Trayvon Martin case

[Phishfan]

I'll bet there are some people looking to do that already, which is why his lawyers were saying they had lost contact with him and the prosecutor is saying that he is somewhere in Florida in police custody.

I don't know why they were being so cryptic about that. It is known that he is in the Seminole County Jail right now.

http://webbond.seminolesheriff.org/InmateInfo.aspx?bkgnbr=201200004452

[Sunstroke]

This is said with every big court case, but Casey Anthony and OJ are still walking around.

That's why the prop bet would be a dollar, instead of my entire paycheck...

The hate for Zimmerman is nowhere near where it was for someone like Casey Anthony...

From a personal perspective only, I didn't spend 2 minutes following the Casey Anthony fiasco...all I know is she supposedly killed her kid, but it couldn't be proven in court. On the other side, I've been interested in the Trayvon mess since day one and read at least one news piece daily about it.

[Dave Gray]

Martin, in my opinion, is a more INTERESTING case, because there is a law that seems to be on trial.  Casey Anthony was batshit, so it was neat to watch the circus.  But there weren't many people saying that Anthony was justified.  These kinds of things are important to our society, though.  The Casey Anthony trial made way for "Kaylee's law", which makes it a felony to have to report a missing child after X amount of hours.  Something will probably come from this case, too.

[Phishfan]

The Casey Anthony trial made way for "Kaylee's law", which makes it a felony to have to report a missing child after X amount of hours.  Something will probably come from this case, too.

They had to tone it down in order for it to pass. I believe the law only makes it a felony to give false statements to police in cases of missing children, death, or injury.

[CF DolFan]

My office is right behind the court house and next to the jail. As you can imagine the media is pretty crazy today. I swear it's like they have been waiting for this story to happen. That must have been lost without the Casey Anthony story.

[bsmooth]

The hate for Zimmerman is nowhere near where it was for someone like Casey Anthony.  I think that people are more mad at the police department, the law, etc -- rather than the actual man.  I think that some people are even sympathetic towards Zimmerman.

Yes many more people are sympathetic to Zimmerman than Anthony.

[Spider-Dan]

Casey Anthony's case didn't involve a left-vs.-right issue.  This case (potentially) involves three of them:

- gun control laws (concealed carry + Stand Your Ground laws)
- racial profiling (of Martin by Zimmerman)
- mistreatment of minorities by law enforcement (the failure to fully investigate the death of a black homicide victim)

Given that all three of these issues happen to align such that conservatives would clearly be on one side and liberals would clearly be on the other, this case was always going to have a political spin.  However, if Zimmerman had been arrested immediately, this case would have been relegated to a cable-news talking-head feeding frenzy, instead of having mass protests.

[Phishfan]

I just don't see the left and right of it and think most of you consider it that way just because a large portion of people line up that way. I consider myself socially liberal but fully support laws that allow concealed carry permits. I also feel that stand your ground laws have a place. If attacked, the last thing I want is a responsibility to prove I tried to flee. My gut reaction is fight back.

As for the other two choices, racial profiling happens by everyone. I don't see it as a left/right issue. Is it right, is it wrong? I'd say it leads to quite a bit of misunderstanding.

Mistreatment of minorities is a left/right issue? I'd dare say any registered Republican would take offense to that line of thinking and they should. There is no politics there. Mistreatment is mistreatment and to think anyone would support it is crazy.

[Spider-Dan]

Phishfan, the difference between left/right is almost precisely the difference between believing that racial profiling is a problem that still exists (in any significant quantity).  More directly, when asked about specific, individual cases, conservatives are hard-pressed to acknowledge present-day cases where racial profiling has occurred.  So being opposed to racial profiling conceptually is not really a good barometer.

Similarly, while I'm sure many conservatives would be against "mistreatment of minorities," the difference is that they generally do not believe that (in any specific case, e.g. this one) it has actually occurred.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

This is said with every big court case, but Casey Anthony and OJ are still walking around.

This may sound racist .... but there is a difference.

Nobody every put a bounty on either of those two's head.  If fact there was some in wild julibration after the OJ trial -- pretty much the same folks who have been demanding "justice" on Zimmerman.  The same folks who burned LA to the ground cause they didn't like the verdict in the Rodney King case. 

If a jury concludeds that Zimmerman is not guilty, his life is very much at risk. 

Note: this is not to say all African Americans or even most a prone to vigilantism.  But it only takes one.   

[bsmooth]

This may sound racist .... but there is a difference.

Nobody every put a bounty on either of those two's head.  If fact there was some in wild julibration after the OJ trial -- pretty much the same folks who have been demanding "justice" on Zimmerman.  The same folks who burned LA to the ground cause they didn't like the verdict in the Rodney King case. 

