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NationofChange / Op-Ed
Published: Thursday 22 March 2012
“The NAACP has called for the removal of Sanford Police Chief Lee.”
Walking While Black: The Killing of Trayvon Martin
On the rainy night of Sunday, Feb. 26, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin walked to a convenience store in Sanford, Fla. On his way home, with his Skittles and iced tea, the African-American teenager was shot and killed. The gunman, George Zimmerman, didn’t run. He claimed that he killed the young man in self-defense. The Sanford Police agreed and let him go. Since then, witnesses have come forward, 911 emergency calls have been released, and outrage over the killing has gone global.
Trayvon Martin lived in Miami. He was visiting his father in Sanford, near Orlando, staying in the gated community known as The Retreat at Twin Lakes, where Zimmerman volunteered with the Neighborhood Watch program. The Miami Herald reported that Zimmerman was a “habitual caller” to the police, making 46 calls since January 2011. He was out on his rounds as a self-appointed watchman, packing his concealed 9 mm pistol, when he called 911: “We’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there’s a real suspicious guy ... this guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something.”
Later in the call, Zimmerman exclaims, “OK. These a—holes always get away. ... [Expletive], he’s running.”
Sounds of Zimmerman moving follow, along with a controversial utterance from Zimmerman, under his breath, considered by many to be “[Expletive] coons.” The sound of his running prompted the 911 operator to ask, “Are you following him?” Zimmerman replied, “Yeah,” to which the dispatcher said, “OK, we don’t need you to do that.”
One of the attorneys representing the Martin family, Jasmine Rand, told me: “The term ‘coon’ on the audiotape ... is a very obvious racial slur against African-Americans. We also heard the neighbors come forward and say, ‘Yeah, in this particular neighborhood, we look for young black males to be committing criminal activity.’ And that’s exactly what George Zimmerman did that night. He found a young black male that he did not recognize, assumed that he did not belong there, and he targeted him.”
Another 911 call that has been released is from a woman who hears someone crying for help, then a gunshot.
Eyewitnesses Mary Cutcher and Selma Mora Lamilla both heard the cries, which police say could have been from Zimmerman, thus supporting his claim, even though he had a gun and outweighed Trayvon Martin by 80 pounds.
Cutcher said at a press conference: “I feel it was not self-defense, because I heard the crying. And if it was Zimmerman that was crying, Zimmerman would have continued crying after the shot went off. The only thing I saw that night—I heard the crying. We were in the kitchen. I heard the crying. It was a little boy. As soon as the gun went off, the crying stopped. Therefore, it tells me it was not Zimmerman crying.”
Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee has defended his department’s decision not to arrest Zimmerman. They bagged Martin’s body and took it away, labeling him a “John Doe,” even though they had his cellphone, which anyone, let alone law enforcement with a shooting victim, could have used to easily identify a person. They tested Martin’s corpse for drugs and alcohol. Zimmerman was not tested. Neighbors say that Zimmerman loaded things into a U-Haul truck and left the area.
So, while the police and State Attorney Norm Wolfinger have defended their inaction, a democratic demand for justice has ricocheted around the country, prompting a U.S. Justice Department investigation and leading Wolfinger to promise to convene a grand jury. The Rev. Glenn Dames, pastor of St. James AME Church in nearby Titusville, has called Martin’s death “a modern-day lynching.” His demand for the immediate arrest of Zimmerman was echoed by the organizers of the “Million Hoodie March” in New York City, named after the often racially stereotyped sweatshirt Martin was wearing in the rain when he was shot.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has called for the removal of Sanford Police Chief Lee. NAACP President Ben Jealous, recounting a mass meeting in a Sanford-area church Tuesday night, quoted a local resident who stood up and said, “‘If you kill a dog in this town, you’d be in jail the next day.’ Trayvon Martin was killed four weeks ago, and his killer is still walking the streets.”
With his gun.
© 2011 Amy Goodman
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
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ABOUT Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 900 stations in North America. She is the author of "Breaking the Sound Barrier," recently released in paperback and now a New York Times best-seller.
