I’m sure you’ve heard by now, but the US Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have opened an official investigation into the killing of 17 year old Trayvon Martin by a vigilante “Neighborhood Watch” member George Zimmerman. Zimmerman pursued, confronted, then shot to death Trayvon Martin who was on his way home from the convenience store having picked up a bag of Skittles. Local police, apparently caught like deer in the headlights of an idiotic recently enacted Florida Law stating, according to some, that you can kill anyone you want as long as you can later say that they made you feel icky, have refuses to even bring Zimmerman in for questioning.
There have been protests, a lot of noise from the Liberal Blogosphere, and even a write in campaign using the Sanford Police’s own web site (click here to get in on that!), and limited criticism from the press.
(The 911 calls related to this case are very damning of Zimmerman, and you can listen to them here.)
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Good – I just listened to several of the 911 calls. It is chilling. The two things that stand out – Zimmerman was told by the police dispatcher not to follow Martin – there was absolutely no reason for him to get out of his car or to follow and confront the young man – and Zimmerman had a history of calling the police to report “suspicious black men.” Insane! Why is he still on the streets ?
In new news, apparently Trayvon was talking on a cell phone with a friend when he encountered. She says that Trayvon was aware he was being followed and she told him to run.
http://gma.yahoo.com/trayvon-martin-killing-friend-phone-teen-death-recounts-063243901–abc-news.html
I don’t see how the self defense excuse holds up. If Zimmerman was afraid then why the fuck did he get out of his car after being told not to? Why did he chase Trayvon down if he was so scared? He had the gun, he outweighed Trayvon, what did he have to be afraid of?
Mike.
I know that if I had the omnipotent creator of the universe at my back protecting my stuff and if I had a big gun, I’d still be so terrified of black kids armed with candy that I’d run in fear
fromafter him and kill him inrighteous rageself defense.Right fucking on! Hopefully they can pierce the good ol’ boy haze down here.
Still waiting for gun kooks to show up and say that Trayvon would still be alive if everyone had and carried guns…
I’m actually surprised that the right-wing cranks haven’t come out of the woodwork yet defending both this guy and the soldier who murdered the civilians in Afghanistan.
The vast advantage Trayvon had in that most dangerous substance: Melanin
Dunno if you’ve covered this already, but Zimmerman muttered “fuckin’ coons” at 2:20 on the first part of the 911 call. I’ve listened to it a dozen times and I’m pretty damned sure it’s not audio pareidolia.
I have not covered that yet, but I did see that the Young Turks did. It does seem to be the case.