“We have listened to President Obama’s comments about the verdict in the Zimmerman Case. People are focusing on this quote: “Trayvon Martin could’ve been me 35 years ago.” To focus on this one line misses the nuances of the President’s message, which includes comments about how African Americans view the Zimmerman Case in the context of the history of racial disparity in America.
Tag Archives: Trayvon Martin
President Obama: Trayvon Martin Could Have Been Me
By <a href="/author-detail/3699933">Megan Slack</a>
This afternoon, President Obama spoke from the White House Press Briefing Room about Trayvon Martin and the verdict of the court trial that followed the Florida teenager’s death.
Read the President’s remarks here, or watch here.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at The White House
Remarks by the President on Trayvon Martin
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
1:33 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I wanted to come out here, first of all, to tell you that Jay is prepared for all your questions and is very much looking forward to the session. The second thing is I want to let you know that over the next couple of weeks, there’s going to obviously be a whole range of issues — immigration, economics, et cetera — we'll try to arrange a fuller press conference to address your questions.
The reason I actually wanted to come out today is not to take questions, but to speak to an issue that obviously has gotten a lot of attention over the course of the last week — the issue of the Trayvon Martin ruling. I gave a preliminary statement right after the ruling on Sunday. But watching the debate over the course of the last week, I thought it might be useful for me to expand on my thoughts a little bit.
First of all, I want to make sure that, once again, I send my thoughts and prayers, as well as Michelle’s, to the family of Trayvon Martin, and to remark on the incredible grace and dignity with which they’ve dealt with the entire situation. I can only imagine what they’re going through, and it’s remarkable how they’ve handled it.
The second thing I want to say is to reiterate what I said on Sunday, which is there’s going to be a lot of arguments about the legal issues in the case — I'll let all the legal analysts and talking heads address those issues. The judge conducted the trial in a professional manner. The prosecution and the defense made their arguments. The juries were properly instructed that in a case such as this reasonable doubt was relevant, and they rendered a verdict. And once the jury has spoken, that's how our system works. But I did want to just talk a little bit about context and how people have responded to it and how people are feeling.
You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you think about why, in the African American community at least, there’s a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it’s important to recognize that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away.
There are very few African American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are very few African American men who haven't had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me — at least before I …read more
President Obama Trayvon Martin Speech (VIDEO): Full Transcript Text of President's Address on Zimmerman Verdict
President Barack Obama gave a speech Friday on the verdict in the Trayvon Martin murder trial in which George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second degree murder and manslaughter last Saturday. …read more
Source: The Christian Post
President Obama's remarks on the death of Trayvon Martin
Well, I wanted to come out here, first of all, to tell you that Jay is prepared for all your questions, and is very much looking forward to the session. Second thing is, I want to let you know that over the next couple of weeks, there are going to obviously be a whole range of issues — immigration, economics, et cetera. We’ll try to arrange a fuller press conference to address your questions.
Obama: 'Trayvon Could Have Been Me'
By John Johnson
When the Trayvon Martin shooting took place, President Obama made headlines by saying that Trayvon could have been his son. Today, he took it further: “Trayvon could have been me 35 years ago,” he said during an unscheduled stop in the White House briefing room to talk about the case…. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
Obama addresses Trayvon Martin case in briefing room
President Obama publicly and personally addressed the Trayvon Martin case for the first time since George Zimmerman was acquitted nearly a week ago, saying the black community is seeing the case through a “set of experiences” that “doesn’t go away.”
If Sharpton’s 100 Cities Go Violent – Will He Be Held Accountable?
The major difference between civil rights movements of the past and those of today is blaringly obvious. Civil rights movements of the 60s were aimed at freeing many people from oppression and injustice. The faux civil rights leaders of today engage in aiming all their resources at one person. The feeling is not so much about justice as it is about vengeance, venting, and (in some cases) violence.
Al Sharpton announced that he will use his networks to rally protesters in 100 cities this coming weekend to call for the DOJ to drag George Zimmerman back to court to face federal charges on civil rights violations. Without arguing whether this is fair, we are prompted by the barest expediency to ask the all-important question – what if it goes wrong?