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By Aviva Shen
38 comments on "Walking While Black: The Killing of Trayvon Martin"
March 31, 2012 12:27pm
Did Amy Goodman sanction publication of this piece on nationofchange? Nationofchange has a lot of questions to answer regarding their veracity. Beware!
March 25, 2012 7:38pm
I agree...vote obama out in November!
That's the face of a brutal hate crime how many more beautiful young minds have to die before the world realizes what we are doing to each other get these racist fuckheads out of here already.
March 25, 2012 7:42pm
I totally agree...vote obama out in November!
March 23, 2012 12:22pm
Being of 'hispanic' descent myself I can assure you that many hispanics, specially in FL have white mentality. They dont consider themselves anything other than white.
March 25, 2012 7:41pm
Now that's a racist statement, isn't it?...exactly what is the "white mentality", Jose....LOL
March 23, 2012 11:19am
I can guess that the NRA response is that, if Trayvon had also had a gun, the outcome would have been based on who had the fastest draw or the better aim. But would the cops have shown the same willingness to accept the winner's account if Zimmerman had been killed?
March 25, 2012 7:40pm
Typical liberal drivel...and you'd be wrong.
March 23, 2012 8:31am
As a former high school teacher for 38 years in Pennsylvania in a town on the border of Philadelphia, I looked at pictures of Trayvon and saw the faces of many of my former students. It breaks my heart to see such blatant injustice. The police and prosecutor in charge of this investigation should be fired; they are apparently just as bigoted as the man who murdered this obviously innocent young man.
March 25, 2012 7:44pm
Yeah, right...and O.J. is innocent....and Michael Vick "loves" dogs....and obama was born in "Hawaii"....you're an idiot.
March 23, 2012 7:27am
I'm from Penna and have been asking the question, who is his daddy. Now we know that his dad is a white citizen but no one tells me who GZIMMERMANS uncle is or who his cousin-in-law might be??? (Zimmerman's son-in-law) Why would a police department give this dude the chance to go into hiding if he is not related to a former AG???? Could someone look in to the connection with our former first elected Attorney General who was opposed to our curtilage law extention of the self defense in your own home law??? Not all Republican law and order pukes like the self defense laws.
March 25, 2012 7:46pm
I thought obama was his "daddy"....
March 23, 2012 6:41am
Cancervatives want to mutate this nation into a totalitarian apartheid with the wealthy white 'christians' as our lords, and they are suceeding.
March 25, 2012 7:47pm
Put down the crack pipe, moron...take a look at the power grab your "messiah" obama is making with American's rights...THAT'S what "totalitarian regime" looks like....are you that ignorant?
March 22, 2012 8:05pm
The screams of Trayvon on the 911 tapes is haunting. It is hard for me to stop thinking about it. I just can't believe that the police have not arrested that big man that went after a 17 year old. The sight of Zimmerman is disgusting and I pray and pray that he is arrested. The cops knew if this went before a jury, Zimmerman would be convicted, so they tried to keep it quiet and cover it up. Nice try. The Sanford Police Department needs to be investigated and the Chief should be arrested in this cover-up. Just arrest the creep; please arrest him...so people will have some faith restored in the justice system. They didn't bother to even notify the kid's parents (via his cell phone). Instead they blood tested the kid and not the killer. Such blatant injustice I have rarely seen.
March 25, 2012 7:52pm
Did you feel that same sympathy for the Border Patrol agent, and HIS family, who was murdered by the mexican drug runners with a gun given to them by obama and his house negro Erik Holder, in their totally illegal "Fast and Furious" program?....being a totally dishonest liberal, somehow I doubt you felt the same way in that case.
March 22, 2012 7:37pm
If you are packing a gun as most do in Fl. you approach every situation with paranoia and the feeling that everyone is out to get you. Too many murders down here based on the law that you can defend yourself if you think someone is endangering you. And so Zimerman thought...... and now he's on the run. Hurray for guns in FL
March 25, 2012 7:55pm
Do YOU carry a gun in Florida?...are you speaking from personal experience?...somehow, I doubt that very much...so just HOW do you know what anyone..."packing" or not....feels in any given "situation"....you sound like a typical dishonest liberal....you don't know a thing about the subject and your ignorance is obvious.
