What Good Will Come?
I have tried hard to see some good that can come from the open hatred toward George Zimmerman. Sadly, I can only conclude that Zimmerman is as much a victim as Trayvon Martin.
I understand the anger at the cops for releasing Zimmerman on the site, with no effort at an investigation. Obliviously the cops assumed that Trayvon Martin was guilty. The cops should be tried for obstructing an investigation.
Zimmerman’s trial never made sense. The special Florida Attorney General who brought the charges has said that her purpose was not justice but seeing that the story was told. Is this reason we have courts????
The murder charge made no sense unless there was some “provable beyond doubt” evidence of racist intent by Mr. Zimmerman. If that was true, why did the prosecution fail to prove Zimmerman was a bigot? The FBI’s investigation, now released by the County, included the reports from FBI agents who investigated racial bias. The federalista agents found no evidence that Zimmerman was racist
I believe that Al Sharpton should be fired. He has created an image that George may never outlive. Sharpton is a repeat offender. In 1987 Sharpton generated a national media sensation around Tawana Brawley’s claim of rape and the the unwillingness of the New York legal system to prosecute her rapist. After a huge effort by Sharpton, on October 6, 1988, the Grand Jury released its 170-page report concludingthat Brawley had not been abducted, assaulted, raped and sodomized. The report further concluded that the “unsworn public allegations against Dutchess County Assistant District Attorney Steven Pagones” were false and had no basis in fact. The Grand Jury heard from 180 witnesses, saw 250 exhibits and recorded more than 6,000 pages of testimony.
Later, the Brawley family claimed that they had been wronged and that they deserved now to be millionaires. The Brawleys are not millionaires now but Sharpton is. His actions then and now overshadowed the real needs we have to remove the image of the righteous white man and the black kids covered by the n word.
Sharpton was not alone in the Brawley incident. He rallied the liberal community, even Andrew Cuomo and Bill Cosby took his side. In today’s campaign Sharpton has been joined by MSNBC’s talk hosts … creating an obscene battle of Irish American righteousness between Sean Hannity and Lawrence O’Donnell.
Al Sharpton should be fired
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/12/155918/more-evidence-released-in-trayvon.html#.UeM9mT7DVoY#storylink=cpy
Hmmmm… my first impulse was not to dignify the article: “Sharpton’s Effort to Lynch Zimmerman” with a response. The title is over-the-top and irresponsible, especially with the accompanying photo designed to inflame passions rather than seek clarifications which, interestingly, the text of the article at least tries to do. A careful reading of the article reflects that this is what the writer does, in part.
Those events, particularly the Tawana Brawley cry of rape charge that occurred back in the late 1980s, did not show Al Sharpton in his best light. It also made a fool out of filmmaker Spike Lee. Sharpton may (or may not) have been an opportunist back then, but he was consistent in walking where others feared to tread. He marched in the neighborhood Benson-hurst after Italian youths attacked a young unarmed African American man with a baseball bat. He took-on the incredibly divisive New York mayor Ed Koch. Koch, you might remember, along with any number of “East coast liberals,” had immediately condemned innocent Black and Hispanic youths accused of rape in the infamous Central Park jogger case. As a civil rights streets activist, Sharpton has paid the price by having been stabbed.
Since the embarrassing Tawana Brawley incidence, Sharpton evidently saw the light. Juan Williams still doesn’t like him, but then Williams lost his credibility with NPR and went over to Fox News. Sharpton, meanwhile, lost considerable amounts of body-weight and join MSNBC (yeah, I was surprised as well). He’s never lost sight of his activist roots however. In a televise debate with another African American who felt President Obama should have been speaking more from a Black agenda, Sharpton fired back that President Obama was the president for “all of the people, not just Black people.” Sharpton has even taken on the poster-boy for Seattle’s liberals, Tavis Smiley.
So, whatever image there is of George Zimmerman is one that has been constructed by the media, not Al Sharpton.
