The Trayvon Martin Case
 

All I can say to this point is WOW !! some of the prosecutors witness seem a bit confused sometimes but I think in the end he would either walk or get probation because of that "Stand your Ground" Law.

I live in Florida so I know how racist some of these people here behave,from the people to the Police against minorities.It's a serious problem we face.

I just hope this Zimmerman mofo does NOT walk ! The Martin family need justice on this one.

what do you think ?

Watching the trail on CNN now..wtf is this man talking about? :mad:

another day of crazy shit in the court room.. what amazes me is that the news and people that have no freekin clue are saying.. things like "oh it was boring in the court room today" or "things have slowed down a bit" as if this is a movie or something..

remarkable.

http://www.rolereboot.org/culture-and-politics/details/2013-06-a-letter-to-rachel-jeantel-the-prosecutions-key-witn?fb_action_ids=10151684906337520&fb_action_typ es=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_objec t_map={"10151684906337520"%3A140627852806342}&acti on_type_map={"10151684906337520"%3A"og.likes"}&act ion_ref_map=[]


Rachel Jeantel, the young woman who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin the night he was killed, was grilled by George Zimmerman's defense and the media on Wednesday. And Khadijah Costley White wants to apologize to her on behalf of the world.


Dear Rachel,
I write this as I watch you testifying, tightening your lips, grinding your teeth in an attempt to be stoic, to not break down while you recount the grisly, too-soon murder of your friend. It was probably the most terrifying moment of your life. I can’t imagine listening, helpless, while my friend was stalked and murdered, panicked and afraid. You told him to run. You thought it would keep him safe. What could’ve been going through your mind that day? Did you worry when the phone was cut off? When Trayvon didn’t call you back or return any of your missed calls?
What could you have possibly felt when you found out that Travyon had been killed? Were you able to sleep that night? Have you been able to sleep since? "He sounded tired," you said today on the stand. You do, too, Rachel. So tired.
I want to write you an apology for this whole world, even if it’s not my place to apologize. I’m so sorry that you’re sitting on the stand right now, being interrogated like a criminal instead of another victim. I’m so sorry that people are judging you, fixated more on your beautiful brown skin, your carefully applied make-up, your body, your being, than your trauma and your pain. I’m sorry that you were born into a country where a man can pursue and kill a black boy, your friend, and go home the same night with the blessings of law enforcement officers. I’m sorry that you’ve been retraumatized, stigmatized, defamed, and attacked just because you were unlucky enough to love a black boy, to share time with him, to be the last one he ever called.
I’m so sorry for your loss.
This letter, I know, doesn’t make up for any of it. Not for the unimaginable grief and pain you’ve suffered in the last year. Not for the guilt or shame you’ve probably felt, which no doubt has affected your health and will continue to affect your life, your dreams, your faith. I can’t even fix the extreme likelihood that you and your children might soon find it impossible to vote in your home state. Or that you were never taught to read cursive, or that the school you grew up attending was probably more like a prison than a place of learning. I can’t promise that you, or another loved one (or mine) won’t, yet again, die too soon, too young, too black.
But I’m writing this all the same.
There are a lot of hateful things being said about you—comparisons to "Precious" (as if Gabourey Sidibe isn’t a real person or, irony of ironies, that Precious wasn’t also a victim of trauma), people making fun of your frankness, your tenacity, your refusal to codeswitch out of your mother-sister-brother tongue. You exemplify, in your girth, skin tone, language, and manner, a refusal to concede. You are a thousand Nat Turners, a quiet spring of rebellion, and some folks don’t know how to handle that.
In truth, you’re part of a long legacy of black women so often portrayed as the archetypal Bitch, piles of Sassafrasses, Mammies, and Jezebels easily dismissed, caricatured, and underestimated. For black women, in particular, being the bitch represents our historical exclusion from the cult of true womanhood, a theme traditionally bounded and defined by its contrast to white femininity. For some folks, being black and being a woman makes us less of both.
Don’t forget that in just the last few years, Fox News called the First Lady of the United States “Obama’s Baby Mama,” that a popular radio host referred to a group of college athletes as “nappy-headed hoes,” and that even a gold-medal Olympian wasn’t able to escape physical scrutiny and bodily criticism on the world stage. This rhetoric is bigger than you, older than you, deeper than you—it is not you.
(But you know that, already, don’t you?)
I just want you to know: I am so proud of you. In you I see a fierce resistance that reminds me of ancestors past. Each time you open your mouth, look down, clench your cheeks in a fresh wave of pain, I see Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Fannie Lou Hamer joining their spirits and bonding their strength to yours. I see a survivor, a woman who has miraculously kept her mind and nurtured her sanity enough that she can sit, for hours, and recount such horror. You have a brilliance that flares out, only to be quickly veiled by a glance down or a quiet stare. Past your soul-wrenching pain and your child-like bravado, I see hope and possibility, a small green tendril creeping out of a concrete playground. I see YOU.
I hold you in me—and there are many, many others, with our arms, minds, and hearts holding you right alongside me. I hope you feel it. I hope you know it.

