Kid Shot For Being Black

[Gypsy]

I did a quick search and didn't see a thread on this, but my bad if there has been one.

Anyway, if you are living under a rock or outside the US it's possible you haven't heard about this.

Long story short. Innocent unarmed black kid (Trayvon Martin) is walking around with a hoodie wielding skittles and a bottle of water. Crazy leader of a local neighbourhood watch group (George Zimmerman) calls the police to report "suspicious activity (see: a black kid in his neighbourhood and he used slurs in the call) and the police tell him to do nothing while they send a patrol out. Instead Zimmerman follows Martin and ends up killing him for no reason. He then claims it was self defense even though Martin is clearly unarmed. Due so Florida laws Zimmerman still hasn't even spent a day in jail.

Timeline: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...ine-of-events/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...m_business_pop

There is really only one take here imo but feel free to discuss.

Racism is clearly still a problem and imho if it were the other way around and the killer was black he'd already be in jail.

[Clive]

I don't know enough about this to pass judgement (only made small waves here in the UK so far) but it doesn't look favourable for the over-zealous neighbourhood watchman. Why he hasn't been charged with anything, to at least allow for a more thorough investigation, is madness.

The guy killed someone, he should be detained until cleared or charged.

[TheRealSpiders]

I remember hearing about this, it's pretty much entirely unacceptable.

[Coraje187]

I seen this it saddens me that someone could shot a unarmed boy like this. Hopefully there will be justice.

[Muscab]

In my country, there are more than 80 different races. Racism does occurred in some place. But there are absolute nothing that we can do.
The only solution is probably giving moral learning to all the children while they're still young at school. Apart from that, imo religions also playing vital part against racism in which parents can implemented them.

[Jack_Arian]

Sad that we will always live in a world filled with this type of shit.

Why can't everyone just be the exact same shade of purple each, and all speak the exact same dialect, so we can at the least forget about racism because people apparently aren't fucking grown up enough, or too idiotic/ignorant, to do it on their own. I guess some people just don't take into consideration that we are all just human beings trying to live our lives like anyone else.

[Dr Mario]

Someone needs to have a word with the cops originally tasked with dealing with Zimmerman.

Self-defense is an affirmative defense in court. It is not, and never has been, a claim that will get you out of being arrested.

[Aeolus Aeneas]

Must have been living in a vault, since I never heard about this.

[Gypsy]

Someone needs to have a word with the cops originally tasked with dealing with Zimmerman.

Self-defense is an affirmative defense in court. It is not, and never has been, a claim that will get you out of being arrested.

Some weird Florida law. The police chief in that city has resigned over botching it up in general though.

[JKDarkside]

I hate to be "that guy," but how is this news?

Hate crimes go on all the time. It's not like this is suddenly bringing a new issue to light. It's a horrible thing that happened, but that's about it. Then again, maybe I'm just jaded.

[Dr Mario]

Some weird Florida law. The police chief in that city has resigned over botching it up in general though.

Not really. The weird Florida part of the law is that it lets a judge throw out a prosecution before it goes to a jury trial if he thinks the accused is making a fair self-defense claim. The arresting officers have no such power.

[Rockstar1983]

This is not meant to defend the shooter, but did anybody else catch the phrase "gated community" at the end of the Washington post article? Hell, I'm as white as they come, with blonde-ish hair and blue-green eyes, and I might get shot at (or at least threatened) if I went walking alone in a gated community where I didn't live.

People who live in these "gated communities", people so arrogant that they must shut themselves away from the unwashed masses, are not people I wish to know. Trouser stains, first-class.

[Aeolus Aeneas]

That's why all gated communities should be be rigged to explode.

[Gypsy]

Not really. The weird Florida part of the law is that it lets a judge throw out a prosecution before it goes to a jury trial if he thinks the accused is making a fair self-defense claim. The arresting officers have no such power.

Then they fucked up bad. :/

@darkseid: Nah, you like being that guy. <3 Tbf I just felt like making this thread on a whim. Mainly because this guy isn't in jail.

[lizard81288]

Lol, I was going to make this topic, but people would have bitched at me, so I didn't.

Anyway, during the 911 tape, he call the kid a "fucking coon". I'd say this is bad and all, but this is Florida, so yeah...as in Florida is generally raciest. Plus this isn't the 1st time the law turned wrong (other innocent people died as well). Pretty much, you get to kill people in Florida so long as:
1)White
2) Say it is self defense

I think the law is good, BUT needs some tweaking. If someone is trying to hurt me, I will defend myself. However, a clause in the law says you cannot pursue said person or instigate a fight, in this case, it seems both happened. Then mix that in with sloppy ass cop work, and you have this case. Since he broke the clause, he should be held responsible.