Justice for Trayvon [Protest Rally in Grand Circus Park]

[Downriviera]

Have you looked at pictures of the townhouse complex? There isn't anything that looks like a conventional backyard there. There is a grassy area with a sidewalk running through it, which presumably is intended for people to walk down. I don't have a sidewalk running through my backyard, and neither do my friends and relatives.

There isn't any dispute about where the incident occurred, but I would dispute that the location is something that a normal person would call a backyard.

You're right, not a conventional backyard. Probably better to refer to is as behind the homes or rear of homes.

[48205to24]

Posting this to the thread for two reasons
1. I havent seen many posts from black men in any of these threads
2. From some of the posts its seems that some people here care more about buildings than human life

I admit I havent read the thread because I have already seen how these threads go whenever black people are mentioned.
I am not a young black man, but I do believe their opinion and perspective is important since the legacy this trial and others will affect them more than anyone else [[besides the family)- I am posting the following letter.

Also to present some diversity to the opinions [[since the facts died with Trayvon, no one can factually prove why Zimmerman pursued or what happened during the struggle)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/0...ack-Man-s-Eyes#

Born Suspect- The Zimmerman Verdict through a black man eye's

We live in a nation that is terribly divided. A nation where some of its citizens are letting out cheers of joy because the shooter of a teenager walks free while others sheds tears of sadness because they feel that yet again our justice system has declared that while all men are created equal, all men are not regarded as such in the eyes of the law. Let me be clear, I feel no hate or ill will towards George Zimmerman. He is just another actor in this tragic play called America. I don't think he woke up in the morning looking to kill Trayvon on that fateful day, but I feel he was certainly responsible for the unnecessary death of a young man who was just trying to go home. In theory, when the gun toting George Zimmerman chose to get out of his car and "make sure the little punk didn't get away" instead of allowing the police to do their jobs, he then assumed responsibility for all that would follow. That's the way it should work, in theory, anyway.

Unfortunately, the jury and a large swath of America don't see it that way. As a black man what this judgment underscores isn't a lack of justice for Trayvon, but a deeper, scarier truth that I am not a man, but a suspect. This verdict says that if my mere presence as a black man is enough for you to feel threatened, and if you act from that place of fear your actions will be justified under the law and you will face no consequences if you turn out to be completely wrong and I end up completely dead.
The most difficult thing with this case is trying to explain to white people what it feels like to be a suspect every moment of your life. I'm sure every black male that has a story of when they were pulled over for driving while black, walking while black, or hell just breathing while black. I'll list just a few of mine:
I was 12 the first time I got randomly stopped by police and questioned because I was walking through Broadview [[a white suburb of Chicago) on my way to my aunt's house in La Grange. After convincing them that I wasn't up to no good, they told me to hurry it along. When I was 14, I was a freshman on the football team at Proviso East High School which happened to be all black. After getting our asses kicked by Downers Grove South, we were walking to the bus to head back home. A few Downers Grove policemen pulled up, jumped out of their squad cars, hands on guns, and asked our white coach "Are you okay? Are these guys bothering you?" Even after he had assured them that the large black men WEARING FOOTBALL UNIFORMS were his team and that he was fine, they still asked him "Are you sure?" When I was 17 [[same age as Trayvon) I was pulled over while biking to my father's house in Palos Hills. After explaining to the officers that I was coming from work [[mind you I'm wearing my Burger King uniform and Burger King hat) and heading home, they commenced to tell me I was headed the wrong way and that the Trace [[the subdivisions where the poor and middle class families lived) was that way. Giving him my best what the fuck are you talking about face, I told him "My father doesn't live in the Trace."
I could go on and on with these stories, like the time my white friends got a DWBIPS that's driving with blacks in the passenger seat or the time I almost got shot by police for having the audacity to be standing outside of the apartment building I manage, but that would be like shooting a dead horse carry a bag of skittles.
I know what some of you are thinking, "This is different, this kid got kicked out of school for having marijuana and fighting. You went to Northwestern, there's no way you would end up like that." To that I say, google Robert Russ. Robert was a year ahead of me at Northwestern and was so easy going he was given the nickname “Fluff”. Now mind you he played defensive line so he was a BIG dude, a big BLACK dude. One night, just a few days before he was supposed to walk across the stage and get his diploma from a top 15 university, Fluff was shot and killed by police. The officer claimed self-defense, saying Fluff reached for the officer's gun and was cleared by the department. REALLY?!? An honors student AT NORTHWESTERN reached for an officer's gun. REALLY? Luckily for Fluff's family, the jury in the civil trial saw through that horse shit and gave them a sizable judgment. Though they may have felt a small bit of vindication, the fact is no amount of money his daughter, girlfriend, and mother received, is going to bring back Fluff.
The scary part is that I know there is no way for the police or any overzealous vigilante to know who I am or what I've done while I'm walking down the street. They wouldn't know that I've opened up for The President in front of forty thousand people or that I was the only man who spoke on a Ladies Night fundraiser with The First Lady and Jill Biden. They wouldn’t know that I graduated from Northwestern, or that I built a robot to win my 8th grade science fair. They wouldn't know that I've raised money for the arts and the environment, that I've tutored young people and taught at one of the worst schools in Chicago. All they would know [[which is the same thing that George Zimmerman knew about Trayvon) is that I am a black male, which in turn makes me a suspect, and you will receive no penalty for treating me as such.