The nation is charged since the Florida trial of Zimmerman ended with a not guilty verdict. Blacks are not happy with the verdict and are calling for the proverbial pound of flesh. Millions of others think the verdict was fair, and the FBI has concluded that there were no racial motivation connected to the incident. None of this has undaunted the perennial team of Sharpton and Jackson from doing what they do best – riling up the people.
Since every state in the nation has laws against ‘inciting a riot,’ is there a chance that one of these rallies could be the trigger for just such an eventuation?
Several violent incidents have already erupted over the verdict in the Zimmerman case. Purposely gathering to decry the verdict, so soon after the trail, could be the seed for even more bad behavior.
Will Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson be held to account for any violence, injuries, deaths, and destruction of property that may result from these gatherings? This question may not be foremost in the thinking of people today, but perhaps it should be.
In Oakland, Calif., a conservative filmmaker was beaten mercilessly by an angry mob that was demonstrating against the Zimmerman verdict. In Milwaukee, a 34 year-old white male was brutalized and battered by a group of black teens angry over the verdict. He was saved by another black male who pulled him out of the beating.
Although the business of Trayvon Martin’s past, his record, and his attitude was not allowed as evidence at the trial, now it is pouring forth like a flood. Not everyone sees young Martin as a happy little teenager with a hoodie munching on Skittles.
Black journalist and editor of the Daily Rant Mychal Massie, himself a minister, has declared that Trayvon’s problems are rooted in bad parenting. Massie also believes that Trayvon was shot for only the reasons that came forth in the trial and not because of the color of his skin.
Andrea Shea King writes in an article entitled “It Wasn’t Just Skittles Trayvon Was Carrying,” published on WND July 15, 2013, that Trayvon was jacked up on a combination of a Skittles, Arizona Iced Tea, and Robitussin, all which make for a psychotic inducing cocktail that produces episodes …read more
Jesse Jackson Suggests Boycotting Florida As ‘apartheid State’
Jackson says his Rainbow PUSH Coalition will consider pressuring groups to isolate Florida after the Zimmerman trial.
Rev. Jesse Jackson said Thursday that his Rainbow PUSH Coalition would consider boycotting Florida as “a kind of apartheid state” in the aftermath of the George Zimmerman not-guilty verdict last weekend.
“No doubt, the inclination is to boycott Florida, to stop conventions, to isolate Florida as a kind of apartheid state given this whole ‘stand your ground’ law,” Jackson told CNN. “Homicides against blacks have tripled since this law has been in existence.”
The “stand your ground” self-defense law in Florida and two dozen other states allows individuals to defend themselves without requiring them to attempt to evade or retreat from a dangerous situation. Although Zimmerman did specifically employ a “stand your ground” law defense to combat second-degree murder charges in the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, the trial has brought a renewed scrutiny to the statute.
Jackson went on to say that he believes the Department of Justice “does have an action that it should pursue” — presumably referring to civil rights charges that the federal government is weighing against Zimmerman. He also suggested that President Obama should become more actively involved in the issue.
Read More at The Hill . By Justin Sink.
Photo Credit: The Smiley Group, Inc. (Creative Commons)
Video: RIOTS And RALLIES 101: Trayvon Martin Fans Biting Hands That Feed Them
By CleanTV
In the wake of a jury finding George Zimmerman innocent in the killing of Trayvon Martin, African-American leaders have called for national riots–uh, rallies to re-empower themselves–uh, to remember Trayvon.
But just as viruses need living hosts to feed off of, so do liberals in a welfare state. And biting the hand that feeds them doesn’t make for long living viruses or hosts.
Such is the opinion of Jerry McGlothlin who gives a one minute crash lesson he calls Riots and Rallies 101.
Pastor Calls Trayvon Martin 'Pot-Smoking, Paranoid 17-Year-Old Boy,' Rails at Church for Being 'Black' on Verdict
A black New York City pastor ripped into his congregation for seeing through hateful black eyes for condemning George Zimmerman and defending Trayvon Martin who he called “a pot-smoking munchies, paranoid 17-year-old boy.” …read more
Source: The Christian Post
Gov. Scott meets with protesters at Florida Capitol building, announces day of prayer for Trayvon Martin
Protesters who set up camp in the state Capitol building earlier this week finally got to meet with Gov. Rick Scott late Thursday, and they urged him to push for the repeal of Florida’s “stand-your-ground” law and to take steps to combat racial profiling.
