Photo: LeBron James and the Miami Heat Show Support for Trayvon Martin

No one knows exactly how the altercation began. We do know that Trayvon’s female friend said that Zimmerman was the aggressor. We do know that he lied to police about pursuing Trayvon Martin. His father said he didn’t follow Martin, but the tapes say different.
We know that Zimmerman regularly reported black men as suspicious based solely on the color of their skin despite the fact that 20 percent of his neighbors are black.
Its funny how the article doesn’t attempt to explain what made Trayvon Martin suspicious even as it tries to provide “context” on who he really was. Zimmerman didn’t know he had been suspended. Nor did he know he was a football player. He knew Martin was a black man wearing a hood in the rain and walking through his neighborhood and he knew he didn’t belong.
Remember, most crime is committed within same race. As a white person you are three times more likely to be victimized by another white person than a black person. Check the statistics. The fact that despite this truth, despite the fact that white males between 18-35 are more likely to use drugs than any other group, we still have the dominant stereotype of the dangerous black male preying on everyone, which is what led Zimmerman to label Martin as suspicious.
Everyone knows this is true. Some of you clearly think that’s justified. As a black man who has been harassed by police to the point of having a gun pulled on him simply for sitting in his car and looking suspicious to a white woman, I don’t agree with that state of affairs. It is what it is. I will never convince most white people that there is something inherently unfair about racial profiling because most of them benefit from racial profiling, particularly in the freedom it allows them and the false sense of security it provides them.
Oh well.

I get it Smits every place in the world is better than the US, its not the first time I have heard that on this site, but alas the threat of a weapon is a real threat worldwide. Why else would tourist guides advise staying away from non-tourist areas in the Netherlands? I also would like to point out the fact that close to 80% of the Netherlands is populated by Ethnic Dutch, with no one other group exceeding 3%, so maybe just maybe the diversity of the population in America leads to the excess of violence, who knows? But to think that violence would have been avoided just because guns would be outlawed is a fallacy. Guns don’t kill people, people do, I know a little cliche but its the truth. Like I said earlier, we will never know the complete story, but none of that will change the fact that a life was cut way too short. A mother should never have to see her son buried, I can only imagine the pain she is feeling, my heart goes out to her.

Are knives illegal in the Netherlands? because take the gun out of the equation and put a knife and I still believe we have a tragedy.

shooting some one is much easier then stabbing someone. mentally and skillwise. Also a gun has a much bigger range. one bullet can take out multiple people. one stab with a knife cant. Yes they are both lethal. But you and i know which is the worst weapon. The invention of the gun changed warfare. And history.

We’re still surprised?
Let us all go march and protest somewhere.
That’ll make it all better.
Just like it always has… smh

Maybe we should outlaw all weapons, I think they did that on the Simpsons didn’t work there either.

Trayvon was perfectly justified for knocking Zimmerman! Zimmerman was stalking him with a gun… You come at me with a shotgun, demanding and threatening me and you better be prepared to use it. As far as I’m concerned homie was probably acting in self defense, Zimmerman most likely started that altercation, I mean he did call him a coon! Cosign Allen enig, and Taylor

Co-sign AllenP.

If a black man follows a white person, nobody questions the idea that the black man is a threat. A white dude with a gun follows a black guy, and the white man deserves the benefit of the doubt. The depth of the racism in our society is amazing. Even on this site. I’m glad Zimmerman got his *ss busted. He got what he deserved. Trayvon died because he had the nerve to stand up to a white boy with a gun. He died because that white guy was incensed that the black kid had the nerve to not answer him. F all of y’all who think Zimmerman is anything but a murderer.

@ shutup: Actually the 2nd amendment gives all Americans the right to bear “arms.” It doesn’t specify WHICH arms. If you feel it’s perfectly fine for Americans to own handguns and assault rifles, then I hope you also believe it’s okay for everyone to own bombs and hand grenades and tanks and heavy artillery.
Hey, maybe nuclear weapons while we’re at it. Nukes are arms–the 2nd amendment gave you the right own nukes too. Why the hell not?
If you believe that then fine. If not, then you clearly believe there should be some sort of regulation for the safety of others. And in that case, there is NO reason assault weapons should be allowed, nor handguns or semi-automatics or anything that has no other purpose beyond killing humans. End of story.

Last comment…
Co-sign Allenp and dazzy.
@ Lakeshow: Not all races can be racist in the same way–at least in the Western world. Also blacks, Asians, and Hispanics don’t have the power in America to carry out racism on a national and institutionalized scale the way whites do. That is a fact. That is not playing the race card or any other BS–just check the stats.
@ Allenp: Are you familiar with Michelle Alexander?

While I do feel like this situation is completely rooted in racism, I find it strange that this particular story has been singled out for some reason. I read the article that Wayno linked to and like it says, in Chicago, literally double digit children are getting murdered every day and no one seems to be doing anything about it. But since this story allows for the black vs white story line, its been elevated above anything else. Very interesting.

@teddy please dont use this forum to start with the anti-america stuff. If you want to pervert the words of the Constitution then have fun with that. The Utopian society your looking for doesn’t exist, and won’t exist in my life your life or your descendants lifetime. Man is a flawed creature, so thus anything stemming from man will be flawed, your just gonna have to deal with that sad reality. As for the gun control thing there is no evidence that gun control leads to crime control, and actual case studies have proven quite the contrary. Look at both England and Canada if you want examples, or compare Virginia with Washington D.C. you’d be surprised if you think the state with tighter gun regulations has the lower crime rate.

Diesel
Easy answer. The unjustified death it an unarmed boy walking home resonates more than deaths related to drug and gang activity. Just like Americans care more about Americans who die in foreign disasters than the people who actually live there. We respond better to simple situations and in this vase the issue is simple.
A young black man was racially profiled and killed by a man who remains free. Easy to pick sides unless you really don’t want to deal with race.

Allen, I am picking sides. I’m picking trayvon’s side. But those Chicago deaths, they include innocent people who got caught in the crossfire as well. The media is acting like this is the first senseless death in history. I’d like to see all murders treated with this much call to action. But that won’t happen because like I said, they don’t provide the juicy storylines.

Fu** all of you idiots defending George Zimmerman. You can all go to h3ll in my opinion