Like any other black man who doesn't walk around with a gun on his waist, I found myself confused and disturbed by the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Martin, who was unarmed, was shot by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman last week after an altercation.
As the son of a police officer, I understand the need to use deadly force, even if the defendant happens to be black. But in this case, I don't see a police officer, I see a security guard. The use of deadly force by a neighborhood watchman is enough to create suspicion in the mind of anyone with a working brain.
The second thing I noticed about the case of Trayvon Martin is that he was unarmed. This wasn't a shootout. It wasn't some innocent victim being robbed at gunpoint. This was the case of an armed security guard shooting a black man who had nothing to defend himself but his fists.
The next thing I noticed about the Trayvon Martin shooting is that it appears that the boy was simply being stalked by the security guard on his way to his father's house. Zimmerman felt that Martin somehow had a suspicious profile and then proceeded to follow him on the way home. So, if anything, we can say that this unarmed black teenager was being terrorized by a night watchman who somehow thought that he "looked suspicious" for inexplicable reasons. There is nothing illegal about Martin fighting Zimmerman if he was indeed being harassed or physically assaulted for no reason. Martin wasn't hitting a police officer -- he was hitting a security guard.
Finally, there is the fact that neighbors have long complained that Zimmerman was an overzealous security guard who took his job entirely too seriously. Rather than doing anything about it, the management of the gated community chose to leave the lives of its residents in the hands of an unprofessional stooge. Now, an innocent life is lost because of this decision.
So, had it not been for the irresponsibility of those who chose Zimmerman for this job, Trayvon Martin would be alive, looking forward to having a full life. He would later go on to college, get married, have children, pursue a long career and even have grand kids. But now, none of that is going to happen because a neighborhood watchman thought that Martin looked suspicious and decided to shoot him.
Someone needs to get sued and someone needs to go to prison. Had Martin shot Zimmerman in his own neighborhood after following him because he thought he looked suspicious, he'd be going to prison for the rest of his life.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
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Job? He was a volunteer or a vigilante.
"Had Martin shot Zimmerman in his own neighborhood after following him because he thought he looked suspicious, he'd be going to prison for the rest of his life."
That is a hypothetical; there is no evidence whatsoever for that.
"When Unarmed Teens Are Shot for 'Looking Suspicious,' We Should All Be Outraged"
That, too, is a misrepresentation. We don't know what exactly happened, but we know that there was at least a struggle before the shooting. And unarmed teens are killed nearly daily for even less than "looking suspicious"; where has your outrage been until now?
Zimmerman should be tried by a court of law for the killing of Martin. Once that has happened, we can then look at the evidence and the verdict and decide whether to get outraged or not.
What we should get outraged over today, however, is your demagoguery: you fabricate injustice and anger through hypotheticals and misrepresentations.
One thing is being a useless individual and quite another a useless individual with a gun and a thirst for action. Lock him up. Throw away the key. Let him deal with the other inmates. For life.
Justice for Treyvon Martin.
Which only makes it more unbearable because at some point you realize that we give guns to people like this in America. I can accept that criminals and professional killers have weapons because it makes sense that they would have these tools of the trade, but not morons. Not them. And they are the majority of gun owners. It makes me want to scream.
Perhaps the gated community could have prohibited guns on the premises, or required neighborhood watch not to carry guns. But those are about the only measures that I think might have been effective, and they are not without problems either.
In his perception, Trayvon appeared to be acting strangely as if on drugs. A reasonable person would describe that as suspicious. You don't have a reason to doubt this as you were not there. Is that explicable enough for you? You are indeed correct though when you say that Trayvon was entitled to fight back if he was being attacked. However, is there proof of this? Indeed this runs contrary to Zimmerman's story that he was attacked by Trayvon while returning to his truck.
2. We don't know who was screaming.
3. Take your own advice mate.
The game started after 7pm. The shooting happened at 7:17pm. I'm not saying that Trayvon did anything wrong or deserved to be shot. But the families timeline is impossible.
Your last line was absolutely correct! This is attrocious and an afront to justice!
I couldn't agree more!