March 22, 2012 6:47pm
yet another disgusting murderer allowed to walk free while hundreds of people are jailed for YEARS for much pettier crimes!!
March 25, 2012 7:58pm
Wait....are you talking about the lying liberal Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne....or what?....remember, you liberals never cared that Kennedy murdered a WHITE girl...you kept voting him back into office for over 40 years....seems liberals only care when some negro gets killed....why is that?
March 22, 2012 4:49pm
Indeed this was tragic, it is deserving of National focus. Yet in Detroit I have read of a dozen black kids shot and there has been no outrage to match this. Why is it overlooked when black youth shoot and babies in their cribs are killed, is this not outrageous as well? A handgun in anyone's possession is a weapon. Screw you if your demented position is that guns don't kill, when it is a fact that people with guns kill, and they do it every day. I blame the guy that shot Trayvon. I blame the Sanford police. I blame the NRA. I blame the Governor of Florida. I blame the legislators of 50 states and the US congress for allowing this shit to continue. 2nd amendment my ass, these people just use it as an excuse to carry weapons, and this is what happens. The gangs in South LA or the gangs on Capitol Hill or the gangs in blue - or the gangs with camo suits and automatics - you tell me the difference.
March 25, 2012 8:09pm
You sound like a pretty sick man, "GEOF01".....are you anti-American?....do you, like obama, HATE the United States Constitution?....that sacred document gives Americans the right to keep and bear arms....and it was NEVER a problem until the sixties, with all the so called "civil rights" bull crap...that's when problems began, because suddenly, there was a whole class of people that decided they would do and say whatever they wanted to others, especially white people, and nothing would happen to them...and they were pretty much correct when it came to the authorities, especially the Federal government. So, one by one, the people of the individual states decided that IF the police and the Federal government would NOT protect peaceful citizens from these savages, they would have to protect themselves. That is why, one by one, there are now 38 states that have approved, and passed, concealed carry of weapons laws. In each and every state, statistics PROVE that violent crime goes DOWN in states, cities, and towns, that have concealed carry laws.
So, like it or not...Americans are sick of being threatened and feeling unsafe in their own homes and towns.
Now, IF this kid really IS innocent, and was murdered, then the shotter should get the death penalty...but, somehow I very much doubt that this kid is as totally innocent as all the media and every liberal and negro in this county wants to claim...life just isn't like that.
March 22, 2012 8:39pm
@geof01
Gun control in America has ALWAYS led to more violence not less. ALWAYS. Blaming other people because one guy wanted to kill (and yes HE killed, the gun didn't) and the cops wanted to look the other way is sick. All you're doing is ignoring the actual problems so you can indulge your insecurities. That you would use this tradegy to further the gun control agenda merely shows you don't give a damn if black people die. Giving black people the means of self defense is the way to protect them, and it's the way they got their civil rights. Without the Deacons of Defence, the "nonviolent" civil rights movement would have died.
March 23, 2012 4:08am
What gun control? This new law is just a get out of jail free card for murder. Instead of lynching, guns are now used. I don't know where you get the info that restrictive laws in regards to guns and there use cause more violence, there have been somewhere in the 90's of incidences of deaths due to the implementation of this "stand your ground" law, doesn't sound like your analogy follows the truth of the situation.
March 22, 2012 4:05pm
this is an absolute travesty, we don't need to arrest anybody until there is a full investigation of everybody involved in this coverup. then put all of them in jail. prayers to his family and friends.
March 22, 2012 4:07pm
It is not about being Southern; it's about being racist. Those are found in abundance over every square inch of this country.
I am appalled by this senseless murder.
March 22, 2012 3:59pm
For 'Bozo' and 'JimmieJack', who were quick to throw the words 'cracker' and try out the 'white reversal' and Old South stereotype scenarios, despite the fact that the shooter's name is Zimmerman, the press has stressed the fact that he is, in fact, Hispanic, not white. It's a horrible tragedy, but don't jump to conclusions and start casting racist insults when you don't have your facts straight. It sounds like you've jumped to racial conclusions just like Zimmerman did, and it's just as dangerous.
March 25, 2012 8:11pm
Well, they're liberals...that's what they do...they are totally dishonest people.
