Nazis, I agree with you that the focus SHOULD be on right vs. wrong, and not so much on race. But for those here who don't seem to understand, "Hispanic" is not a racial category. So if Zimmerman is not White, then what is he? Maybe mixed race, but that would be about it. So either the media should not mention Zimmerman's race, or if they do, identifying him as "White" or a "White Hispanic" seems correct. There are "White Hispanics" (like my ex-fiancee), "Black Hispanics" (Vanessa del Rio, for instance) and given the number of Japanese in Peru, I suppose one could even have "Asian Hispanics".
As for the fascination with this case, every year gives us another anchor case (for lack of a better term), doesn't it? Was Caley Anthony the ONLY baby in America who was murdered a couple of years ago? How about Natalie Holloway? No other teen girls went missing that year? And the big one... around the same time that Nicole Brown-Simpson was murdered, a Puerto Rican woman was gang-raped atop an apartment building in New York. When her attackers came back for seconds, she leaped to her death rather than go through it again. Anybody hear about that? No? :dunno: This has been going on since well before the Lindbergh kidnapping - and they went on & on about that for YEARS after the case ended (kinda like the OJ thing). If this story is over-hyped, it's not as if this is even close to being the first over-hyped media story.
The commercial networks and newspapers exist to sell advertising and generate profits... just like any other business. So what ever story they can hype to draw more eyeballs than their competitors, that's what they do. I'm not defending how this story has been presented by some (I've stopped watching any accounts until more facts are presented) - just saying that dogs tend to bark.
If Zimmerman uttered a racial slur and only followed the kid because he was Black then it is about race and racial profiling in general, would Zimmerman have followed a white kid also wearing a hoody or did he think Black kid with a hoody in an affluent area = mugger or burglar?
I think that it is very sad that trayvon martin was killed. All he wanted to do was goto the store and get a snack and for that a life was taken. While I do agree that zimmerman being charged is the right call simple because he made a choice to persue martin after he was advised not to and that right there makes him a predator, not prey I cannot truly say that all of the facts of the events that transpired that night are known. We will never know all of the facts, because the only other person who could recall what actually happened that night is dead. Its now george zimmerman's word only, trayvon isn't there to tell the rest of the story. Was justice served? Yes, george zimmerman played god when he chose to pull the trigger. Was it racially motivated? No one really knows. Do I agree with florida's stand your ground law? No way!
The fact is george zimmerman had 100 lbs on martin. He had a handgun and he chose to use it when he started losing the fight as he claims that it was him screaming for help which I myself don't buy. They wrestled and somehow trayvon managed to get the upperhand so he chose to shoot martin rather than lose the fight. For that alone I agree with the 2nd degree murder charge he was given. He chose to play god! Only GOD has the right to take somebodyele's life. No man has this right. All of this could have been avoided if george zimmerman would have just listened to the dispatchers advice and let the police take over. He choose to persue his target and that makes him 100% guilty with INTENT, because he kept persuing his target. You can't claim self defense after you follow someone and initiate a situation.
The fact is george zimmerman had 100 lbs on martin. He had a handgun and he chose to use it when he started losing the fight as he claims that it was him screaming for help which I myself don't buy. They wrestled and somehow trayvon managed to get the upperhand so he chose to shoot martin rather than lose the fight. For that alone I agree with the 2nd degree murder charge he was given. He chose to play god! Only GOD has the right to take somebodyele's life. No man has this right. All of this could have been avoided if george zimmerman would have just listened to the dispatchers advice and let the police take over. He choose to persue his target and that makes him 100% guilty with INTENT, because he kept persuing his target. You can't claim self defense after you follow someone and initiate a situation.
Probably the most relevant post in the whole thread, people seem to forget an innocent teen was shot and killed after an altercation that Zimmerman initiated. Bear in mind he has had weeks to formulate a story that would serve his defence well, had he been charged straight after the shooting and a trial already started then maybe the truth would've come out and all the protests wouldn't have happened. He needed to be charged with something or if not the police should have released a statement saying they believed he was 100% clear based on the facts/evidence they had collected and that would have been the end of it.
Sam Fisher
Banned
Hopefully, the appeals court sides with Zimmerman. If so, he will be immune from facing criminal charges for the shooting. And, even if new evidence or witnesses surface he can't be sued for civil damages my Martin's family for wrongfully causing his death.
luis1972
Proxima Centauri b
It seems plausible
It is a shame that there is a dead 17 yr old here. But the way the media has handled it seemed to inflame african american emotions first, And release the facts second. Which makes it harder to get a fair trial for the accused, when he's already guilty in alot of peoples minds. "Fair" is relative of course. But when the established media acts in this way there is probibly something else like the "Castle Law" or the Stand your Ground Law" that will probibly actually also be put on trial. Like Malcom X said "You've been had"! the media serves it's own agenda.
Sam Fisher
Banned
Martin, and Martin alone made the decision to fight.
xfire
New Twitter/X @cxffreeman
How do you know that?
