Filed under Trayvon Martin, U.S. Politics
This is unfortunate because Robert Zimmerman has decided to paint all Black teens with a broad brush, totally disregarding the teens who excel in high school and college. There are Black teens who can’t go to college but will work hard to achieve their goals. I am proud to say my four boys fit both examples.
Stereotyping all Black males is what has gotten the police chief at the 40th precinct in the Bronx in hot water over his stop and frisk policies.
Rob Zimmerman
Since he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year, George Zimmerman has been trying to convince the public that he was not acting simply out of racist aggression but because Martin attacked him. Zimmerman’s brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr, is not helping his cause. On Saturday, Zimmerman went on a Twitter tirade against “black teens,” equating the boy killed by his brother with De’Marquise Elkins, the 17-year-old suspect in the murder of a Georgia infant.
Zimmerman tweeted the photo at Michael Moore, the NAACP, the NRA, and a Breitbart.com editor. He followed it up with another comparison between the two, tweeting “Teen to West: “Do you want me to shoot your baby?” #TrayvonMartin to #GeorgeZimmerman: You’re gonna die tonight Motherf**ker.”
In case the reason for his comparison of the two young black men was unclear, Zimmerman later tweeted:
.@therealpest @michaelskolnik – Lib media shld ask if what these2 black teens did 2 a woman&baby is the reason ppl think blacks mightB risky
— Robert Zimmerman Jr (@rzimmermanjr) March 24, 2013
Trayvon Martin was unarmed when Zimmerman allegedly followed him and shot him. He had no criminal record. Zimmerman had a history of calling the police to report suspicious black individuals, one as young as 7-9 years old. By his brother’s logic, this frequent suspicion of black people was not due to prejudice but because black people pose a genuine and constant threat to everyone around them.
Zimmerman’s trial is scheduled for June 10.
Filed under George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin
Since the very beginning of the case, TFC has made an effort (thanks to The Root) to cover every weekly report on this case since Trayvon Martin’s death.
Here’s what’s been happening in the Trayvon Martin case, in case you’ve not been paying attention.
1. Zimmerman has spent over $300,000 in donations over the last year and is desperate for more funds to finance his defense.
2. The trial has been set for June 10. Zimmerman recently asked for a delay of the trial until November but a judge denied his request.
3. New forensic analysis “casts doubt on Zimmerman’s timeline on the night he shot and killed the unarmed teen.”
4. Zimmerman has gained 105 pounds.
5. The defense team acquired Trayvon Martin’s school records. According to Zimmerman’s lawyers “some information in Trayvon Martin’s file could be relevant in the defense of George Zimmerman.”
6. Zimmerman is suing NBC News. In the suit, Zimmerman claims NBC unfairly portrayed him as a “racist and predatory villain.”
7. The judged denied Zimmerman’s request to be removed from GPS tracking.
8. Trayvon Martin would have turned 18 on February 5.
Filed under Trayvon Martin, Trayvon Martin Shooting
This guy is nuts. The video link is at the end of this post.
Former South Carolina GOP executive director Todd Kincannon is known for making provocative statements on Twitter, but his latest series of tweets has caused an uproar on the Internet and even brought on death threats.
During the Super Bowl Sunday evening, Kincannon sent out a wave of racially-charged tweets bashing the game,including one that referenced Trayvon Martin.
On HuffPost Live Monday, Kincannon defended his tweets, claiming that they were nothing more than satire, but that they highlight just how politicized the Trayvon Martin case has become.
“The left has decided that Trayvon Martin was just this perfect little angel,” Kincannon said. “He was a thug. He
tweeted about drug use. This guy, he was a criminal, and the left has decided to make him some sort of martyr. That is what I don’t understand.”
Kincannon’s inciteful words about Martin didn’t end with those made during the Super Bowl. On Monday, Kincannon went as far as comparing Martin to Columbine gunmen Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris.
Speaking to HuffPost Live’s Jacob Soboroff and Alyona Minkovski, Kincannon tried to argue that the response to his statements are because he is a conservative. He said he understands some find his words to be “tasteless,” but that it’s time for Americans to be able to say what they actually think without being afraid.
“I stand for free speech and I stand for honest speech, and I think more people need to use it,” Kincannon said.
Filed under Trayvon Martin
A few days ago, the news broke that Witness #6 had changed his story in the George Zimmerman case. In a shocking turn of events, three more witnesses have also changed their story, and their new version of events will likely be damaging to Zimmerman’s defense ,according to the Chicago Tribune.
