The shooting of Trayvon Martin in Florida is now a full-blown, international racial incident of the type that the election of Barack Obama was supposed to defuse.
Yet even U.S. President Obama is contributing to the anger-cum-hysteria over the incident, where wannabe neighborhood vigilante, George Zimmerman, shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, whose suspicious behaviour consisted of wearing a hoodie and carrying a bag of candy.
Newsman and crime pundit Geraldo Rivera is one of the few voices defending Zimmerman, a light-skinned Hispanic guy.
Geraldo thinks (and says) that because Trayvon was wearing a hoodie it gave a signal to law-abiding folks that he was sinister, suspicious, and probably dangerous, so some of the blame for his slaying was due to wearing a hoodie in the wrong area.
There may be some truth in the symbolic relevance of young black men wearing hoodies, but what Geraldo is saying, in another context that we've all endlessly heard, is that women who wear mini-skirts or dress provocatively are "asking to be raped."
This latter is no more acceptable than the hoodie being responsible for Trayvon Martin's murder.
That the shooter seems to have been exonerated, or at least not charged, is another reflection on the U.S. Justice system -- as is the zany Stand Your Ground law that infects a couple of dozen states, where its acceptable to shoot someone in self-defence if you feel threatened. Insane. But reality.
President Obama is contributing to the racial division by suggesting Trayvon could be the son he never had, thus invoking more racial anger. The Prez invited no comparison with sons he never had in the shootings of 49 people in Chicago during the St. Patrick's Day weekend, or the innocent black child caught in a crossfire in a gang fight.
But the surest evidence of racial unrest is the appearance of what could be called the "Dreadful Reverends" -- Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson at demonstrations, where their eloquence fuels racial resentment.
And, of course, something called the "new" Black Panthers putting a $10,000 bounty on George Zimmerman is encouraging a lynching when, in fact, the Black Panthers couldn't give a damn about Trayvon Martin or his family which seems decent, hard working, and horribly victimized by the whole scenario.
And what about Zimmerman, the vigilante shooter?
Claims that he was attacked (bloody nose and cut head) by the unarmed kid whom he outweighed by 100 lbs, wears a bit thin when tapes of his 911 call clearly indicate that he'd been told not to pursue the young guy alone, but to wait for back up.
The impression is that Zimmerman hungered to shoot someone -- was even stalking the kid in a hoodie.
Trayvon protests are now erupting across the U.S., attracting the sort of people the Martin family seems to have insulated their son against.
Events are spiraling out of control, and who knows the eventual outcome?
What should happen is that George Zimmerman face the consequences of his act, not be hidden from view and protected by the very people who should be trying to get to the bottom of his act and ensuring that due process and responsibility prevail.
And the President should be staying aloof, and not seeming to use the incident to advance his re-election campaign.
As for Trayvon Martin and his family -- they deserve better, and are being victimized by all factions who use them for their own ambitions.
Keli Goff: The Gift That Trayvon Gave All of Us
Trayvon Martin case: Friends come to George Zimmerman's defense ...
Father Pfleger memorializes Trayvon Martin with wooden statue ...
U.S. News - Witness: Zimmerman 'never ... tried to help' Trayvon Martin
Jon Stewart mocks media over Trayvon Martin coverage | The Raw ...
Trayvon Martin Shooter Told Cops Teenager Went For His Gun ...
If Worthington really believed that "Trayvon Martin and his family... deserve better, and are being victimized by all factions who use them for their own ambitions", he would not exploit this tragedy to make a political statement.
I thought for a moment that the only point of this article was to find something to criticize Obama about; it seems to me that Obama's comments are the least significant part of the story - after all, a young black unarmed male pursued and shot by a gun-wielding "neighbourhood watch captain" (how come nobody is ever a neighbourhood watch Private, Corporal or Sergeant?) seems to be the story, and the underlying narrative is one of continued racism, even at a time when the President of the US is black.
But Mr. Worthington manfully struggles on to rescue some scrap of partisan bull-hockey, pretending that the uproar over this incident (with all the usual suspects - lightning rods for racist white angst, Jackson, Sharpton and the Black Panthers) is all out of proportion...