And I’m so sorry that my apology isn’t enough.
Costley White is a faculty member in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

I think this mofo might get just 5 yrs with 10 yrs probation only because of this "Stand your Ground" law.It is the only thing that is savin his ass right now.

Someone on FB had posted that people will riot in the streets and carry on ect(Rodney King Style),I truly hope this is NEVER the case only because innocent people will get hurt and breaking shit is really not the way to go about this situation.We do not need to give "some" of these people the satisfaction in those types of actions so they can then point the finger and say "See" ? "I told you they are animals" ect.. I'm tired of that shit already. :(

CROSS OPINION by Stephen Goodman (FB)


Watch how race riots happen when he is set free by the jury today. Watch how the media took this, owned this and distorted this. Watch how alllllll these people are upset that a drugged up kid who was sent upstate cause he was a troublemaker is catapulted into Jesus Christ status as if he represented every victim ever. YOU. Fell into the media hype. Evidence all points to Trayvon as the aggressor. Even trayvons own witness says this. But media must keep this story alive. It started as 'stand your ground' when that didn't work it was called 'racial' when that didn't work it is now called 'hoodie' and now that people bought into all the drama we will have a verdict. Every wannabe al sharpton is on the scene hoping to make a name for themselves in this little town in upstate Florida. All because a stoned smart mouthed kid chose to confront an armed creepy cracker rather then continue on home one night. Happens all the time. You are hearing about this story cause the kids family is from Miami. Drama central for news. If there were hurricanes coming nobody would have even covered this story

werdz Mr.Goodman.. I feel you .. The media's perception of Zimm has been brutal and from what I understand if it werent for Al Sharp,the Gov of Fl and Eric Holder and his crew werent there in Sanford Fl..then there would be no case.This is why the cops let him go in the first place.The Prosecution was forced into doing this case (from what I understand - reliable sources).Zimm should've of also just stayed in his car and gone home.. that too wouldve been a good option.Both Tray and Zimm shouldve gone their ways.. this is fucked all around period.

IMO. Al Sharp and his posse should be having demonstrations in Chicago where the crime rate and black on black ect are out of control.. not in Sandford... those guys are looking for law suit is what(the lawyers for the Martin Family) and they will get it.Tray's memory will live on.. and a lesson for some of our young youths out there.. not everyone is going to run from you when you take a stand and say SUP !! someone like Zimm is always lurking in the shadows ready to take down anyone that has this type of behavior...Please be careful ..

His response back to me.

• https://profile-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hprof...74128177_q.jpg
  Stephen Goodman
  
  
  
  
  
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• Zimmerman will go free today ....
  And all this crap will come to an end. Trayvon was shot because he had a smart mouth and started a fist fight with the wrong guy that night. The evidence proves this, the call to his girlfriend proves this. Everything proves this. Zimmermans injuries prove this. If Zimmerman was black this wouldn't have made the news. Trayvon is from Miami. Drama capital if the world. This is why community leaders jumped on the story in the first place.. It's a circus of comical reverends pushing this phantom story about a skittle eating kid. Well.... He is 5 yrs older then the photos suggest. He was 6ft tall.... He was a bad kid who played with guns, did drugs had a twitter name of bigNig or something like that Nd was sent upstate by his parents because they couldn't control him. TRUTH...
  Trayvon DOES NOT represent all giddier youths!!!! He was a smart mouthed stoned kid who messed with the wrong guy in the wrong town and resulted badly....
  Can't wait for all the bullshit when he is set free. THE MEDIA in south Florida took this, owned this ,and like always SOFLO made a mess of it. Like the elections, like hurricanes, like sports teams like EVERYTHING
  
  
  
  
  

One PISSED OFF MAN..