Zimmerman pursued Martin for a reason, something along the lines of, "these assholes always get away".
I can't believe you people are still going on and on about this. The courts will decide, go do something better with your time than argue with racists or push your racist views.
Exactly :clap:
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Shifty again.
Exactly :clap:
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Shifty again.
Sam Fisher
Banned
And that's grounds for Martin to start kicking Zimmerman's ass?
xfire
New Twitter/X @cxffreeman
How do you know that's what happened?
I'm taking Rockerx's advice-
Exactly :clap:
You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Rockerx again.
Sam Fisher
Banned
Yeah, I'm a racist because I'm white, Zimmerman is mexican, and martin is black.
You can always tell when the person that you're arguing with has nothing else to go by, they always play the RACE CARD!
Good job, punk!
You can always tell when the person that you're arguing with has nothing else to go by, they always play the RACE CARD!
Good job, punk!
Will E Worm
Conspiracy...
There's better things to do than argue with liberal race baiters pushing their agenda.
Just post the facts and let them deal with it.
Rey C.
Racing is life... anything else is just waiting.
No, being a racist is what makes you a racist.
Oh, so now Zimmerman's race is "Mexican"? And just when did Zimmerman become a Mexican? I mean, I know they all look alike to some of you people, but... Mexican?
Its funny how the folks blame everyone under the sun, but forget about the worthless ............. neighbors who didn't intervene. Its a sad world that we live in these days when people will pull out an iphone to upload a video at a car wreck rather than render aid. I saw this happen when a guy who was driving had a heart attack and drove his car accidently into a convenience store. Everyone there whipped out their stupid iphones and started texting away, what worthless ......
I hold the neighbors just as accountable, because not a single person went to investigate the disturbance. They made a phone call and they sat in their homes while a young boy was killed. If I was the martin family I would sue every single one of them, because had one of them had the courage to go investigate trayvon martin might still be alive. You walk outside and rack a 12 gauge shotgun and I guarantee you zimmerman would have complied and the fight would have haulted. A 12 gauge being racked has a very fear worthy psychological effect on anyone. Thats all it would have taken to stop the fight until the police arrived to see what was going on. Maybe I am wrong, but in my eyes the neighbors are just as accountable in not preventing trayvon martin's death. I bet that they went to trayvon martin's prayer vigil thinking they did all they could, when they could have done so much more.
I hold the neighbors just as accountable, because not a single person went to investigate the disturbance. They made a phone call and they sat in their homes while a young boy was killed. If I was the martin family I would sue every single one of them, because had one of them had the courage to go investigate trayvon martin might still be alive. You walk outside and rack a 12 gauge shotgun and I guarantee you zimmerman would have complied and the fight would have haulted. A 12 gauge being racked has a very fear worthy psychological effect on anyone. Thats all it would have taken to stop the fight until the police arrived to see what was going on. Maybe I am wrong, but in my eyes the neighbors are just as accountable in not preventing trayvon martin's death. I bet that they went to trayvon martin's prayer vigil thinking they did all they could, when they could have done so much more.
1. Mexican is not a race.
2. Zimmerman is half Peruvian, not Mexican.
2. Zimmerman is half Peruvian, not Mexican.
Rey C.
Racing is life... anything else is just waiting.
Rep for you. :thumbsup:
There is a (more civil) discussion about this topic on another board I'm on. And even there, it's surprising how many people don't realize that "Hispanic" and "Mexican" aren't races.
And just because I have a history with Peruvians (my ex-fiancee and her family), I know that mistaking a Peruvian for a Mexican (as well as certain other Latin nationalities) is like yanking a Rottweiler's ears while he's eating. :nono: There's some kind of "thing" between those groups that I've never fully understood. But lumping them all together is not what you want to do. That much I do know.
Nothing specifically to do with this case, and not to suggest that this was definitely a race based hate crime (I don't know). But since it came up, what would it matter if Zimmerman was purely Hispanic or not (White or non-White)??? Is there some exception in the law that I'm not aware of, that exempts anyone but White males from being capable of committing hate crimes? The incident that Tia Ling described, with the White kid being set on fire by Black kids, sounds like a hate crime to me. And the issues going on in East L.A. for the past couple of years, with Hispanic gangs targeting random Blacks, sound like hate crimes to me. If a Black guy paints a Swastika on a synagogue, IMO, that would still qualify as a hate crime, would it not? And if a Jew sets fire to a mosque, to me that's also a hate crime.
Now, I understand that political correctness and political influences might affect how ALL of those situations might be handled. And to be honest, I've never been in favor of hate crime laws, or making any particular group subject to special legal protections (including "violence against women" acts and special laws for gays, Blacks, Jews or anybody else). To me an assault is an assault is an assault. In the case of people burning crosses, painting Swastikas or things like that (property crimes), I can see there's a case to be made. But in physical assaults against another person, the extenuating circumstances could just be used to increase the sentence... not create a separate class of charges. But that's just my opinion.
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