By TheQuis

[TKshreve]

No danger of this becoming inflammatory.

[Honky Tonk]

**Justice for Christopher Cervini - Detroit**

Peoples Assembly and Speakout

Grand Circus Park [[Woodward and Adams), Detroit

Sunday, July 21, 2013 6:PM

http://rochester.ynn.com/content/top...tt-not-guilty/

Very good....

[EastsideAl]

http://therochesterian.com/2012/03/2...oderick-scott/

Keeping it fair and balanced...

[Jimaz]

DetroitYES Home » Non Detroit Issues » GoLeft TV » Trayvon's Murder By ALEC

[Wesley Mouch]

5-24. Good input to discussion. And I do think it helps me understand how some blacks feel.

Doesn't justify using Zimmerman as a scapegoat.

Thanks for the insight.

[mam2009]

Right you are. It wouldn't have been the broken nose -- it probably would have been the head bangs on the pavement. Oh, its so easy to judge after the fact and encourage calm, reasoned judgement.

You mean the head bangs that were so life threatening that he refused treatment for them? No trip to the hospital for an MRI or CAT scan or a thumbs up from a doctor regarding concussion. He was just getting his ass kicked & was overwhelmed. That's not fear for your life. That's fear for your safety.

[mam2009]

Zimmerman was aggressively attacked while trying to protect his nieghborhood while hispanic.

...According to the killer of a boy walking home while talking on his cell phone. The only other witness to the beginning of the confrontation isn't alive to confirm that version of the story.

Why do we give the over zealous party the benefit of the doubt? Why does the MAN who used extremely poor judgment [[a major understatement) get the benefit of the doubt? It seems far more likely he continued to exercise poor judgment since he was "brave" enough to get out of his car while a boy he saw as dangerous was running loose in his neighborhood even though he KNEW the police were just a few minutes away. Police actually show up in most places. It was Sanford, not Detroit.

[mam2009]

It's very easy to know that after the fact, but in the moment, how could you expect Zimmerman to know that? How was Zimmerman supposed to know the man he was following was a visiting family member of a resident? How was Zimmerman supposed to know the man he was following wasn't casing the neighborhood? How was Zimmerman supposed to know the man he was following wasn't carrying a gun or other weapon? It's easy to know these things after the fact, but you can't blame him for his actions leading up to the event based on the information gathered afterwards.

Zimmerman didn't just have a misunderstanding. He killed a boy due to it. The injustice is that Florida law doesn't discourage such behavior, but, instead, encourages it.

[mam2009]

again, and for the last time... the ONLY one attesting that Martin "viciously attacked" Zimmerman, is ZIMMERMAN.