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Jay Polatnick


This case can't really have any good outcomes. I'm rooting for a 'Hung Jury'. Like this, it's not a blatant 'Acquittal' and would greatly lessen George Zimmerman's chances of unjustly receiving a long sentence. The Prosecution's case was largely based on assumptions and unproven 'intentions'.

Stephen Goodman

Ok I see this is a black and white thing as the media has desired...
I'm not saying another word. Reggie you are my friend .
I'm out . Goodnight!!!
Remember I live down here.
The photos of Trayvon you see are 4 yrs old and the kid was a bad kid. That's why his mom sent him upstate... And it was Trayvon who racially profiled Zimmerman as a white cracker (witness) and Zimmerman is Spanish . Go figure!
I am sad that the media won. This wasn't a black/ white/Spanish thing..... WE ALL OWN HOODIES!
A dumbass was roaming around stoned and ended up in a fight (we will never know who started it)
STOP using this as a racial war,,,,

Not Guilty!!!

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's be clear, just because Zimmerman wasn't found guilty does not mean he did not murder that child. It means the state did not prove it to that jury.

Zimmerman will learn what OJ and many other non guilty defendants of murder do––Karma is real! Rest In Peace Trayvon! Your death will not be in vain! ~

http://25.media.tumblr.com/2ebc902ab...9duo1_1280.jpg


http://thepoliticalfreakshow.us/post...enario-of-what


Race Reversal: A Hypothetical Scenario Of What Would Happen If Trayvon Martin Were White And George Zimmerman Were Black, And Why Race Has Everything To Do With The Case

If you don’t understand how deeply and viciously racist has been the official and right-wing reaction to the murder of Trayvon Martin, all you have to do is consider what would have been the official and right-wing reaction had the races of Martin and his killer been reversed.

Imagine a lanky white teenager was walking in a strange neighborhood at night. He’s a good kid—according to one of his teachers "an A and B student who majored in cheerfulness"—although he’s not above making the foolish teenaged mistake of getting caught with an empty baggie with marijuana residue inside it. But he has no criminal record. The worst anyone can say about him is that he smokes some pot, which puts him in the company of nearly half of all American high school students, something more than half of all American adults would legalize. But he’s a good student and has no criminal record. In other words, he’s a pretty typical teenager. A good kid.

Then one night this typical teenager is walking alone in a strange neighborhood, munching on some junk food and talking on his cell phone. And remember that we’re reversing the races here, so now he’s a white kid walking alone in a strange neighborhood, and it’s a black man who steps out of an SUV and starts following him. A black man who outweighs the teen by nearly a hundred pounds. A black man who steps out of an SUV, pulls up a hoodie, and starts following the teen. The kid tells his friend on the cell phone that someone is following him. He tells her because he doesn’t understand why someone is following him. He’s nervous. He’s just walking along, munching on junk food, and someone has started following him.

Finally, he decides to confront the guy. Even though he is nervous, he probably can’t imagine that simply walking in a strange neighborhood would lead to someone shooting him dead. He’s standing up for himself, but the thought of violence, the thought of gunfire, doesn’t even enter his head. But when he confronts the big guy who had been following him, and asks why he has been following him, the big guy pulls a gun. It happens so suddenly, the teen probably barely has time to realize that something serious is now happening. This was just an innocent evening stroll, a big guy had started following him for no reason, and now his life is being threatened. This was just an innocent evening stroll, and now he’s looking at a gun. Pointed at him. By a big guy who had been following him for no reason. A big guy who now shoots him dead.

Three witnesses later report having heard the boy’s desperate cry for help. The police report (pdf) says he was found face down, with his hands under him. He was carrying no weapon. He was carrying no drugs. He was carrying the type of junk food typical teenagers carry. In our reversal of races scenario, the story then is that a lanky white teen was walking in a strange neighborhood, snacking on junk food, talking to a friend on his cell phone, when a large black man stepped out of an SUV, started following him, frightened him, and shot him dead. Imagine the reaction.

