I want everyone to know how I formulate my opinions.
Being black I get a lot of grief about the blogs and comments I make. I have to say, no one is more proud of my black history than me. But it’s our history that’s passing us by. We have a great history starting in Africa and the Middle East. We changed America for the better, willing and UN-willing. I post because I care and because I want change.
The Trayvon Martin
Let’s talk about “The Trayvon Martin.” When I say Trayvon Martin is a serial killer I’m not talking about the kid. He will no longer be Trayvon Martin. He will be a case, a tragedy, an agenda, a learning lesson. I hope you read the entire post because it will make points past racial bias. I want to be clear; Trayvon did not deserve to die that night.
Media (The instigator)
The Trayvon Martin incident became a media firestorm. Immediately, racial sides had been drawn. The liberal parts of the media and the black community gravitated toward Trayvon Martin and his family. The conservative sides of the media and the conservatives defended Mr. Zimmerman and his actions. And the Hispanics were left dazed and confused about the whole situation. For the first time in history I saw the media ignore the minority part of a man race and focus on his white heritage. The President is half white, yet everyone claims he is black. Tiger Woods has three races mixed in but we only focus on the black heritage and this goes on and on. Halle Berry, Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys, Vanessa Williams, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, etc. All are mixed race, but known for being black. When is it OK to decide a man's race based on public opinion. On the topic of opinion, why are we listening to the media's opinion anyway? I had to watch three different networks, and research for hours on the internet to get the full picture. When I see one sided comments and post, I know people aren’t doing the necessary research to formulate an actually unbiased opinion on the matter.
When the 911 tape came out everyone called Mr. Zimmerman a racist because of his statement. What people didn't know is he was answering the questions that the operator was asking. NBC fired three people over the 911 call because they edited the tape to make Mr. Zimmerman look like a racist. What if Fox had edited a video of Obama, could you imagine the backlash? They also wouldn’t report about the Latin part of his heritage. They also posted a five year old picture of a twelve year old Trayvon Martin all over the TV. Not releasing his current picture until they all hit social media. I posted a link about the NBC scandal and everything else in this article.
If the media cared about reporting the news correctly, they would have given its viewers the full picture. I had to search for over thirty minutes to find information about Mr. Zimmerman’s neighborhood. Mr. Zimmerman didn’t listen to the 911 operator to not follow him, but his gated community had over eight breaks in within the last 14 months. Why didn’t they report on that? One of the robberies had a single mother hiding in her closet as three black teens in hoodies raided her house. George took it personally, being the neighborhood watch captain. Zimmerman had called the police over 46 times to report suspicious behave in the past, yet everyone made it seem as though this was out of the ordinary for him.
I always put myself in the shoes of other people, so I tried to think like Zimmerman. If I saw a stranger who's 5’11, black, walking around windows and backyards I might follow him. If my neighborhood had just been broken into a few weeks prior I might get out and say something too. And if anyone reading this would not say something in that situation, please do not move into my neighborhood. My uncle almost pulled a gun on me for coming up the back stairs of his house, not knowing who it was.
Trayvon Martin (The Adolescent)
Trayvon was visiting his dad because he was suspended from school. This was his third suspension. He was caught with drugs, women’s jewelry, and what the police called "break-in tools" in his back pack. He had necklaces, wedding rings, and more. He claimed they came from his girlfriend. Online he considered himself a gangster, and bragged about smoking weed, fighting, and guns. His girlfriend claimed he was high when he went to the store and that weed made him hungry. She also stated on Piers Morgan that Trayvon said "I’m going to go knock him out". And we all know "cracker" isn't slang police. We all know teens make lousy choices. And Trayvon had a history of bad decisions. But let me be clear, he did not deserve to die.
The night he was shot: they claimed he was walking under people’s windows to stay out of the rain. And he was taking backyards for a short cut. Once again they had 8 break-ins in the last 14 months. Other neighbors made statement to the police prior to the incident that they would shoot anyone who stepped foot on their lawn. The forensic evidence and eye witness testimonies prove Trayvon Martin was on the top of the fight, and George looked a little roughed up. After researching Trayvon, I came to this conclusion: it’s very likely for him to use emotions over reasonable judgment and words. And to throw the first punch? That’s what kids do.