Since Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder, investigators had a number of witnesses who went on record corroborating Zimmerman’s claim that he shot unarmed teen Trayvon Martin with a single bullet in self-defense.
Now, Witnesses 2, 12, and 13 have changed their accounts, with Witness 11′s latest account being the most damaging. Witness 2 reportedly lives in the Twin Lakes community, where Trayvon was murdered. She has been interviewed by authorities three times. Initially, she told investigators,”I saw two guys running. Couldn’t tell you who was in front, who was behind.” She then went on to say that she only saw fists that she couldn’t tell apart, “[I] saw a fistfight. Just fists. I don’t know who was hitting who.”
In her second interview, Witness 2 added another detail, explaining that both Trayvon and Zimmerman were 10 feet apart. In her final interview, though, Witness 2 said that she no longer saw two people running, only one, “I couldn’t tell you if it was a man, a woman, a kid, Black or White. I couldn’t tell you because it was dark and because I didn’t have my contacts on or glasses. … I just know I saw a person out there.”
With Witness 12, who reportedly lives in the same neighborhood as the fatal incident, she said she witnessed two people on the ground but wasn’t sure if Trayvon or Zimmerman was on top, “I don’t know which one. … All I saw when they were on the ground was dark colors,” she said.
In her subsequent interview, though, she identified Zimmerman as the aggressor, after being able to observe both of their sizes, “I know after seeing the TV of what’s happening, comparing their sizes, I think Zimmerman was definitely on top because of his size.”
Witness 13 is said to have the most-damaging account to Zimmerman’s case.
He says that Zimmerman talked with him after the shooting, saying, “[Zimmerman said Trayvon] was beating up on me, so I had to shoot him.”
In his most-recent account, though, Witness 13 added that Zimmerman acted as if the murder was no big deal and then asked him to call his wife. The Chicago Tribune reports:
Zimmerman’s tone, the witness said, was “not like ‘I can’t believe I just shot someone!’ it was more like, ‘Just tell my wife I shot somebody…’ like it was nothing.”
Clearly, Zimmerman’s defense has a growing problem.
Witness 2′s account could easily be interpreted as Trayvon running away from a crazed volunteer neighborhood watchman with a gun. Obviously, Witness 12′s observations are even more damaging. She suggests that Zimmerman was on top, once again corroborating the prosecution’s claim that Trayvon was in the fight of his life, attempting in vain to defend himself against Zimmerman. Then there is Witness 13, whose portrayal of Zimmerman chimes with the idea that he is a crazed racist who thought he could hunt, assault, and shoot any random Black male at the drop of a dime.
With hope, Zimmerman’s trial will unearth the truth for all to see, but if these developments keep going in this direction — in addition with the news that Zimmerman was on mind-altering prescription drugs when he killed Trayvon — Zimmerman may not find it so easy to get off in the murder of Trayvon Martin after all.
Filed under George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin
When I recall that the parents of Trayvon Martin said that their son laid in a morgue as unidentifiable for three days, basically tossed aside until someone came for him, I wondered, why didn’t the police make an effort to find the kid’s family?
Why did they throw Trayvon Martin away for three days? However, learning more about the city of Sanford’s history, (unfortunately, similar to the history of far too many cities in the South) through the fog of my questions comes an image of generations of discrimination and negative impressions of Blacks in general.
Sanford, Florida is a city that will now be known for all times as the place where Trayvon Martin was killed for the crime of Living While Black. It’s in addition the place whose institutions—the police department, the local press, and even the city morgue—treated Trayvon and his body in ways that should disturb anyone with a shred of conscience.
The city of Sanford also has a past that speaks to the racism many believe to be at the heart of why Trayvon was killed and why the man who pulled the trigger was not arrested. I’m not arguing that Sanford, Florida, is somehow more or less twisted than anywhere else. Last month, unarmed, 18-year-old Ramarley Graham was killed in his bathroom by police in New York City. Last week Dane Scott Jr. in Del City, Oklahoma, was killed by police after a “scuffle.” The state medical examiner’s office, however, declared Scott’s death a homicide. The murder of Trayvon Martin is a “local issue” only if we understand “local” to mean local communities across the country.