Not so...the investigating officers are attesting this after evaluating all the evidence. But lets assume Zimmerman confronted Martin and threw the first punch. No evidence of any blows on Martin of this other than the bullet hole, so lets say he missed or Martin blocked the punch. At some point early on Zimmermans nose was broken. Have any of you ever had your nose broken? I have, 4 times. Twice in hockey fights, once by a hockey puck, and once after being attacked by 3 teenagers which I mentioned earlier. The first thing that happens is you can not see. Your eyes are watering so bad you have no sight. You are completely dazed and dizzy and you fall down very quickly. You still can't see and sounds are garbled. You are basically incapacitated for several minutes. So at this point Zimmerman is no match. Creepy cracker threat is over. But now we have the head injuries to Zimmerman. So instead of leaving the scene when Zimmerman is down, Martin moves in for the kill, slamming his head on the sidewalk. The human skull can only take so much of this before you expire. If Zimmerman does not have a gun, theres a good chance he's dead. Sure, this can be spun many other ways. But the injuries to Zimmerman are indisputable facts.

One other thing is bothering me about this. I'm not a parent so I need to hear from parents about this. If your 17 year old son is suspended from school and staying with you in a high crime area, what is he doing out after dark? I was no angel in my teens, and I got suspended from school. After my father strapped my ass so much I couldn't sit for 2 days, I was confined to the house for a month. No TV, no games, no phone calls, nothing. Sat in my room for a whole month.

His nose wasn't broken. Even his lawyer didn't say it was broken. It was fine in photos taken hours later at station.

[mam2009]

Martin was walking in the backyards of Zimmerman's neighbors. This is an undisputed fact in this case. If Zimmerman posed a threat to Martin, that threat was over once Martin struck him and broke his nose. Zimmerman down, threat over. But then Martin got on top of him and slammed Zimmerman's head on the concrete. That was his mistake, and it cost him his life. Zimmerman had made over 40 calls to 911 in the past year while patroling his neighborhood. He followed numerous suspicious individuals. They are all alive today because they did not attack and try to kill. Tragic event caused by crime in the neighborhood. Listen to Larry Elder's interview with Piers Morgan on CNN last night.

How do you know Zimmerman didn't INJURE his nose in a slip and fall in the rain on the wet grass or pavement while pursuing Treyvon, whom he said was "running"? Stop assuming Z's story is true.

[Honky Tonk]

Yeah, or, or maybe a METEOR hit him in the face, yeah, that's it! Like that meteor in Russia. He was mad @ the meteor, so he killed Martin. Yeah, that's what happened!

[canuck]

Posting this to the thread for two reasons
1. I havent seen many posts from black men in any of these threads
2. From some of the posts its seems that some people here care more about buildings than human life

I admit I havent read the thread because I have already seen how these threads go whenever black people are mentioned.
I am not a young black man, but I do believe their opinion and perspective is important since the legacy this trial and others will affect them more than anyone else [[besides the family)- I am posting the following letter.

Also to present some diversity to the opinions [[since the facts died with Trayvon, no one can factually prove why Zimmerman pursued or what happened during the struggle)


The scary part is that I know there is no way for the police or any overzealous vigilante to know who I am or what I've done while I'm walking down the street. They wouldn't know that I've opened up for The President in front of forty thousand people or that I was the only man who spoke on a Ladies Night fundraiser with The First Lady and Jill Biden. They wouldn’t know that I graduated from Northwestern, or that I built a robot to win my 8th grade science fair. They wouldn't know that I've raised money for the arts and the environment, that I've tutored young people and taught at one of the worst schools in Chicago. All they would know [[which is the same thing that George Zimmerman knew about Trayvon) is that I am a black male, which in turn makes me a suspect, and you will receive no penalty for treating me as such.

By TheQuis

Very well put together and I sense that some folks who despise what you tell because it dismisses the cosy idea of a level field will find you "arrogant for telling it "like it is".

Incidentally, my wife went to Quebec City last monday at an open air concert by Stevie Wonder. He had a few words about the Zimmerman trial and told the audience he will never play Florida again...

[Papasito]

wow, lots of hate for a Hispanic American in this thread.

[noise]

wow, lots of hate for a Hispanic American in this thread.

Somebody should ban this racebaiter.

[Jimaz]

... Incidentally, my wife went to Quebec City last monday at an open air concert by Stevie Wonder. He had a few words about the Zimmerman trial and told the audience he will never play Florida again...

Or any other state with a shoot first law. The audience applauded wildly.

