Trayvon Martin.

At least he has remorse. But yes, I agree with Joniemack do I think armed citizens (or cops) should be able to kill people for stealing property? No, I don't. And I don't give a rat's ass about the overbearing opposition because there is no way you can justify it without valuing inanimate objects over human life. Sounds to me like that's the kind of thinking Mr. Scott is engaging in, as well.

It isn't enough that they have virtually rewritten the rules of justifiable homicide to allow themselves the right to shoot people more readily, with less consequences. They want you to pat them on the back and treat them like heroes, as well. I don't think so. If someone shot another person while they were trying to steal my car, I would, I would be so fucking angry. I don't care if the young man charged or not. Who asked you to intervene with a gun on the behalf of my car? It's delusional, the assumption that that is a rational way to behave.

 

On the subject of Trayvon Martin distracting from the "real issue" of black on black crime, this link summarizes my views:
The Trayvon Martin Killing and the Myth of Black-on-Black Crime - The Daily Beast

 

Black on black?

Relevant

...

The UCR and the NCVS both seem to indicate that crime is, in fact, at its lowest in, like, fo-eva.

It's all relative, of course. Crime is just a statistic to most of us unless it's your house robbed, your kid shot, your significant other raped, etc.

 

I think it's an interesting and valid topic for discussion and, like I said earlier, I would have a lot to say about it. But, as in the past, it opens up another can of worms when you start to suggest that statistics are meaningless when you factor in the very real, broad disparities that exist - economics, urban planning, education, political power, social and criminal legislation, contemporary mythology, etc. - between white America and minority America. Been there, done that. And, yes, those things are from a certain perspective "more important" than the mindset that made Zimmerman get out of his car that night, but you can't really separate them, either. All of it makes people uncomfortable and leads into the territory of 'passionate discourse.' Oh, the humanity.

 

It is all relative, and crime is abstract until it happens to you or someone you know.

But the point is that no one responded to the Aurora theater shooting that happened around this time last year with "Forget discussions of mental illness, or the particulars of the shooter's troubled history, we need to have a discussion about the larger problem of white on white crime." No one responded to the Columbine shooting by implying that there was nothing to be gained by understanding it because of the bigger fish that is white on white crime.

I'm still kind of puzzled as to how black on black crime isn't some sort of massive concern-trolly strawman in the context of Trayvon Martin.

 

I too smell the tired stench of dead horse.

Y'know, like when Bodkin pulls out the steaming turd of "white on white" like maybe white people aren't the single leading cause of death throughout history.

While I agree that "black on black" isn't the droids we're looking for, it's apparently enough of an issue for the black community itself to make it a talking point.

I agree that, in this particular case, black on black has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Since he was killed by someone that was "mostly white" or "not black."

Can't wait to live in a world where people are all the same olive-colored mutt breed and can kill each other strictly over ideological differences such a religion and politics.

...

The one that I just can't wrap my tiny lizard brain around is why Zimmerman got out of his car to walk the guy down on foot.

Totally disregarded the dispatcher. Completely ignored the shoulder angels of common sense. Guy has to have huge retarded brass balls. And zero self-preservation sense.

Let's say he's a raging undercover racist and stalked Martin through his neighborhood solely because he was black and not because of the several others reasons that a Wannabe Hero would follow a stranger yute through his white bread shire.

As a dude that has carried a gun in the military and been in situations where it's dark and you've come across shady people... why the fuck would you volunteer to go out alone on foot to verbally confront somebody?

Assuming he thought that this Dangerous Black Youth was packing a gat and scoping out the cracker-'hood for a home invasion target, Zimmerman apparently had a deathwish as he initiated.

I just don't get it.

 

He had his ace in the hole. His secret protector. He had a gun.

Brass balls not required.

Even if the 'other guy' was packing, every gunslinger believes themselves to be the faster draw.

Zimmerman was looking for an opportunity to use it - had been for most of his emotionally stunted grown up life, I imagine.

 

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who aren't white who have also participated in lots o' wars and mayhem. (See: Asia, Africa, etc). But yeah, the turdiness of bringing up "black on black" in this discussion is made obvious by the turdiness of bringing up "white on white".

I suspect that the significance of black on black crime varies greatly depending on who you ask, even within the black community. I imagine that for some folks, it only comes up as a means of dismissing concerns about situations like Trayvon Martin.

 

Yeah, I don't buy that. Carrying a gun doesn't protect you from the other guy's gun. Even Quickdraw McFatty had to have known he could have been killed for his stupidity. So, yeah, my feeling is that Zimmerman was and still is bonkers. Crusader-type.

Zimmerman had zero regard for his personal safety. I can't believe the system let him walk.

...

Mmm, they don't teach white kids about those countries in white schools.

Yes.

 

Have we gone full circle and arrived at the conclusion that the US has a gun problem yet?

Which is not to suggest that the Trayvon Martin case can be so whittled down, but we do, don't we? A gun problem so out of control that the fact that neighborhood watchman GZ usually carried a gun around while on patrol seems not to have been of concern to the prosecution and jury.

 

Hahaha, troll.

One might suggest it has a culture problem. Colliding cultures. Racial and socioeconomic melting pots create friction.

Do you really think the variety of weapon used would change these types of crimes? Only difference in this case is that Zimmerman likely would have had his skull bashed in on the concrete.

 

Or, perhaps he would have bashed his head on the sidewalk until the guy was disoriented enough for him to make a getaway. Whee, crazy world.

 

Silly optimist.

 

Or maybe more likely for a 17-year-old with no history of arrest for violent crime. *shrug*

 

I feel like I need to make a Stay In Your Car, Neighborhood Watch t-shirt.

 

Well, at least until Watch is redefined to mean Follow.

And guns...yeah...well

 

Do people think that their marches and protests make this better after the fact?
Just wondering. "No Justice, No Peace" screams more violence and makes me think the climate will never improve.

 

Sometimes change is ugly. Rosa Parks got that.

So far, no riots, just protest. How America changes things.

 

The fact that Zimmerman is still alive seems evidence to me that the people protesting and marching are a few notches above the folks who think Zimmerman did nothing wrong.

 

The bottom line, if Trayvon had taken his ice tea and skittles and went straight home there would never have been a problem. The innocent young man portrayed by the press would have done exactly that, the young man that chose to confront George Zimmerman was not the innocent 13 yr old we keep seeing pictured by the press. Both parties made grave errors that evening, and the eventual outcome was tragic, but the charges against Mr. Zimmerman pertained to murder or manslaughter, not bad judgement.