There is so much sound and fury, self-justified white defensiveness, and other insanity in every Trayvon Martin thread (YOU WEREN’T THERE MAN, HOW DO YOU KNOW?), that I just want to make it clear where I stand. And here it is:
If Trayvon Martin had been a white kid wearing ipod earbuds instead of a hoodie, he would be playing xbox right now with his friends. Maybe even smoking a joint and eating skittles. And what the fuck is your problem with that?
Period. End of story. When one of you can come up with a compelling argument otherwise, or can link to hundreds of stories of white kids being gunned down by cops or vigilantes, I’ll retract that statement. Until then, all I can say is you need to pull your head out of your ass.
Oscar Grant says “hi!”, also, too.
Alison
1000% agree. People don’t like to admit it because it’s a shameful, nasty thing, but it’s a shameful nasty TRUE thing. Lots and lots of people see black people, even kids, as dangers, threats, problems, suspects…not as humans. And they are completely lacking in empathy when it comes to them. I bet Zimmerman didn’t spend one nanosecond before, during, or in the long long after thinking about the pain he caused Trayvon’s family.
That frightens me, for any other black man (or woman) he comes across. All he’s learned here is that he can get away with it. I’m not confident like others are that he won’t try to do so again one day.
Chris
Zimmerman’s 911 phone call, for one?
Emerald
John, I’ll just jump in here with this OT comment. A couple of threads below you said you’re now looking for a senior kitteh to adopt. (I heartily agree with your rant against the barbarous practice of declawing. It’s illegal in Great Britain and in Los Angeles County, and it ought to be illegal everywhere.)
In the “I can’t wait for this weekend to end” thread, there was this comment from Max about a 12-year old, very loving, female kitteh (declawed, alas) in West Virginia, who needs adopting fast: .
It’s comment #36.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Never mind
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
But John, didn’t you hear the attorney?! Zimmerman would never have been charged if he was black! Don’t you know that the only racismes left in America is Reverse Racism against aggrieved White People?! Rabble Rabble Rabble, Urban Feral Thugs, Rabble Rabble!
Just….guh. I keep waffling between impotent rage and utter despondence.
? Martin
@Alison:
Worse than that. The lesson in Florida is that if there’s a confrontation, leave no witnesses. You won’t be asked to argue self-defence – it’ll be assumed. The only problem that woman who got 20 years for firing a warning shot against her abusive husband (who she had a restraining order against) is that she let him live to testify against her.
That’s barbaric, but that’s the law. Same in Texas, apparently.
taylormattd
Thank you.
I cannot tell you have many of my attorney friends are pulling this racist stupidity.
Because you see, it’s a “reasonable” doubt if the kids was black. I.e., he clearly was a thug-druggie-criminal, up to violent-no good if he’s black, therefore it’s “reasonable” for a person to think he needed to shoot the fuck out of the unarmed kid in self defense.
Whereas, it would not be a “reasonable” doubt if the kid was white.
RACIST. PERIOD. END OF STORY.
Spaghetti Lee
Nothing to disagree with there. It’s stunning how many people have basically admitted over the last few days that they think murdering someone is OK if you’re scared of them or find them suspicious. Well, I find Rick Scott suspicious. He is, after all, a fraudster and a criminal. Why shouldn’t I go to Florida and pop a cap in his suspicious ass?
ETA: If you applied the same rule to middle-aged men in three piece suits with BMWs and Rolex watches that Zimmy and Geraldo applied to boys in hoodies, you’d probably end up doing society a favor on the balance, especially if you limited yourself to DC and Manhattan. You know, if you looked at the consequences in a detached, data-analyst sort of way. Sure, some would be innocent, but, well, it’s their fault for dressing like criminals, right?
OK I should probably stop. FBI will be at my door soon if I keep this up.
Tbone
well said JC.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
All of that for Timmeh? Fer Chrissakes, man….
Emerald
This Tweeted pic really says it all.
Spaghetti Lee
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
This means he wins, right? Is that how trolling works? So what does he win?
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Spaghetti Lee:
He probably splooged on sight.
Joshua Norton
(YOU WEREN’T THERE MAN, HOW DO YOU KNOW?)
