Shades of 1966! Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teen shot and killed by a white Neighborhood Watch member in Lee County, Florida, will have his shooting probed by the US DOJ and the FBI. They have opened a civil rights investigation as of today.
The sense of déjà vu is powerful in this case. An unarmed black teen is accosted by a white man with a gun, shot and killed. The man claims self-defense, on the basis that they were fighting and the teen bloodied his nose. The police show up, take the shooter's statement, interview a few 'witnesses,' who give conflicting reports, and declare the shooter innocent of wrongdoing. The shooter is released and the local community becomes angered at this cavalier treatment of the death of a child, and demands that the shooter be arrested. The sheriff refuses, citing unspecified evidence that is "consistent with the shooter's story."
At this point, the story hits not only the national news, but the social networks on the internet. More than 435,000 people sign a Change.org internet petition demanding a 'real' investigation. The uproar grows, because almost no one can see any necessity for the shooting. There were several decision points at which the shooter could have short-circuited the entire event and waited for police to arrive. Then come the feds.
Although the federal government has no direct jurisdiction over a local crime of shooting, even murder, they are charged with enforcing the federal Civil Rights Act. In the 1960s, white men were routinely released by sheriffs, police, judges and juries for murders of blacks in front of witnesses.
The FBI used violation of the victims' civil rights as the striking point from which to wedge open a case and obtain justice, however limited, for the victims. It looks like they have to do it again, because there's no evidence that the shooter, one George Zimmerman, had any reason or excuse for his actions that night. However, under Florida's "Stand your ground" law, if no one directly contradicts a shooter's self-defense claim, it is very difficult to bring charges. In this case, if no charges are brought--murder, manslaughter or even wrongful death--there is little doubt that a case for violation of Trayvon Martin's civil rights can be made. And civil rights violations charges are not constrained by state or local law.
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Comments: 28
Regardless of any state statute or written law, one can only wonder how the shooter was not at the very least, taken into custody for a more indepth investigation by a senior officer and crime scene technicians. Instead the shooter was allowed to remain free and with only his word as evidence, that his life was in danger and therefore he had no alternative, but to use deadly force defend himself.
It would appear that the police are attempting excuse their {non} actions by hiding behind a state law which protects an individual from prosceution for instituting self defense in the case of {presumed} imminent danger. However, the shirking their duty to protect all citizens by hiding behind that law is quite evident in this case and only serves to diminish trust in the police to treat and protect all citizen equally under/by civil statutes and criminal laws.
A teenage boy is dead because he was eating candy while walking through a neigborhood where a psychotic individual with a gun was looking for a reason to demonstrate his authority. That same death dealing person is more than likely, now cleaning and polishing his weapon in preparedness for his next encounter with another dangerous candy eating teenager while on his future shift of community watch patrol.
What is our country coming to or is it that our country is regressing to the days of the KKK ??? Are we as a nation of caring people going to stand quietly by and not raise our voices in opposition, while such maniacs harboring personal racist emotions and attitudes are allowed to kill innocent people and remain free from prosceution. {Isinceely pray not} Or are we going to stand as one voice and demand that justice be done for both this boy, his family and our nation as a whole ??? It is our duty as an "equal justice for all" society to do the latter. I believe that to do nothing to rectify this crime and bring the criminal to account, will mean that our country is headed into dire straights which could be the beginning of the end for what has been a binding civil society since 1779.
It sounds like an ugly racial incident--but we can't know this for sure.
A man has the right to defend himself.
In this case, however, the man, who supposedly defended himself, was, armed and, presumably, was bigger and stronger. The deceased was not armed.
Not only that, but the shooter IGNORED the 911 Dispatch request.
Disobeying a police request is suspicious enough, for the Watch Captain to therefore come under intensive scrutiny.
But we ought to wait for a call to Justice, until all the facts are in.
The more preemptive condemnation there is, of law enforcement, as well as the more preemptive condemnation there is, of a man's deadly actions, the more, in an ironic way, such prejudgements can fuel racism.
August Lady, I don't mean to be disrespectful, but both being minorities doesn't necessarily mean much. Minorities can be just as bigoted, prejudiced and racist (actually, that's triply redundant isn't it?) toward each other as any white group can be toward them.
Simply put, I would bet actual money that if you could read his mind, Mr. Zimmerman thinks he figured out a way to kill a black kid and get away with it.
Chuck, I think this says more about you than the shooter. What a disgusting racist remark, shows how racist you really are! Dang, Chuck, talk about irresponsible racist incitement! I just never cease to be amazed by how sick "you people" are! I mean liberals with all their agendas. Nasty, racist, trash talk!
I was just as upset by this:
August Lady Mar 20, 2012, 5:45pm EDT
Even tho' I'm skeptical of the "race factor" being played in this case, as both the victim and the shooter are both minorities,
It is clear one can assume all non minority whites, or at least all Fl whites, or maybe all southern Whites are always racist! Jeez guys, how racist is that????
This is ridiculous, first all the Tea Party, but now so divided it is all whites??? Or just Southern Whites, ALL OF THEM, automatically? How about the 55 year old Female White Sheriff who was shot dead by a black?? OMG, If a crook had shot a black Sheriff would you be up in arms??? What did the other white Sheriffs do? They arrested the black man who popped her, and moved him to another county for safety. Would the blacks sheriffs, i the reverse case have just thrown the white perp in general population to be taken out, because he was a nasty white guy who shot the BLACK sheriff because he was a racist??? PLEASE! Get a grip! Stop judging people by the color of their skin, the pot keeps calling the kettle black, and who is judging who??? You guys are a sad representative of how most of the smart thinking public feels, and if we can get rid of this divisive President, maybe we can all be friends again, and let the heightened racism go away so we can get this country going together.
This case came up. It's horrific. The real outrage here, right after the killing itself, is law enforcement's reaction to it. This Sheriff Bubba needed to be investigating, not just releasing this guy.
As to your complaint... finding older cases of the same sort of crime in reverse doesn't negate or even minimize the one under discussion. Every time something like this comes up in a Gather post, I just wait for someone like you to ask why some other crime wasn't yadda, yadda, yadda. If they're important to you, post 'em. Don't hoard 'em for this purpose. It's a small way to treat a big crime.
I have really got to stop coming to your posts. :) Just teasing. You seem to have debate on all your posts. I know where to go when I am in one of my moods and want to blow off steam.