Trayvon Martin
esterday, Sanford police put their cards on the table and explained why they haven’t arrested George Zimmerman. To recap, Zimmerman claimed self defense, saying he followed Trayvon Martin; they got in an argument; Trayvon struck him first and wouldn’t stop; so Zimmerman shot him. There are serious reasons to doubt Zimmerman’s account — such as the witnesses who dispute it — but even if its true, it is not a defense for murder.
The same facts framed differently lead me to conclude that Zimmerman should be arrested and prosecuted. Zimmerman pursued Trayvon. Trayvon felt threatened and defended himself (i.e. “stood his ground”), and because Trayvon was successful for a short time in defending himself, Zimmerman shot him dead. Several questions arise here: Who does Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law apply to? Who should feel more threatened — an unarmed teenager chased by a strange adult or an armed adult questioned by a youth who he just chased?
Martin did many of the things Miami-Dade County’s parks department recommends children do when they encounter adult strangers. The police, Zimmerman, and the prosecutor may want to read those.
The tips recommend:
“If a stranger comes toward you, step backwards, turn around and run away.” — Martin initially attempted to escape from Zimmerman’s advances, based on Zimmerman’s own phone call.
“What should you do if a stranger tries to grab you? You can yell for help! You can kick, scratch, or bite! You can run away as fast as you can.” — In other words, Martin should defend himself, and he can do so with physical force.
“Never talk to a stranger.” — Martin refused to answer Zimmerman’s questions. Sure, Martin spoke to Zimmerman, but he wasn’t obligated to answer his questions.
I oppose the “Stand Your Ground”/”Shoot First, Ask Questions Later” law that police believe exculpates Zimmerman. But the police and Zimmerman can’t have it both ways. If they want to apply the law, apply it to the person who rightfully felt threatened. Apply it to the person who was chased. Apply it to the person who was unarmed. Don’t twist it the other way around. And if you remove that absurd law from the conversation, then there’s definitely no defense for getting out of your car, stalking, and then killing an unarmed teen.
Trayvon Martin may not have done the textbook best job at protecting himself from harm. And whether he was a “child” or not may be open to debate since government agencies and websites differ on how somebody age 17 should be categorized. But considering the circumstances — rainy, getting dark, stranger following him with a gun — his actions were reasonable and well within his rights. They certainly didn’t warrant his death.
To summarize Zimmerman’s own defense, Zimmerman initiated a confrontation by chasing a youth, the youth defended himself, and Zimmerman shot him dead. Looks like grounds for an arrest. And if you ask me, it’s grounds for a conviction, too.
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The rules to protect children need to be adjusted.
If you run away, someone might think you have done something criminal.
Walk away quickly.
Running in rain, can mean slip and fall, especially in this neighborhood whose street lighting is crap.
If TM and GZ had answered each other’s questions, this tragedy might have been avoided.
TM asked “Why are you following me?” but GZ did not reply with any self-identification as working for the Neighborhood Follow Vigilante Society.
GZ asked “What are you doing here?” but TM did not reply “I am returning to my family home from the store.” which would not have told an evil creepy stranger info about that home location address.
I’m not going to teach my boys to go along with any random guy who grabs them and says he’s going to put them under arrest. This is such an ancient chapter from the Book of Perverts that it makes an appearance in Mystic River! The whole “well, he fought back that bad boy” bullcrap needs to be looked at like it is here.
We normally celebrate kids who resist abduction. I guess it doesn’t count if you are a black kid.
The only problem with that, forsythia, is that Zimmerman didn’t grab Martin. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, only wanted to ask a few questions and probably never intended to come closer to Martin than 20 feet. Closing the distance to zero was all Martin’s idea. Physical contact was also Martin’s idea. While we do celebrate kids who resist abduction, we don’t celebrate teenage thugs who start fights, which is was Travyon Martin did.
We have only Zimmerman’s word for it that Martin initiated the physical contact.
DeeDee tells a different story.
Neighborhood Watch societies all over the nation tell us that Zimmerman, and his so-called society, collectively violated every rule in their book.