If a jury concludeds that Zimmerman is not guilty, his life is very much at risk. 

Note: this is not to say all African Americans or even most a prone to vigilantism.  But it only takes one.   

Totally different. LA had been a powder keg for decades, especially due to the behavior of the LAPD towards the minority communities. So when that segment of video tape kept getting played over and over again for a year, no one thought those officers would get acquitted.
While there is outrage here, due to the lack of in-your-face evidence like a video, it is not as bad as during the LAPD officers trial.
Also many people used the outrage as a cover to just commit crimes. While down there, we had gang members and other people tel us why they did some of what they did.

[Spider-Dan]

This may sound racist .... but there is a difference.

Nobody every put a bounty on either of those two's head.

You don't remember the woman arrested for ramming and flipping the car of a woman she thought was Casey Anthony, in an attempt to kill her?

I will agree that you are correct in stating that it does sound racist.  Essentially, you seem to be claiming that when a good portion of the significant-majority ethnicity (whites) think a murderer is unjustly let off, that person is free to walk the streets (because white vigilantes don't exist?), but if a good portion of the ~12% black population thinks you are a murderer who cheated justice, well, your life is clearly in danger.  I leave it to the reader to determine why that is.

Say, I wonder what happened to those LAPD cops that beat Rodney King?  I mean, since the blacks back then were participating in actual riots (as opposed to internet bounties), surely those officers must have suffered brutally at the immense, lawless mob of black people, right?

I am also forced to wonder why fringe, extremist groups like the New Black Panther Party are given such esteemed credibility to speak for black sentiment.  Should we also look to neo-Nazi groups to determine the mainstream white position?

Finally: not that it matters, but the only "bounty" that the NBPP (again, an extremist, fringe organization) offered was for the citizen's arrest of Zimmerman.  So since Zimmerman has been actually arrested by real police, isn't their bounty invalidated?

As I have said repeatedly: the point of outrage was that Zimmerman wasn't even arrested.  That lack of action would have signified a HUGE shift in the types of outcomes that minorities can expect from racial profiling.  A year ago, the idea that a private citizen could shoot and kill an unarmed child and not even be arrested would have been considered ridiculous and not worth discussing.

[suck for luck]

I think it was 50 something people that died in the Rodney King riots. But *if* none of the officers were killed or suffered harm then that's all good.

The nbpp had fliers that read 'dead or alive'. There are also numerous audios of them calling war against whitey 'suit up & boot up'.

You are an absolute trip.

[Spider-Dan]

I think it was 50 something people that died in the Rodney King riots. But *if* none of the officers were killed or suffered harm then that's all good.

The argument that vast swaths of the country will burn if Zimmerman is acquitted is a completely separate argument from the claim that Zimmerman is in immediate personal danger if he is acquitted.  He would be in no more danger than Casey Anthony, OJ, or the Rodney King cops, and none of them were lynched.

The nbpp had fliers that read 'dead or alive'.

That is the flier.  Doesn't look like it says "dead or alive" to me.

Again, not that I want to spend too much time talking about the wishes of a fringe organization, but you can read this interview where the NBPP national chairman explicitly states that the reward was for the citizen's arrest of Zimmerman.  Nothing more, nothing less.

In other words, the position you are ascribing to an extremist organization is even more extremist than the position they actually hold.  The NBPP is standing to the side of Fox saying, "Whoa, man, dial it down."

[Fins4ever]

Hard to know what the truth is.

I honestly don't know if Zimmerman was acting in self-defense or not.  If this was murder or a legitmate act of self defense.

What I do know that the protesters are dillustional or straight up liers and for the most part racists.  To hear his supporters speak you would think Martin was a saint incapble of every causing any trouble.  However, on the day of his death was the first day of a ten day suspension from school.  While I haven't seen why he was suspended, my experience is kids don't get suspended 10 days for chewing gum in class or passing notes.  The only way to get such a harsh punishement is thru repeated acts of violence or drug use.  

While I don't know if Zimmerman committed a crime or not, I do know that the Black Panthers putting a $10,000 bounty for Zimmerman’s “capture” is a crime.  

I could not have put it better. Love your posts. Are you sure you are not a Fins fan? 

Seriously, no one knows all the facts, but we see the race card being played over and over. I heard commentary calling Zimmerman a cold blooded killer and only shot him because of his color. That is BS. Even Obama had a comment.

Like it or not, the media is a POWERFUL force and with all the attention this has gotten, I am not surprised he was charged.

Now, if he is acquitted and from what I have read, that is very possible, I guess we will see riots and protests. The race relations in this country has gotten worse, not better.