Bigots are not even trying to hide it any more. The entire defense of of Zimmerman on the right seems to boil down to, “If we don’t have the right to shoot uppity coloreds on sight, what rights do we have?”
cckids
Very well said. I also don’t think the prosecution made nearly enough of the fact that all Zimmerman had to do (if he was truly “nervous” for some stupid reason) was approach Trayvon, say “hey dude, I’m with the neighborhood watch, you visiting here?”
Now, there’s no good reason he should do it or that Trayvon should be subjected to that, but truly, if he was just “checking things out”, who would not do that? What logical reason is there for not ID-ing himself?
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Joshua Norton:
And they’ve apparently seen total vindication of their worldview in this verdict, and it seems like far too much of the public reaction bears this out. There’s no reasonable doubt afforded to Trayvon Martin. He’s been made into a synonym for “Thug” now in the public parlance, and it’s fucking infuriating and deflating all at once.
scav
For it is written, if 12 shall come together and agree, it is legitimate and sanctioned homicide, so long as the magic word Scaredywhiteassimus is pronounced, or can be assumed to be pronounced. Scaredywhiteassassination is no crime, for their hearts are truly in the right place, forever and ever, amen.
I am beyond tired.
kdaug
Seems like the obvious solution here would be for Trevon to be armed too. Pew-pew, O.K Corral, one or both drops, no muss/no fuss. Problem’s solved, except the disposal thing. (Just keep yer head down.)
TheOtherWa
Agreed. Trayvon was “scary” because he was black. The juror on AC tonight made me angry and even more sad. How the hell does it make sense that a kid goes to the store to buy candy, gets shot and killed, and it’s ok because the juror is sure “George learned his lesson”? Fuck them all, especially the 3 jurors who thought he was guilty when deliberations started and let themselves be talked into voting for acquittal.
bago
@TheOtherWa: Source? In other words, do you have a link? Not that I don’t believe, it’s just that want properly sourced outrage.
Alison
@bago: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/george-zimmerman-called-overzealous-fbi-report-article-1.1399001
Skippy-san
Its interesting now-the new thread to deflect attention from the case is to start talking about “black on black violence”. Supposedly well meaning folks are saying things like, “ 60 people were shot, 9 killed by guns. Hate to say it but 90% of these were Black on Black, and even with the gun laws in place, the shooters are not able to buy guns yet they still have them to use. “.
A problem to be sure-and it gets to the heart of the overall gun problem in this country, but to talk about in the context of the Martin Case is to compare apples and oranges. And I am tired of people saying it isn’t about race-Zimmerman his decision to follow Martin based on race. Period.
Comrade Nimrod Humperdink
@TheOtherWa: yeah, Zim not getting manslaughter when that was an available option is disgusting. Regardless of how afraid he was or wasn’t when he pulled the trigger, he’s the one that initiated an armed confrontation, against the advice of emergency dispatch. Regardless of fear or intent after that, it resulted in death, accidental or not. That’s manslaughter, at least, I think it is. He created a situation that caused an unnecessary death at his hand. But then again, I don’t live in Florida, either.
Arclite
No way to dispute that if Trayvon were white, he’d be alive. What LeVar Burton said the other day.
montanareddog
@Skippy-san:
I agree and I am sick and tired of reading this everywhere, even at the “liberal Guardian” (BTL, of course)
So, it’s open season for white people to shoot black people because black people shoot black people? GZ should not have been tried because he shot a black adolescent and black adolescents shoot black adolescents and we always let the black adolescents who shoot black adolescents off? For heaven’s sake, these nuts are dedicated to their whataboutery! The stats I have seen in a few places comparing the effectiveness of a “self-defence” defence for white on black versus black on white and black on black homicides at the national level fill me with revulsion. And they (the stats) are even worse in “Stand Your Ground” States.
Justice isn’t blind – she just wears Roy Orbison’s shades.
Steve Crickmore
@montanareddog: Agreed!
lou
I also love the claim that he had his head repeatedly bashed into the concrete. And this is where I totally blame the prosecution. They should have had medical expert after medical expert testifying how false his assertion was.
I tripped and fell and bashed my own head into concrete once. Now I’d put out my arm and braked myself from completely bashing my head. I needed FIVE stitches. A man who claims that his head was repeatedly bashed into concrete needed NONE. A co-worker who tripped on a break in the sidewalk while running broke her hand, her teeth, and her nose in her own self-bashing.