Mr. Worthington might just as well suggest that unarmed white teens are being regularly gunned down by black vigilantes, so what's the big deal, here?
Pitiful.
(Reuters) - A white Mississippi teenager pleaded guilty on Wednesday to fatally running over a man with a truck because he was black, and received a life prison sentence for a crime the presiding judge said left "a great stain" on the southern state.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/21/us-mississippi-murder-teen-idUSBRE82K1LW20120321
i ask, you wrote in mississppi a crime was committed and justice is being served, isn't homicide a crime? i understand and agree, no due process was used regarding zimmerman however, homicide is a crime, that investigators are sorting the details are charges applicable to zimmerman. in that alone i have the right to ask can he associated both of these incidents knowing the difference, to the president as being used in this election year.
i do understand your point, to make myself clear no way have i not misunderstood what as occurred in either case. i hope this will answer the question you have presented.
Well, with the exception of the ham-handed attempt to somehow blame Obama for racial divisions, instead of you know, the actual racist murder. That's your usual drivel, but the rest of it you more or less got it right.
Did someone lace your breakfast with crushed sanity pills or something?
Anyhow, there's a reason civilized countries don't have "stand your ground" laws. It's a shame we have to border an uncivilized one.
All three of those arrests, however, were mysteriously closed with no semblance of charges for the Florida resident. So how was someone with a violent past including that of battery against an officer able to carry a 9 mm handgun?
Did George Zimmerman have help from his father, a retired judge, in clearing his name in three separate arrests?
That’s the question that’s being asked now that more information on Trayvon Martin’s 28-year-old killer is being revealed. Robert Zimmerman, a former Orange County magistrate judge, recently wrote a letter to The Orlando Sentinel defending his son, for shooting the unarmed 17-year-old last month. So its not simply racism its elitist cronyism as well. You know about that Peter I am sure,
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/trayvon-martin-family-looks-trademark-am-trayvon-justice-142131528.html
Such good decent people, who raised such a lovely little drug using, bus driver assaulting little angel.
Shame on you!
WHy twist them?
Can he talk about homophobia?
Misogyny?
Racism?
The right to abortions?
The Right attacked him EVERY time he made a comment associated with social issues.
What CAN he talk about?
He refrained from taking any position on what happened, the self-defense law, or any of the facts of the case, which was an admirable display of restraint on his part.
He expressed sympathy, and a pretty haunting realization about his and his family's own smilarity to the victim. If you think that's going to "skew" things somehow, your imagination is much more active than mine.
So we are to believe all of a sudden Zimmerman comes to his senses, inexplicably stops stalking Martin, and turns around and starts walking back to his vehicle? Meanwhile the kid who Zimmerman said was "running" away and a kid with no history of violence, suddenly turns around, mysteriously appears, and assaults Zimmerman all the while talking on his cellphone to his girlfriend (confirmed by T-Mobile time records).
Its clear Zimmerman actively created a confrontation. He broke the most fundamental rules of Neighborhood Watch-no weapons no confrontations. Does Martin not have a right to defend himself against some guy chasing him down a dark secluded walkway? Can you create a confrontation, a fight, and then blow the guy away claiming self-defense. The fact the Sanford police department say you can is scary.
zimmerman left his suv by choice with a gun, to follow a teenager, who reacted as any teenager would have when a strange adult (with a gun no less) approaches.
Nothing would've come of this killing at all if people hadn't raised the issue publicly. Asking everyone to keep quiet and let the authorities handle it let the case languish for a month. THAT is what's not right about this whole incident.
Are you saying I can't "judge" Zimmerman based on the 911 tape and the fact that he killed an unarmed teenager?
Give me a break.
Everything depends on the facts of the case, and at this point no one has enough information to make a RATIONAL decision one way or the other concerning guilt or innocence. This is especially true for those who do not understand the legal intricacies concerned the use of lethal force in self-defense.
Opinions based on speculation and emotion are of no value. Wait until all the facts are in before deciding.