[Pam]

Why do we give the over zealous party the benefit of the doubt? Why does the MAN who used extremely poor judgment [[a major understatement) get the benefit of the doubt?

I don't get that either. The guy trying to save his ass from going to jail has zero credibility to me.

[Zacha341]

Yeah, I guess Wonder will not be doing his home state Michigan and about 21 other states either. Perhaps he feels that the 'castle law' and SYG laws should be repealed nationwide? Perhaps a poll of Detroiter's is in order?

...Incidentally, my wife went to Quebec City last monday at an open air concert by Stevie Wonder. He had a few words about the Zimmerman trial and told the audience he will never play Florida again...

[mam2009]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...uld-serve-time

Prosecutor confident that I Michigan, Zimmerman would serve time.

That's a relief. The Macomb county prosecutor explained the situation just the way law-abiding, responsible gun owners should believe & behave in my book. You shoot to kill, but you are responsible enough not to place yourself in a situation where there's a good chance you'll get yourself in a fight you can't win unless you shoot. Don't look for trouble, but be prepared when it comes looking for you.

Zimmerman's fear was a fear of getting his butt kicked, not death. I don't buy it. Everyone is hypersensitive about head injuries nowadays [[especially someone getting boxing training!) and he chose not to get medical attention after having his head "bashed" against the concrete "dozens of times"? I call BULLSHIT!

[Honky Tonk]

Detroit and MI both favor the criminal not the victim. How's that been working out for this area?

[bailey]

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...uld-serve-time

Prosecutor confident that I Michigan, Zimmerman would serve time.

That's a relief. The Macomb county prosecutor explained the situation just the way law-abiding, responsible gun owners should believe & behave in my book. You shoot to kill, but you are responsible enough not to place yourself in a situation where there's a good chance you'll get yourself in a fight you can't win unless you shoot. Don't look for trouble, but be prepared when it comes looking for you.

Except that his explaination is total bullshit. embarrassingly so.

Not here, says Cataldo, the chief of homicide for the Macomb County Prosecutors Office. In Michigan, by statute and by precedent, “If you are the aggressor in a fight, you cannot then claim self defense when you use deadly force.”

That is florida's law too. The issue was there was no evidence to refute Zimmerman's tale that he was simply standing there doing nothing when Martin made his vicious, unprovoked attack.

He'd walk here too based on the actual evidence.

[Honky Tonk]

This is just a lame attempt by William Cataldo to get name recognition by the media.

[Downriviera]

Why do we give the over zealous party the benefit of the doubt?

I didn't. I looked at all the facts and listened to the testimony in the case. I listened to the lead investigator who said this never should have gone to trial. I listened to the interviews with Zimmerman's neighbors of all races who spoke highly of him. I also noticed that the only comments about Martin came from his family and girlfriend. No teachers, counselors, coaches, school friends. A black reverend on CNN last night said that is because they would have nothing good to say about him. He called him a thug. I wasn't swayed by the media showing a picture of a 12 year old Martin next to Zimmerman's mug shot. Why not show a picture of a 12 year old Zimmerman. Sorry, Martin is no child.

What clinched it for me was when the investigators lied to Zimmerman and told him everything was on video. Zimmerman's response; a sigh of relief and he said "Thank God".

[noise]

Why do we give the over zealous party the benefit of the doubt?

I didn't. I looked at all the facts and listened to the testimony in the case. I listened to the lead investigator who said this never should have gone to trial. I listened to the interviews with Zimmerman's neighbors of all races who spoke highly of him. I also noticed that the only comments about Martin came from his family and girlfriend. No teachers, counselors, coaches, school friends. A black reverend on CNN last night said that is because they would have nothing good to say about him. He called him a thug. I wasn't swayed by the media showing a picture of a 12 year old Martin next to Zimmerman's mug shot. Why not show a picture of a 12 year old Zimmerman. Sorry, Martin is no child.

What clinched it for me was when the investigators lied to Zimmerman and told him everything was on video. Zimmerman's response; a sigh of relief and he said "Thank God".

Apparently you listened to facts and then ruled by emotion.

What clinched it for me was the profiling, hostile targeting, and harassment of an innocent minor that ended in his death.