Saturday, July 20, 2013

Travyon Martin and Obama's Statement - Why I Was Outraged

It has been almost a year that I have not written a blog.  Perhaps writer’s block came over me. When I usually write, it was because I was moved by current events.  Nothing touched me more than the case of Travyon Martin’s unfortunate death and the shock of Obama’s statement to the press today..

Like many people I had mixed feelings in this case as there was so much doubt due to errors on the part of Zimmerman and the strong emotions and negative past of Trayvon.  With no witnesses present at the time of the shooting, nor the onset of the fight, we can only take sides of whom to believe was the guilty one.

From my business law class in the late 50’s, we learned that one case tried by two separate jurors and judges can result in two different verdicts.  It is simply how the case is presented and the opinions of the juries.

Similar to the cases of OJ Simpson, and Casey Anthony, we all had our own opinions on their guilt.  Yet the jury was instructed that if there is a shadow of doubt, whether you want to believe or not, you must find them “not Guilty.”  Yes, there was public outrage but the case was closed and we go on with our lives hugging our children and family a little more.

At first, I wanted to believe Trayvon was an innocent kid, dressed in a hoodie minding his business.  I thought of Zimmerman as a captain of a neighborhood watchman anxious to catch a thief who has been robbing and terrorizing the neighborhood.  Although Travyon was slowly walking in the rain, I felt Zimmerman stalked him.  Martin did not commit any crime at the time he was approached by Zimmerman.  No one knew what happened next but two assumptions was clear.  Either Martin attacked Zimmerman for following him, and Zimmerman shot Martin in self defense or Zimmerman was out to get his victim no matter what.  Because of these doubts with no real witnesses, they had to let Zimmerman go free. Like OJ, like Casey Anthony

The nation is split into two.  We need to heal.  Stricter rules must be made for neighborhood watchmen to be paired in twos.  Rules must be obeyed by not getting out of the car when a crime is not committed and if suspicious of someone,  to wait for help from police.
  
The real guilt in this case is Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Charles Hurley who has been reassigned pending investigations into allegations of misconduct.
Complaints filed with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Miami-Dade Public Schools reportedly accuse Hurley of directing officers to Baker Act rather than arrest students to make it appear that crimes have decreased under his watch.
During the course of that investigation, MDSPD officers and supervisors described Chief Hurley’s policy of not reporting crimes by students. Chief Hurley was subsequently accused of sexually harassing two female subordinates.

On Robert Stacy McCain’s blog 

In October 2011, after a video surveillance camera caught Martin writing graffiti on a door, MDSPD Office Darryl Dunn searched Martin’s backpack, looking for the marker he had used. Officer Dunn found 12 pieces of women’s jewelry and a man’s watch, along with a flathead screwdriver the officer described as a “burglary tool.” The jewelry and watch, which Martin claimed he had gotten from a friend he refused to name, matched a description of items stolen during the October 2011 burglary of a house on 204th Terrace, about a half-mile from the school. However, because of Chief Hurley’s policy “to lower the arrest rates,” as one MDSPD sergeant said in an internal investigation, the stolen jewelry was instead listed as “found property” and was never reported to Miami-Dade Police who were investigating the burglary. Similarly, in February 2012 when an MDSPD officer caught Martin with a small plastic bag containing marijuana residue, as well as a marijuana pipe, this was not treated as a crime, and instead Martin was suspended from school.

Either of those incidents could have put Trayvon Martin into the custody of the juvenile justice system. However, because of Chief Hurley’s attempt to reduce the school crime statistics — according to sworn testimony, officers were “basically told to lie and falsify” reports — Martin was never arrested. And if he had been arrested, he might never have been in Sanford the night of his fatal encounter with Zimmerman.

In fact, the reason Zimmerman was patrolling the townhouse community the night of the February 2012 shooting was that there had been a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood, although there was no indication that Trayvon Martin was involved in any of those crimes.

George Zimmerman himself is mixed race, although he’s often reported as being Hispanic. George Zimmerman has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather.
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/847663/george-zimmerman-racism-he-helped-black-people/#uyShSbKqR5JRVwPu.99

George Zimmerman Helped Blacks

Before the Trayvon Martin shooting even took place, George Zimmerman was one of the few non-black people that helped protest the beating of a black homeless man by the son of a Sanford police officer that was left unpunished. The twist to this story is that George Zimmerman asked the NAACP in Sanford for help, but he was shot down, claiming they didn’t have the resources to help the homeless black man.
So without the help of the NAACP George Zimmerman printed his own fliers and distributed them at black churches in the area. Only after the guilty party turned himself in did the NAACP become involved in negotiating an “undisclosed financial reward” for the black man George Zimmeran had helped.

So why am I outraged?  Obama said on Fox News network today that he (Obama) could have been Travyon Martin 35 years ago.  Listening most of the day, I did not hear one comment about if Obama, 35 years ago was suspended from school, defacing buildings with graffiti , and carrying stolen jewelry in his pocket along with a screw driver used in breaking into houses.  Why on earth would our president put himself so low in the class of Travyon Martin  just because he was black.  Had the young boy been a good student and this happened, well I could understand the president making that comment.  I am not saying that Martin’s lack of education and discipline justified his death.  The fact that our President put himself in Martin’s class.  He could have said"35 years ago, it could have been him or any of his white friends"  as an example of anyone caught in a fight that led to death.

In closing, a real leader would not look to divide our country and cause more chaos, but would look to unify our country and not feed into racial arsonists like Sharpton and Jackson. Although they are important to the black community, they should not destroy all the good and hard work they have done by causing racial dissension in our country