But Sanford, Florida, does have its own history and it includes a collective moment of intolerance and bigotry that almost derailed the man Martin Luther King Jr. called “a freedom rider before freedom rides,” Jackie Robinson.
Before Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color line in 1947 as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he spent a season desegregating the minor leagues, playing for the Dodgers AAA team, the Montreal Royals. The Royals held Spring Training in Sanford.
Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, after so many years, thought he knew Florida. He believed that Robinson’s presence could go over if efforts were taken to ruffle as few feathers as possible. Robinson, on Rickey’s instructions, didn’t try to stay at any Sanford hotels. He and his wife didn’t eat out at any restaurants not deemed “Negro restaurants.” He didn’t even dress in the same locker room as his teammates.
Rickey thought that would be enough. He thought he knew Florida. But he didn’t know Sanford.
Filed under FL, Trayvon Martin, Trayvon Martin Shooting
This case is too heartbreaking for words but the sadder part is that every Black parent of male children (I had four) has to constantly set rules down about not “upsetting” the police in any way.
Granted a police officer did not gun down young Martin, but in my opinion, he was gunned down because he was “walking while Black”.
Sanford city commissioners just gave a vote of no confidence in police Chief Bill Lee Jr., who has been publicly lambasted for his department’s handling of the Trayvon Martin shooting.
The vote was 3-2, with Commissioners Randy Jones and Patty Mahany voting against.
Commissioner Mark McCarty made a motion to fire the chief, who has been on the job just 10 months. Lee was hired as chief in May 2011 in the wake of tumult surrounding the beating of a homeless black man by the son of a Sanford lieutenant.
The commission, discussing the topic before a packed house, is taking public comment now.
Commissioners can’t fire Lee because he reports to City Manager Norton Bonaparte Jr. But their vote tonight sent a strong signal.
Earlier this evening, commissioners decided to move Monday’s City Commission meeting to the Sanford Civic Center to accommodate the hundreds of people expected to attend.
The civic center, 401 E. Seminole Blvd., holds about 600 people, and the staff plans to put speakers in an adjacent park for overflow crowds. The entire meeting will be devoted to the shooting case in a “town hall” style.
Members of Trayvon’s family are expected to speak during the 5 p.m. forum.
Trayvon was killed Feb. 26 by crime-watch volunteer George Zimmerman as he walked through a gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman has not been arrested because he claims self-defense, according to police.
But community and civic leaders say the Sanford Police Department has conducted a shoddy investigation and are demanding Zimmerman’s arrest.
Related articles on the Orlando Sentinel:
Sanford city commissioners just gave a vote of no confidence in police Chief Bill Lee Jr., who has been publicly lambasted for his department’s handling of the Trayvon Martin shooting.
Filed under Trayvon Martin
There is some controversy over what was said by the shooter in the Trayvon Martin case, George Zimmerman, during his 911 call, especially at the 2 minute and 21 second mark. He seems to say “f–king” and then another word. Some think the second word was a racial epithet, others don’t hear it.
Since there’s a growing discussion over this case, and over the 911 call, we thought we’d post it so you can listen for yourself.
Here’s the Trayvon 911 tape. Listen at 2:21.
What do you think? Some say he said “cold” or “punks”. Some say it’s indecipherable. And some claim he spoke a racial slur. Your thoughts?
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Filed under Trayvon Martin
Honestly, there’s no surprise here when it comes to Fox News’ non-reporting on the Trayvon Martin case in Florida…
Since his tragic death on February 26, Trayvon Martin — an unarmed 17-year-old African-American shot by “neighborhood watch volunteer” George Zimmerman — has become national news. Martin, a good student with no criminal record, was killed by Zimmerman on his way home from the 7-11. Zimmerman was carrying a 9 millimeter handgun. Martin was carrying a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. (If you are unfamiliar with the story, check out our primer on what everyone should know about Trayvon Martin.)
Martin has merited coverage by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today. The story has been covered by all three broadcast networks and extensively on cable. But there is one outlet that has barely mentioned Trayvon Martin — Fox News.
Here’s a breakdown of the coverage of Trayvon Martin on the three major cable networks from the day of his death through today at noon:
Filed under Fox News, Trayvon Martin
Melissa Harris-Perry did a segment over the weekend about the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, a few weeks ago, and it’s well worth watching, especially if you want to get brought up to speed on this story. The controversy surrounding this shooting is starting to garner national attention, and for good reason.
Filed under Trayvon Martin