GRRRRRRRRRRR.
debbie
It will be interesting to see Zimmerman’s defenders twist themselves into pretzels when a person of color shoots a white man because he fears for his life. They’ll try to explain how the exact same act can be so different and so very indefensible. Their heads will explode.
gogol's wife
Totally agree.
Citizen_X
Absolutely A-1 motherfucking RIGHT, Cole.
rikyrah
you know ICAM with you.
I always ask folks who come up with these bullshyt comments…
this is a country of 300 million people…
I want folks to link to just 100 cases
100 cases of some of the combination of the following:
1. Black cops shooting White unarmed suspects ‘ resisting arrest’
2. Black people killing White people – and never being arrested and charged
3. Black people ‘ standing their ground’ against White folks – and NEVER SEEING THE INSIDE OF A POLICE STATION
just find me 100 cases of any of these combinations
Svensker
@TheOtherWa:
It sounds like, according to Florida law, they didn’t have much choice. Sadly. TNC explains it pretty well.
It was actually a great comfort to me to hear that those 3 jurors wanted to convict.
AxelFoley
When Cole is right, he’s fucking right. Straight up, THIS.
Oh, I didn’t post on the Tunch threads, but I am sorry for your loss, John.
AxelFoley
@Alison:
One day, he’s gonna run into the wrong black person.
The Tragically Flip
What’s alarming is that gun nuts have turned Zimmerman into a “hero” of theirs. It’s one thing to argue shooting Martin was self-defence and thus he should walk for it, but it’s another to make him into a hero for his idiotic conduct that night.
He’s fucking Dwight Shrute and Dale Gribble in one package. Angry, paranoid and incompetent. Enough sense to call 911 but not enough to fucking listen to them when they said to leave Martin be. Carrying a gun when the guidelines for neighbourhood watch say not to.
That the gun nuts think Zimmerman is a model of responsible gun owner behaviour is all the proof I need that they can’t be trusted with firearms. This fantasy of shooting a “thug” infects them all, and that’s why they admire Zimmerman. He got to live the dream.
metricpenny
Thanks for this John.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Oscar Grant. Jesus. If there’s a story sadder than Trayvon’s, it’s his.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@Spaghetti Lee: Rush Limbaugh lives in Florida, is a felon and a drug addict, looks like he lives on Skittles, and is scary.
I’m just saying.
worn
Amen, John. This.
Lurker
Fucking Zimmerman may have been found “not guilty” in a court of law but the fact remains that he murdered a teenage boy “armed” with soda and candy for the crime of walking around while black.
I hope TM’s family will sue him for wrongful death and take him for every penny he has now and will ever make in his worthless, despicable, life.
Peter Akuleyev
A white teen would probably not have tried to confront and physically intimidate a black man who was stalking him, is that what you are trying to say?
Hillary Rettig
I wasn’t aware that Zimmerman had a huge history of violence before this incident:
5. Zimmerman could have been barred from carrying a weapon.
Zimmerman had a long history of violence, including a restraining order for domestic violence, felony charges of resisting arrest, and assaulting an officer (the charge was pled down to a misdemeanor and then closed; Zimmerman’s dad was a magistrate at the time). He was bounced from a job as a bouncer for being too aggressive with patrons, the New York Daily News reported. And a family member accused him of a pattern of sexual molestation. He wasn’t convicted of any felony charges, which could have barred him from a gun license, but in some societies, people would determine that such a history makes someone less than an ideal candidate for the right to carry around a hidden loaded weapon.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/15/6-decisions-trayvon_n_3600690.html
How does a fucking guy like this get a gun permit?
gmann
“Stand your ground” SHOULD end if you leave a car and pursue. . .
Gex
@kdaug: Especially since conceal and carry licenses have been deemed valid voter IDs in Old Dixie. Seems convenient for minorities under siege.
Gex
Zimmerman spoke in the plural when he spoke to the police. Who is this “they” who are always getting away with things? Trayvon was alone. It couldn’t be clearer that George Zimmerman was bringing things to the situation that did not belong there.
Paul in KY
@rikyrah: I don’t know if they could find 10.