Now suppose we find out that the teen’s killer had a history of race-based paranoia. Suppose we find out that the teen’s killer’s neighbors had complained of his aggressive behavior. Suppose we find out that the teen’s killer had once been arrested for “resisting arrest with violence and battery on an officer." Suppose we find out that the teen’s killer that night had ignored a police dispatcher who had told him to stop following the teen. And suppose that after all that, the much larger black man who had stepped out of an SUV, pulled up a hoodie, and started following the white teen had ended up shooting the white teen dead. What would have been the official response? What would have been the right-wing reaction?

Would a police officer have tried to coach a witness to change her story? Would the local state attorney and police chief have overruled even the lead homicide investigator, who recommended that the killer be charged with manslaughter? Would the police have neglected even to give the killer a routine drug and alcohol test? Would the police have neglected to contact whomever the kid was talking to on the phone just moments before he was shot, ignored the witnesses who contradicted the killer’s story, and later reported that the killer had been bloodied in a confrontation with the dead teen, even though the real time reports suggested no such thing, and even though the police surveillance video shows the killer had no discernible wounds or discomfort, and even though the funeral director who prepared the dead teen’s body for burial says there was no evidence he had been in a fight?

If Trayvon Martin had been white and George Zimmerman black, this would not have become a national story. If they had reported it at all, the right-wing media would have praised Martin for trying to stand his ground before a dangerous violent thug. It defies credulity to think they would be dismissing the killer’s behavior, making despicable excuses such as blaming the kid’s clothing, or if— unthinkable in this reversing-the-races scenario—there had been no criminal charges filed against the killer, dismissing the story altogether. The questions here don’t even need answers. The questions answer themselves.

Had Trayvon Martin been white and George Zimmerman black, Zimmerman would be headed for death row. Right-wing media would be hailing Martin as a hero. A martyr who had stood his ground against a dangerous predator. They would be saying that it’s too bad Martin hadn’t somehow fought back against Zimmerman, and that if he had somehow succeeded in fighting a man so much larger than him, it would have been justifiable if he had left Zimmerman dead.

There is no polite way to explain what has happened. There is no polite way to explain the reflexive defensive rationalizations by the right-wing media and their right-wing fans. This was a racist killing with a racist cover-up and the right wing’s reaction has been virulently and viciously racist. To understand the depth of the right wing’s racist depravity, all it takes is to consider the very different reaction to this horror had the races of the victim and his killer been reversed.

Welcome to post-racial America.

Justice could still be served.. dont get it twisted..the night is still young and this man cannot go anywhere without someone noticing his ass.. he may just have to put on a dress,wig and everything that will make him look like a woman..They will knock his ass wherever he is.

soul oasis, I will say this. we need to educate our kids on how to deal with the law ( and wanna be law) . I remember a situation one time when I was in college and these police rolled by us. me and my pals were walking to a party in the neighborhood. the police claimed we fit the description of some guys that were in the neighborhood trying break into people's homes. me and another guy handled it well and told the police that we were sorry about what was going on but we were not the guys in question. we were on our way to a college party. however one of my friends started getting mad at the police for even insinuating that we fit the description. I believe if we as people talk to law enforcement calmly when approached by them and then later on lodging a complaint about them with their superiors we would be a little more successful with stamping out this kind of mentality Zimmerman had.

best believe Zimmerman will have his day when he goes to apply for employment. he may have beat the case but he has not beat society

I concur !!! This is why my son Seth is on some of these laws.I don't ever want to hear something like this has happened to him without him knowing his rights and "some" of the laws.

Laws can be very tricky if not interpreted correctly.I also highly encourage our youths to become more lawyers in this country.Enough is enough.

FUCKIN WOW !!


:mad:

Musician, Known for Work with Chambers Brothers, Assaulted for Dedicating Song to Trayvon Martin


http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/201...rayvon-martin/

http://i0.mail.com/152/2215152,h=425,pd=1,w=620.jpg


MIAMI (AP) — As they began deliberating in George Zimmerman's murder trial, three of the six jurors wanted to acquit him while the other three wanted to convict him of either murder or manslaughter, one of the jurors said.

The six-woman jury ultimately voted to acquit Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in last year's shooting but the jury also was allowed to consider manslaughter.

The woman, known as Juror B37, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday that when the jury began deliberations Friday, they took an initial vote. Three jurors— including B37 — were in favor of acquittal, two supported manslaughter and one backed second-degree murder. She said the jury started going through all the evidence, listening to tapes multiple times.

