What follows is strictly my opinion.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/cops-witnesses-back-george-zimmermans-version/story?id=16371852#.T7WXQKVue01
It grinds my guts that those two show up every time a black loses in a battle with another race … but nary a peep when blacks are the aggressors — even against their own.
You know the statistics … when it comes to crimes of all sorts, blacks are their own worst enemies. When it comes to opportunistic tooting of horns, Jackson and Sharpton take a back seat to no one. But actually fighting to solve black problems? Puleeze. Jackson and Sharpton are still playing the tired old ‘race card’. The problem now is not that blacks are especially disadvantaged, it’s that the vast majority of them are not taking advantage of what is already on the table.
And it’s hard to blame the white man for that.
But you can still blame him when a black gets shot by (name a race).
C’mon, guys, do ya really wanna save young black lives? If so, squelch the thug culture — that’s right, just pull the frigging plug on it — and plant a size 10 wide every time a kid cuts school. If you’re out driving around and you see your kid (male or female) is ‘sagging’, take a moment to heat their boxer shorts. Be prepared to face down their no-good ‘friends’. Don’t accept the excuse that school learning is “too white”. School learning is what made blacks the fastest growing middle / executive class in the past decade or so. And a lack of education is what keeps blacks mired in the drug culture … the less hope, the more dope.
Strictly speaking, the “stand your ground” provision is no defense if you are the agressor. Really … it simply won’t work. But if Treyvon assaulted Zimmerman as Zimmerman was returning to his vehicle, Zimmerman should walk out of jail a free man because, no matter what (if anything) had transpired between the two previously, Zimmerman had disengaged.
The dispute, if any, was OVER.
That IS what at least one witness reports … that Treyvon assaulted Zimmerman as Zimmerman was returning to his car. Zimmerman says that he was out of his car to get a house address so he could report his location to the police. Having delivered pizza for a living, I’m inclined to believe him … in some neighborhoods all the numbers are small (or missing) and most of them are unlit. Moreover, everything else he has said so far has been backed up with either physical evidence or eyewitnesses.
My understanding is that Zimmerman was patrolling a gated community. If Martin didn’t live there and wasn’t a guest there, what WAS he doing there?
When the cops told him not to follow Treyvon and to wait for the police, Zimmerman said “Okay”.
The first time I heard that I was inclined to hear “Okay, yeah, whatever. Bite me.” It sounded as if he wasn’t taking the instruction seriously … and that looked ‘bad’ on his part.
But if Zimmerman actually stopped his car and walked over to get a house address, he was in fact following his instructions to the letter. Moreover, there is the fact that he called 911 in order to get police assistance: he wasn’t trying to be a Rambo. Treyvon didn’t call 911 for help, he called his girlfriend and then, apparently, took matters into his own hands with all the wisdom that comes from having attained the ripe old age of 17. The eyewitness claims that Zimmerman was attacked while trying to get back into his car. Another eyewitness says that it was Zimmerman, not Treyvon, who called for help at the top of his lungs (what did Treyvon need help for? … until the gun went off, he was winning).
If true, Zimmerman was not the aggressor … and that is the crucial thread upon which the “stand your ground” provision hangs. You can’t pick the fight. You’ve got to give the other person the opportunity to back away. But you don’t have to take a beating just because you can’t outrun them. There is no obligation to even try to run away. You are allowed to maintain your dignity as a human being and stand your ground against an aggressor.
I just recently took a CCL* class and Zimmerman’s reported emotional state is pretty spot on for someone who has just taken the life of an assailant who was up close and personal. They told us to forget the ‘gung ho / GI Joe’ stuff … that we’d be reliving that moment every night for the rest of our lives. While I’d rather have the nightmares than the bullet holes, by the time you get to the point of firing, it’s already a lose-lose confrontation. All that’s being decided is who loses how much and when.
In other news …
I don’t conflate marijuana use with being a hardened criminal trained in the martial arts (although being popped with a baggie in school might indicate a dealer in the making … my memory of HS is that if you keep your nose otherwise clean, you can deal out of your locker til the cows come home.). But I do see a kid who had no intention of playing by anyones rules except his own. BTDT.
Frankly, this is beginning to look like nothing more than an opportunistic mugging gone wrong.
– Jude
PS — Watch for Sharpton and Jackson to make a fresh appearance near the end of this trial … either to claim victory if Zimmerman is convicted or claim that the poor black man can’t get an even break from the all-white system and that Zimmerman should have been charged with “murder one”. You WILL NOT see them apologizing for wrongfully villifying this man who was risking his life so that others, of whatever race, could sleep safer.
*My wife and I will be hiking part of the Appalachian Trail this sometime this summer or early fall and black bears can be a problem — so can letting other people know that you are carrying a firearm. Some will freak at the mere thought of a firearm and others will see it as something valuable to be stolen. Thus, the concealed carry license. I’ll be carrying a firearm small enough to conceal, but large enough to dispatch a bear in one or two shots. In essence, I’ve already taken (and passed) a class very similar to the one that Zimmerman took — and that Martin did not. That recent experience is the source for ALL the information I have about concealed carry laws and the Florida cc laws may differ materially from those of my state. However, my state has reciprocity with 36 other states, so I suspect that my training in such matters is about as good as there is to be had anywhere else in the Union. Because I am not satisfied with the first class I took, I am taking another one tomorrow … carrying a handgun is a serious responsibility. Just ask Zimmerman.