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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrayvon comparisons on FB. Finally had it UP with that Bullshit. My response.
It is a horrible crime. They will go to prison for the rest of their life. As they should. I am pretty damn assured of that.
I have lived my entire life expecting there will be justice for people who look like me.
They won't get the death penalty. (SCOTUS Roper vs Siimmons 2005.) Yeah. We don't execute juveniles anymore....officially.
No one in the media will publicly defend them. To assert that they would is ridiculous. Zimmerman, on the other hand, was made a hero by certain factions of the media. Certain factions held fund-raising drives for a person who had stalked, confronted and killed a teenager walking home. Funds which this paragon of virtue failed to disclose when he declared himself "destitute" before the court.
It was pretty much assured Zimmerman was going to get away with it from the get go. That is precisely what was causing the anger and anguish. I am glad there was at least, at the very least, a show trial to "inconvenience" him for awhile.
Would certain factions of the media had made this man a cult hero, if the teenager he had killed had been white? Doubtful.
Would have Zimmerman been detained immediately and been tested for intoxication if he had killed a white juvenile? Very likely. They tested the dead teen's corpse. But not the man who turned him into a corpse.
If Zimmerman had run into him with the truck and just injured him... at least a blood test would have happened. But no. He shot a teenager in the chest. So no blood test.
And as to the trial outcome?
The people that killed Emitt Till were not convicted either.
Some people have lived their entire lives expecting there will NEVER be justice for people who look like themselves.
denverbill
(11,489 posts)There have been a few 'DUers' anguished over the Belton case who seem to be shocked that DU isn't more outraged. The fact of the matter is, as horrific as that crime might be, there is no evidence it was racially motivated and it's clear the perpetrators won't be walking away scot-free.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)These people don't seem to understand that if people are arrested and almost assured of a life conviction....
Though there is sorrow and empathy you are seeing justice in action. Not justice inaction.
I swear some of these people seem thirsty to bring back lynching.
cali
(114,904 posts)doesn't exist in the Lane case.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)Didn't verify it.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)The idiots demanding that Obama come out and condemn the crime....because he's...you know...black.
Did George W. Bush have to condemn every crime committed by white people?
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)Obama's fault.
lumpy
(13,704 posts)Tom, Dick, Mary and Harry to war in the Middle East.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,173 posts)Thank you.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)Also interesting how right wingers selectively love Hate Crime enforcement.
Mr.Bill
(24,282 posts)they are missing the point that what made Zimmerman a national news item was that he not only shot and killed a minor, it was the fact that he was not immediately arrested and charged for it. Let me know when some black adult shoots and kills an unarmed white minor without being immediately arrested and charged with a crime. Then they can compare it to Zimmerman/Martin.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)It was there was no justice.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)alphafemale
(18,497 posts)griloco
(832 posts)Toss a straw on the ground and watch 'em grasp for it.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)....or ask them to present a coherent thought?
noiretextatique
(27,275 posts)like ME.
and that's the context for my perspective on Martin...and countless others. i think some white americans fail to acknowledge or grasp the reality of the american justice system. the reality is: it has NEVER worked very well for black victims of white perpetrators. the people that killed Till were never convicted, and it took 40+ years to convict medgar evers' murderer. THAT'S a huge part of the frustration that black people have with the justice system; it is a LEGITIMATE frustration, and it is ROUTINELY ignored or dismissed.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)I was so glad somebody finally gave a name to it.
Some people will never see it.
Ilsa
(61,694 posts)Your effort is worthwhile, though. Maybe someone new will figure it out. Get an inkling.
Thank you for your post.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)I will break through one day.
Skittles
(153,150 posts)yes indeed
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)A few of my childhood FB friends do this racist shit every now and then. I call them on it.
We disagree violently but there is something about skinning your knees in the same playground that bonds you for life.
I was once in a tit for tat with a childhood chum and another of his friends posted something like...."Why are you FB'd with a Liberal in the first place"
He shot back, "You will honor and respect her. She is my friend."
That one isn't a racist that much though. Just a FL gov fan. ugh
Skittles
(153,150 posts)f*** that garbage
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)It is a way to easily stay in contact with a number of people even if it isn't as significant as a letter or phone call.
But that many letters or phone calls would be time consuming and impractical anyway. I love seeing the pics they post of "all the world's a sunny day" moments.
And I probably do make more phone calls to relatives and distant friends than I did in the past, because there is somewhat of a running dialogue already ongoing.
I only respond occasionally to political stuff like this.
And if I hadn't found a way to shut down game requests? I would have quit the shit long ago.
Skittles
(153,150 posts)f*** FB
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)I wouldn't see nearly as many kid pics as I do without FB though.
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)!!
obxhead
(8,434 posts)no justice.
We have people from various cultures living in a space station , but we can't figure out how to play by the same rules, regardless of culture, right here on earth.
I hang my head in shame.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Maybe because, as a white guy, I have greater perspective RE: my own "kind." Unlike a lot of white guys who seem to think they're such learned experts on black people - in which case, if you'll notice, their view is almost uniformly negative, thus anything but "fair and balanced."
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)as a "drug-addict thug" or equivalent absurdity.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)What 16 yr old boy....doesn't?
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)alphafemale
(18,497 posts)When he died I mean. He wasn't a thug at all.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)But the majority of pics I have seen as Trayvon makes me think more of that nerd from Fresh Prince than anything remotely threatening.
An_enlightened_soul
(36 posts)I don't fault the police for not arresting Zimmerman at the scene. I don't fault the original prosecutor for declining to file charges when the police department finally recommended a manslaughter charge. I think that it is always better to be cautious than over zealous when prosecuting, and that everyone SHOULD benefit from a cautious criminal justice system. The problem is, we have a mostly reasonable criminal justice system.. As long as you're white. If you're black, the criminal justice system is overzealous and cruel.
I absolutely fault the double standard present in our criminal "justice" system. If Zimmerman had been black, no matter Trayvon's race, the entire case would have been handled differently. THAT is the problem.
We cannot, we MUST not, have two justice systems. Justice should be blind.
One of my biggest problems with many people during the Zimmerman trial was that they were advocating making it easier for the State to prosecute citizens. How do you guys think that would work out for black folks? Not very well, if history ... And sadly, if the present.. Is any indicator.
alphafemale
(18,497 posts)And not arrested. Questioned. Drug tested.
If Trayvon had been WHITE. The entire case would have been handled different. It is not the race of the the man with the gun that matters. It is the race of the victim that matters.
Kill a black teen...who cares?
Number23
(24,544 posts)alphafemale
(18,497 posts)This was a reply I posted in FB. Just reposted here.