Florida's "Shoot First" Law - Trayvon Martin

[major.tom]

Some of you may have heard the very sad story of a 17-year-old boy, Trayvon Martin, stalked and killed by a self-appointed neighborhood watch, George Zimmerman. Zimmerman, who outweighed the unarmed Trayvon by 80 lbs, claimed he acted in self-defence. To date, Zimmerman has not been arrested, nor was his gun even confiscated by police on or since the night of the shooting. Trayvon's family only discovered his fate days later despite the fact that Trayvon carried a cell phone containing multiple numbers, including his girfriend's, with whom he was in contact moments before his murder.

The mainstream media has paid little attention to the story. An AP article from this morning focuses more on the effect of Twitter and Facebook on spreading this story than the story itself.

However, it has been covered well on Democracy Now in recent days. If you're interested in learning more, I'd recommend the following:

• Walking While Black, Modern-Day Lynching, "Shoot First" Law
  
• NAACP: Justice for Trayvon

[faceless]

Here's a 47 minute radio show about the incident.

http://onpoint.wbur.org/2012/03/20/the-killing-of-trayvon-martin/player

[Aja]

I do not understand why this Man has not been arrested yet ......I have been following the story since last week ...so very sad .....

[major.tom]

It seems that the police and prosecutor decided to accept Zimmerman's claim rather than charging him and letting a judge or jury decide on the facts of the case. Of course, that substitutes their own judgement (and biases) for the proper application of justice.

If Zimmerman wants to claim self-defence, I'm all for allowing him to do so... at trial.

[Aja]

http://nouaintradio.com/2012/03/24/sinead-oconner-goes-in-on-trayvon-martin-hip-hop-and-the-black-community/

[faceless]

[Aja]

My Heart is hurting for this family ....I actually do listen to this radio show on my drive home ....this whole story is foked up ....I Lived in Florida for many Years and its a crazy mixed up place .....But this story is wrong .....
so very wrong ....

[faceless]

thanks for that Aja, hearing his dad speak like that was quite something.

[major.tom]

It's a very sad story, that's for sure.

Yesterday, I ran across this interesting article: Trayvon Martin had a right to stand his ground as well

[Aja]

I am so very tired right now ..but I have every feeling in my soul ..That zimmerman will be arrested ...This is a blatent cover up from the local police dept ...truth will prevail ...

[faceless]

[SpursFan1902]

I just saw this thread and I don't want to get into any discussions regarding this except to say that the main stream media is ALL OVER this topic. It is a incorrect to say that the main stream media has ignored this subject. Now I may be hearing more than most as I only live a couple of hours away, but it has been all over NPR, the BBC Hour on NPR, the national news as well as being mentioned in speeches by those who are running for office and those who already hold one.

[major.tom]

The picture now is considerably different than a few weeks ago. This incident took place in late Feb. It was not until late March that it started to get covered nationally or internationally.

If you have links to national or international coverage from Feb or early March, I would be willing to reconsider my low opinion of MSM. But that hardly seems an appropriate thing to argue about when a young boy is dead and his killer still walks free.

[Aja]

<p>

This is the"Wonderful country" That I live in right now ......

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/09/11102214-racial-slur-on-mich-road-sign-targets-trayvon-martin?lite

[faceless]