Read my post
The title is offensive, and very insensitive. The first line of this is extremely disrespectful to Trayvon Martin, and his family. Zimmerman is alive, and breathing. Hes a free man. Trayvon Martin is dead, he will never have another birthday, his family will never be able to tell their kid they love him. Just think about that for a second.
Out of those 3 dozen people how many were of African American descent? What was the socio economic back ground of the 3 dozen people interviewed? What ethnicity were the interviewees?
If you paid attention to the trial, you would know the prosecution didnt do much to prove anything. Even where they had proof they failed to capitalize on the evidence they had.
What circumstances do you speak of? His attire really? I wear a hoodie and walk home from work late at night everyday. That gives a man an excuse to stalk me approach me and ultimately kill me? A hoodie?
“Who should be tried? Zimmerman?: Even if he is a deluded fool, seeing Zimmerman as the cause of Martin’s death is all too easy.” How do you not see Zimmerman as the cause of Martins death? He shot him, even if the court found it justified he still was the cause of the kids death. Even if the FBI says it wasnt because of racism fact of the matter is Zimmerman shot and murdered a teenage boy. 5 white women and a hispanic woman, said that Zimmerman wasn’t guilty of killing a little black kid. It was institutional racism at its finest.
Your post would be a lot more impressive if you said what crime (you and Sharpton) want Zimmerman treid for.
Murder … that requires evidence of intent. Nothing I read durung the trial proves that Zimmerman had any intent to kill. Sadly playing a cop is not against the law.
Manslaughter … I thought this might happen perhaps based on negligence in the vigilante use of gun. A verdict on manslaughter would have sent a message to the NRA and Fox. The acquital .. sadly … sets the burden of caution on wannabe cops pretty low. But the vriterion of proof is hard hete too
..how much caution can we require of an armed wannabe cop?
Finally, you really piss me off by suggesting that somehow I am insensitive to Trayvon’s family by not wanting Zimmerman’s head. That is a horrinle image. Do you reslly think seeing Zimmerman in jail would sonehow be a fair trade for the boy’s life?
As for Sharpton..
who do you suppose will make more money off of Trayvon’s death
.Sharpton or Hannity?
I never said anything about having Zimmermans head. Please what I said before you jump to conclusion. I was speaking on the fact that YOU said that Zimmerman was just as much a victim. That is extremely direspectful, you cant compare death to anything. Zimmerman is a free man, Martin is dead it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out what I said.
“Sadly, I can only conclude that Zimmerman is as much a victim as Trayvon Martin”
Thats disrespectful to the real victim in all this. The dead kid. I understand if YOU personally dont value a 17 year old African AMericans life. If thats the case then your statement makes perfect sense. If you value life at all you would know you cant compare death to anything, especially when its a kid that had his life ahead of him regardless of what he was going to do. You made some good points, but to act like we should be feeling sorry for Zimmerman is crap plain and simple. My point is that regardless if he showed intent or not someone is dead. How do you not see where im coming from.
I agree that at most Zimmerman should have been charged with manslaughter, I am not arguing that. Do you realize that blacks have been being killed since the end of slavery at the hands of whites who justified theyre actions just like you are justifying the actions of Zimmerman. The fact that Zimmerman did kill a kid and your up here acting like we should feel sorry for Zimmerman based on the opinion of Al Sharpton? Seriously? Thats ridiculous.
Its funny what you chose to respond too. I thought my statement about life and death was pretty clear. I did ask a few questions and you avoided everyone of them.
“Murder … that requires evidence of intent” You know what your absolutely right.
Manslaughter … legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. So how explain how him getting off wasnt an example institutional racism???
With all due respect, I do accuse Sharpton.
Nothing either of you have said shows how Sharpton is working to change the underlying issue of racism. I stand behind my accusation of Sharpton as a demagogue interested in his own welfare.
I challenge either of you to show me how Sharpton thinks his crusade against Zimmerman will do Trayvon any good. What does the Reverend Al’s crusades do to address the all to real underlying issues of bigotry against young African Americans?