March 22, 2012 3:44pm
Zimmerman, I am fairly certain, carried the gun in the hopes of having to use it to fulfill his racism desires or some other sick need. I am a criminal defense attorney and have been for almost 40 years. Any homicide investigator would almost immediately debunk the bull---- story that Zimmerman told. They would have canvassed the neighborhood and done an investigation. These Sanford keystone cops merely speak to the shooter and conclude their investigation. This case should be in the dictionary to define INJUSTICE.
March 25, 2012 8:27pm
Well, being a "defense attorney", you are obviously a liberal, which means that you are also a totally dishonest person. Now, just how are you "fairly certain" that Zimmerman carried his gun to "fulfill his racism (sic) desires or some other sick need."....and just how do you know this?...are you a professional, highly trained "profiler", or psychiatrist?....is this the same type of logic and weak arguments that you put forth in court?....have you ever won a case in a court of law that had an honest, non-liberal judge?....pretty lame, "counselor"...but then...you're a liberal...that's the way you people are.
Reading all these whiny comments by you dishonest liberals is sickening...you...like your "messiah" obama....jump into situations, knowing absolutely NOTHING about the facts except hearsay, and then make your grand pronouncements...as the Kenyan obama did, against the white cop who arrested his verbally abusive and physically violent negro friend in Connecticut ...then when the facts are made public, and the negro is wrong, you say nothing, never apologizing...or, in obama's case, he has a "beer party" in the Rose Garden to try to show...with the fawning, lying, mass media's help....what a "fair" man he is...when in reality, obama hates whites, and is a total racist bigot...ask his "spiritual mentor and best friend", the hate spewing racist Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
Liberals...they should ALL be drowned at birth.
March 22, 2012 8:32pm
They didn't just talk to the shooter, they talked to several witnesses - and tried to get them to change their story. These cops have something more of a connection to Zimmerman. For some reason they favor him. There is more to this. Or maybe they just didn't want to do their job that day.
March 23, 2012 4:20am
There is a big problem in this county. Zimmerman was arrested for assulting a police officer, and the charges were dropped? He had called the 911 operator over 46 times, and for the most , he was following young men of color. He is a want to be cop, and for this law agency to allow his continual calls and verbage, knowing he had a gun, they are complicit in this murder. He apparently got bolder through the months by the comradship with this police dept. Zimmerman is dangerous,he should not be carring a gun and the racial slurs that he made in the persuit of Trayvon, make this a hate crime. All in that department need to be dismissed. What did he take out from his home? What incriminating items did he remove? There was no justice or due diligence by this police dept.
March 22, 2012 4:04pm
The police did interview some people and, from all accounts, slanted the reports to fit with Mr. Z's statements, not what the witnesses said. They knew this man was stalking the victim before the shooting happened.
March 22, 2012 3:04pm
If Zimmerman had been a black man shooting an unarmed white man he would be in jail right now.
This is racism. But racism is what we expect in the American South -it's a tradition.
March 22, 2012 2:57pm
....and are we to be surprised that a Southern, ignorant cracker, racist guns down ablack man and is set free. After all, he isn't setting precedent, is he.
March 22, 2012 2:35pm
This is too awful and I feel for his family, his girlfriend, his friends - and all who care about what is right and good. Trayvon was talking to his girlfriend when he was accosted by Zimmerman. They had logged 400 minutes of conversation that day, so romance was in the air. Apparently Zimmerman has no children or he would know the difference between "acting strangely" and "being normal". Just look at that sweet smile that is gone forever. Thanks to all who signed the petition to pursue the case against Zimmerman.
March 22, 2012 2:08pm
Zimmerman was clearly the aggressor here. The 9-11 calls where he was told to back off, and the others where Trayvon was yelling for help prove this! I feel for Trayvon's mom, she, her family and the rest of us have lost a good kid to senseless bigotry. This case is a prime example that this Stand your ground law must be repealed. My latest cartoon is about this miserable law.
http:// www.whatnowtoons.com
Left of Center Independent Political Cartoons
March 22, 2012 3:42pm
sure. the law works .this just wasnt a case 4 it. but good use of this boys death 2 plug yr website