[News] The Trayvon Martin Discussion Thread

Is anyone here someone with firsthand experience with racial discrimination, or did we all grow up in fairly mono-cultural societies or with very little racial hostility? I feel like there is a lot of shouting by people with no horse in this race, no pun intended.
 
Is anyone here someone with firsthand experience with racial discrimination, or did we all grow up in fairly mono-cultural societies or with very little racial hostility? I feel like there is a lot of shouting by people with no horse in this race, no pun intended.
Yep two fold.

I was a white born, hispanic raised child in a hispanic only community. I was constantly beaten from elementary till high school because even though I was white, blond and blue eyed on the outside, I had deeper Hispanic roots than those beating me. I could go on for hours but I still identify with how I was raised and not by my color. It has had it's benefits and it's disadvantages.
 
It doesn't really help that author's case saying that his instinct was the beat the security guard bloody.

I wanted to hit him in his fucking face. I wanted to take his flashlight from his belt and smash his teeth out, giving him a real reason to call the cops, a reason besides the crime of eating a sandwich in a parking lot.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Anyone who spent a few years as a kid in El Paso can speak on matters of racism.

Anyway, I was surprised by the verdict, but I think it was the right one. I wonder, however, how many of the people snarling at florida tonight are the same people telling me that it is "better that 1000 guilty go free than 1 innocent be put to death" whenever we have a death penalty thread.
 
The most disgusting thing about all this are the people who are celebrating the verdict. I do agree that not guilty was the right call, but it doesn't really make me want to pop some champagne or anything.
 
Anyone who spent a few years as a kid in El Paso can speak on matters of racism.

Anyway, I was surprised by the verdict, but I think it was the right one. I wonder, however, how many of the people snarling at florida tonight are the same people telling me that it is "better that 1000 guilty go free than 1 innocent be put to death" whenever we have a death penalty thread.

Right verdict wrong charge I think.
 
The prosecution had a shitty base to stand on. I really don't think they had the means at their disposal to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. You can bitch about it, but at the end of the day that is how our legal system is supposed to work. The Court of Public Opinion is theoretically not supposed to decide the outcome of a trial. No one would even give a shit about the outcome if it was 2 people of the same race.

Well that really depends on how it worked out. I suspect that if Trayvon was a hispanic or Zimmerman was a black guy there is zero chance he wouldn't have been charged that first night. I cared about the case cause when a 17 year old was shot dead in the street the police high fived the killer and let him walk out the door. I don't care the race I'm caring about that case no matter what.
 
Is anyone here someone with firsthand experience with racial discrimination, or did we all grow up in fairly mono-cultural societies or with very little racial hostility? I feel like there is a lot of shouting by people with no horse in this race, no pun intended.
Mine was a diverse community, lots of people of many different races, yet there wasn't much racial hostility. People don't need to be sequestered to their specific culture/race to keep the peace. It can be done.

That said, there's always those few assholes who want to shit on everyone else. One kid (white) at school was an out and out racist, and he would be telling racist jokes there and on the bus, with crickets answering, until he suddenly didn't show up for school. Why? Found out in the paper--he was in jail for trying to blow up the house of another kid (black) with a homemade explosive.

I don't know if there will be riots from this, but there may well be more Zimmerman-types and incidents like this.
 
Anyway, I was surprised by the verdict, but I think it was the right one. I wonder, however, how many of the people snarling at florida tonight are the same people telling me that it is "better that 1000 guilty go free than 1 innocent be put to death" whenever we have a death penalty thread.
That's...actually a damn good point. My feelings on this are actually rather similar to the OJ Simpson verdict - we can be pretty damn positive that he did actually commit murder, but there is that last little niggling question that does leave reasonable doubt.

A case where we have to either let a guilty man go free or ignore the single biggest, most important pillar of the justice system.
 

Dave

Staff member
This is 100% the prosuckion's fault. Poorly briefed witnesses, rushing to trial before due diligence was done. Just a sloppy case.
 
Prosecution overreached. Had they gone for the manslaughter indictment early on, instead of trying for it at the last minute when it would have been illegal to try it, I reckon it would have flown.

Not guilty was the correct verdict here. Zimmerman was an arrogant ass who had no business trying for vigilantism, and through his actions, a youth died. But he did not commit murder, either through pre-meditation or through a desire to kill. He (appears to have) acted in a manner consistent with someone scared for their life. Probably due to having never been in a fight before in his life.

But had he not been fucking retarded and followed the kid, suspicious or not, this wouldn't have happened.
 
So I stumbled across this video, which is interesting. Almost certainly controversial to those who watch it, but I don't think it's exactly a viral thing that is widely being commented on. But that's unimportant. The ideas he expresses were unique, to me, and I appreciated his commentary. He seems well-read based on his vocabulary and patient way of speaking. I'd be inclined to read some of his sources: he comments that the modern ghettos of the black people in America are attributable to riots out of the '50s and '60s. Maybe this is commonly asserted, I don't know, but I haven't read about it. Nonetheless, I'd like to leave his video here and encourage you to watch it.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Have there been any?
Oakland, funnily enough. I guess since it wasn't happening in florida, california decided it had the duty.

Anyone find it funny the only news outlet reporting "riots" is FoxNews...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/07/1...tted-murder-in-trayvon-martin-shooting-death/


This is the only instance I've seen where riots were even mentioned alongside the verdict.
Are you saying it's not happening, or are you saying the other news sources are deliberately not reporting on it?
 
I do have to say that the verdict was not just what I expected, but also the right call to make.

Burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

And yes, GB, I believe you were literally quoting me on the innocents not being wrongly convicted and I stand by it.

The entire reason for the burden of proof is to safeguard the innocent, even if it is at the expense of some who are guilty beeing aquitted.

I also find the whole thing that was snoped hilarious. People literally can't tell the difference between two black people.
 
This is 100% the prosuckion's fault. Poorly briefed witnesses, rushing to trial before due diligence was done. Just a sloppy case.
What I want to know is what the fuck they were doing for over a year. Cause it certainly didn't show in the trial.

As for the verdict I don't think it's right. There is no way that a reasonable person in Zimmerman's shoes could have thought he was in danger.

Though in the end I would much rather this kind of injustice than the kind where innocents are locked up.
 
Anything that has the words "negro riots" in the title aren't going to be watched by me.
If it affects your decision, the person making the video is a black man, and also as a caveat, he uses the word a lot, so if that specifically is causing your hesitation, then yes, definitely avoid it.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
I also find the whole thing that was snoped hilarious. People literally can't tell the difference between two black people.
I can't tell the difference between white people sometimes, especially if the pic is blurry and/or has poor contrast. This is why fact checking and trusted journalistic sources are important, appearances can be decieving.
 
Barely relevant: I have lived in Asia, the US, and the UK. This has resulted in EVERY race looking alike to me. I can't tell black people from each other, white people from each other, Asian people from each other, etc etc.
 
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