That racism, not Mr. Zimmerman’s, ought to be Sharpton’s cause. The post from Jonathon Simon of Berkeley, He shows the error in pretending that either the acquittal or the prosecution were free of racism.
Simon is obvioulsy right. The spectre of race is impossible to avoid, we all know that Trayvon Martin died because he was a black kid in a society that lives with an awful images of kids like him.
Simon’s article, however, does not show a path to conviction of George Zimmerman. The jurors culd not read George Zimmerman’s mind. No level of sniffing for bigotry and bias can meet any rational test of “beyond reasonable doubt” t.
My accusation is also unaffec6ted by sympathy for the calls to justice because Zimmerman is alive while Martin is dead. Revenge is not justice. Imprisoning the wannabe cop will not bring justice to the dead Trayvon.
As for Sharpton, his behavior is tainted by Tawana Brawley. Sharpton has made an issue of racial abuse in other cases that were not tainted. That level of carefulness made his efforts into a successful and lucrative career. Money is not bad in and of itself. Bill Clinton left 1600 Penn. as a bankrupt … he has made millions as a professional philanthropist. Is Clinton bad? No, but the taint of money combined with Sharpton’s history of grandstanding, make me very skeptical of the Reverend’s motives.
Why doesn’t Sharpton make better use of his platform? Rather than focusing on Zimmerman … why not take a few minutes of his nightly show to memorialize the individual victims of this racism. Why not do an interview EVERY night of some kid who gets 10 yrs for being black while smoking a joint? Why not spend a few bucks by doing interviews of people to illustrate the existance of this racism? Or why not expand the meager community of African American talent on MSNBC, by seeking out new voices from the community he claims to represent?
Put another way … a demagogue is not a good choice if you want social change.
Forgive me for skepticism but ….
would as how with less drama on Sharpton’s part be OK with NBCs owners … Comcast and GE?
So if Zimmerman would have been charged with manslaughter, that would make him a victim of revenge victim of revenge?
Truthfully I agree with your stance on Al Sharpton as far as not bringing more attention to everyday issues in the African American community. However I do think that in a time where African Americans lack a voice in the media, he has been their to at least voice the opinion. I dont think any of these so called Black leaders are doing enough about the daily issues, things that would actually prevent things like this from happening. Promoting education awareness for parents, gang intervention, all types of issues. They do pick theyre spots and sad to say the majority of time its not speaking for the majority of the people it is speaking for attention. I have to say that there are African Americans fighting everyday issues in the community. Its a shame they dont get more attention. I actually wrote a blog about this. You should read. I just dont agree with the whole Zimmerman being a victim, and the case having nothing to do with race.
By saying gang intervention I wasnt implying Trayvon was in a gang.
You made mention of the fact the Police didn’t initially arrest Zimmerman. You failed to mention the implications of those actions had on public opinion. The public undoubtedly already had it in their mind that Zimmerman was innocent even before he went to court. Add that to the fact the prosecution dropped the ball in a lot of ways. Witnesses were actually helping the defense, and clearly un-coached. The prosecution basically allowed the defense to chew up their star witness. The defense team, did their job I cant argue that. I was impressed by the closing statement. Very calm and collected, straight to the point reminded the jury to not speculate, I mean they really did their job. The fact that the man walked away, not even manslaughter to me is reason alone not to compare who was victimized worse. I don’t want his head. I just want justice, and that wasn’t justice. That was the same story that we see all the time in the black community. To me that decision just perpetuated the sub conscious ideal that its okay to kill black men. In fact it’s the right thing to do if the circumstances are right. This decision is just a reminder of a very tragic history of murder and justification based on looks, or what ifs. Class and Race were definitely at play in this case.
Mistake after mistake by the prosecutors. Struck a black juror but left b37 on? She’s clearly a Zimmerman worshiper. Her reasoning is awful and there were red flags