"That's why it took us so long," said B37, who said she planned to write a book about the trial but later had a change of heart. When they started looking at the law, the person who initially wanted second-degree murder changed her vote to manslaughter, the juror said. Then they asked for clarification from the judge and went over it again and again. B37 said some jurors wanted to find Zimmerman guilty of something, but there was just no place to go based on the law.

B37 said jurors cried when they gave their final vote to the bailiff. "I want people to know that we put everything into everything to get this verdict," said the juror, whose face was blacked out during the televised interview but who appeared to become choked up.

The interview came two days after the jury acquitted Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Martin in a gated community in Sanford, Fla. Martin was black, and Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic. Zimmerman was not arrested for 44 days, and the delay in charging him led to protests from those who believed race was a factor in the handling of the case.

While prosecutors accused Zimmerman of profiling Martin, Zimmerman maintained he acted in self-defense. Juror B37, the only juror to speak publicly about the case so far, said Monday that the actions of Zimmerman and Martin both led to the teenager's fatal shooting, but that Zimmerman didn't actually break the law.

While Zimmerman made some poor decisions leading up to the shooting, including leaving his car when police told him not to, Martin wasn't innocent either, the juror said. "I think both were responsible for the situation they had gotten themselves into," said the juror. "I think they both could have walked away."

The juror said Sanford Police Detective Chris Serino made a big impression on her, because he would have been accustomed to dealing with murders and similar cases. He would have known how to spot a liar, and yet he testified that he believed Zimmerman, the juror said.

Legal analysts agreed that Serino's testimony was a blow to the state's case. The Sanford police were criticized last year for not arresting Zimmerman, and Gov. Rick Scott later appointed a special prosecutor, who brought charges against the neighborhood watch volunteer.

The juror said she didn't think Martin's race was the reason Zimmerman followed him on a dark, rainy night. She said she also believed Martin threw the first punch and that Zimmerman, whom she referred to as "George," had a right to defend himself.

"I have no doubt George feared for his life in the situation he was in at the time," the juror said. The juror said she was not impressed by the testimony of Rachel Jeantel, who was talking with Martin by cellphone moments before he was fatally shot by Zimmerman.

"I didn't think it was very credible, but I felt very sorry for her," the juror said. "She didn't want to be there." The juror also commented on defense attorney Don West's knock-knock joke about knowing who Zimmerman was during opening statements.

"The joke was horrible. Nobody got it," she said. Juror B37 outlined to CNN the process she and the other five jurors went through in their deliberations. She said they spent the first day electing a foreman and getting organized. She said the jury instructions weren't immediately clear and the evidence was in no order whatsoever.

She said it was a difficult process. "We thought about it for hours and cried over it afterwards," she said. "I don't think any of us could ever do anything like that ever again." Martin Literary Management announced Monday that it was representing B37 and her husband, who is an attorney. The names of the jurors have not been released, but during jury selection it was disclosed that B37 works in an unspecified management position and has two adult children.

But agency head Sharlene Martin released a statement late Monday saying she was no longer representing the juror and that the juror had dropped the book idea. It included a statement that she said was crafted in conjunction with agency in which the juror explained that being sequestered had kept her shielded "from the depth of pain that exists among the general public over every aspect of the case." The juror said that the book was meant to show that our justice system "can get so complicated that it creates a conflict with our 'spirit' of justice."

The Associated Press was unable to reach the juror. In a separate interview, Jeantel was asked by CNN's Piers Morgan whether she thought race was a factor in Zimmerman's decision to follow Martin prior to their fight.

"It was racial," she said. "Let's be honest. Racial. If he were white, if Trayvon was white and he had a hoodie on, what would happen?" She noted that the altercation happened in the early evening, when many people are out walking their dogs or doing other things.

Morgan played back a recording of the juror's comments to CNN about Jeantel's education level and speech, and the witness said it made her sad and angry. Jeantel, who is black, said she also had a feeling that the jury would return a not-guilty verdict.

"They're white," she said of the jury at one point. "Well, one Hispanic. But she's stuck in the middle. I had a feeling it was going to be a 'not guilty.'" While the court did not release the racial makeup of the jury, the panel appeared to reporters covering jury selection to be made up of five white women and a sixth who may be Hispanic.