Zimmerman (The Adult)
George Zimmerman has a clean back ground prior to this. He is from a Catholic family who’s mother is Latino. No prior history of violence, besides the time he was beat up in the past. After watching his neighborhood get assaulted by crime, he took action. A few months prior three black teens were caught with stolen laptops and other item from a house within Zimmerman’s neighborhood. As the neighborhood watchman and want to be the officer, he was on high alert. Also criminals often frequent the places they have been before, because they know the layout. Looking at the events leading up to the Trayvon Martin incident, I understand his actions. Looking at the aftermath, we all wish he stayed in the car. And looking at Zimmerman after all of this, his decisions aren’t great. Wanting to fight DMX? Really, are we sure he’s not high?
As an adult you would think he could have made better choices, but people rarely think about the consequences of their actions. If I push a guy, I have to understand what the extremes of the incident can be. If you push a person to the edge of fight or flight, three things can happen. The first is nothing; you both calm down and walk away. The second is you die; you push him to the point were he kills you and this happens all of the time. And the third, you kill him. Every decision we make is life or death. Yelling at your boss has a lesser chance of a deadly altercation. Yelling at a drunken guy in the bar on the other hand could be. If George Zimmerman had thought about that before he jumped out of the car knowing he had a gun, Trayvon Martin may be alive. If Trayvon had more respect for adults and had not looked to violence, he may still be alive. I had a talk with a black teen about Trayvon’s age. And I told him my theory about fight or flight. I used the analogy that someone is trying to steal my shoes. Am I willing to die over shoes? No. So I would give them up and live another day. His response was “You would let some guy punk you?” And I replied “To live another day, yes. I can always buy more shoes.” I can’t buy another life. How's the punk's life that to has steal shoes? I can afford them. I have been called Nigger to my face by Hill-Billy, Honky-Tonk, Red Necks. And I smiled and said yup, you are right, then walked away. What's power? Giving them the reaction they wanted you to give, or having the balls to something else?
My thoughts (The Professor)
It took me three hours to do enough research to come to my conclusion about this case. Those three hours were after hours of bias news coverage from all of the networks and radio shows. When I come to conclusions, it’s after hours and hours of research. My mother asked me to stop debating with people because they aren’t on my level. Well, I can’t stop.
This is what I came up with. Trayvon Martin was spotted by Zimmerman at 7pm. At that time he was 600 yards from his house. The shooting happened around 7:17. Which means Trayvon had between twenty and thirty minutes to walk the 600 yards back to his house? Including the time before Zimmerman actually called the police?
This reminded me of a story from my father. When he was a kid during segregation in Savannah, Georgia. He was ten years old and he looked a white lady's butt. A white man noticed my father checking her out and chased him ¾ of a mile with a knife until he made it home. When he told his mother what happened, she beat him for putting himself in that situation. If Trayvon Martin felt for life, he could have made it home within the 15 minutes after George called the police.
There is a case going right now where a white man yelled at some black teens to turn down their radio. The kids yelled back and pointed what the man thought was a gun, so he defended himself and the young driver was shot.
There was another case were three black teens were bored, so they killed an Australian exchange student for fun. People see all of the gang violence, the knockout game and they get scared when a black person crosses their path. Every once in a while the black community can be the bigger person, and walk away. If we don’t learn humility, respect, and class; If we keep using race as a crutch and government as a shield, we will not survive. If parents don’t sit their kids down and use Trayvon Martin as a lesson to teach about conflict, drugs and choices, we will not survive. If we keep listening to the Jessie Jackson's and AL Sharpton’s, who's riches come from race baiting, and keeping the false narrative alive that it was the color of his skin that got him killed, we will not make it.
In the end, I hold George Zimmerman 60% to 75% responsible for what happened. And I still believe he deserved a minimum of 90 days in jail and 5 years probation. As the adult with the gun, you control the situation. And I can't believe Trayvon didn't attack without a little provocation from George. Being a black man with mostly white friends, I have learned one thing: in a fight, while black people will show guns off and show bravado, white people will not hesitate to pull the trigger. We have to learn to protect ourselves with our actions and words. If we do not learn from this incident, the mentality that caused the death of Trayvon Martin will be a serial killer. This case wasn't about race, but bad judgement and decisions making a both parties. I only wish they both had lived to learn the lesson.
By
Poverty Beat Down
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