In a conference room near his office suite, Scott met for nearly an hour with seven leaders of the protest, which began Tuesday. They described their frustration about last weekend’s acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death ofTrayvonMartin and their own experiences of being racially profiled.
Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges in the shooting death of Travyon Martin who was unarmed. His attorneys argued that he shot Martin in self-defense, but the case sparked an outcry because Martin was black and Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic.
Saying the 17-year-old’s death happened on Scott’s watch, the protesters renewed their request that the Republican governor call state legislators into special session to repeal the law which justifies the use of deadly force when a person’s life is in danger.
“There has to be a comprehensive approach to make sure every child in Florida can feel safe again,” Gabriel Pendas told the governor.
Scott listened intently and took copious notes on a yellow legal pad. But at the end of the meeting he told them directly that he supported keeping the “stand-your-ground” law intact and he would not call a special session.
Scott, who said he had spoken earlier in the evening with Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, instead said he would call for a day ofprayerSunday for unity.
He also urged the protesters to talk to local legislators if they wanted to change state law and offer them examples of why they believe it may lead to more violence.
“If you believe stand-your-ground should be repealed tell them why,” Scott said.
It is considered unlikely the GOP-controlled Legislature would revisit the stand-your-ground law, which had the strong backing of the National Rifle Association.
The governor also asked them to give him ideas about how to combat racial profiling.
Near the end of the meeting, Scott told them: “I appreciate you and I look forward to seeing you again.”
After the meeting, protesters reiterated that Scott should show leadership and call legislators into special session. They said they would remain in the Capitol until he agreed to their demands.
“We’re not here to play games,” said Phillip Agnew, who is executive director of the Dream Defenders, one of the groups that organized the protest. “… We’re very serious about this. And it pains our heart that we do live in a state where a child can be killed just for the way he looks.”
The protesters marched on the Capitol Tuesday and began occupying Scott’s office. The group has refused to leave the building and they have brought in pillows and mats to sleep in the hallway while supporters have brought them food.
Scott has been out of town for much of the week and his arrival at the Capitol on Thursday evening was his first since the protest began.
The meeting …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Sybrina Fulton's Journey of Faith in Seeking Justice for Trayvon Martin
When Sybrina Fulton got news that her son Trayvon Martin had been killed by George Zimmerman last year, she drove home in pain. But after she cried, one of the first things she did was pray and she hasn’t stopped talking to God since. …read more
Source: The Christian Post
4 Reasons To Reject Federal Charges Against George Zimmerman
After a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the death of Trayvon Martin on Saturday, President Obama appealed for calm. “I know this case has elicited strong passions,” he said. “And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken.”
Although Obama wants us to respect the jury’s verdict, that does not necessarily mean he will. His Justice Department is mulling the possibility of prosecuting Zimmerman again, most likely based on the federal hate crime statute. That would be wrong for at least four reasons.
There is very little evidence that Zimmerman was motivated by bigotry. Zimmerman, a Hispanic with an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather, grew up in a racially mixed household, started a business with a black friend, and mentored African-American children. Last year the FBI interviewed dozens of his neighbors and co-workers, none of whom described him as racist.
The evidence that race was a factor in Zimmerman’s shooting of Martin was so thin that the judge did not allow the prosecution to mention it during his trial. Yet to convict Zimmerman of a hate crime in connection with Martin’s death, federal prosecutors would have to show not just that the teenager’s skin color was one of the things that made him seem suspicious to Zimmerman but that Zimmerman shot him “because of” his race.
The government should not punish people for their beliefs. If Zimmerman had been known to espouse racist views, or if he had uttered racist epithets during his encounter with Martin, that evidence would be used to prosecute him for a federal crime that carries a life sentence. A man with different opinions would not face that risk. To make criminal punishment hinge on a defendant’s expression of politically disfavored ideas violates freedom of conscience and freedom of speech.
Read More at Reason . By Jacob Sullum.
CNN Commentator Embarrassed By Zimmerman Verdict
After the not-guilty verdict was handed down, George Zimmerman attorney Mark O’Mara strongly criticized the media’s role in getting his client charged in the case. He compared the media to “mad scientists” who had turned Zimmerman into a “monster.” He said the media “took a story that was fed to you and you ran with it and you ran right over him and that was horrid to him.”
But the false story line—that Zimmerman was a racist who shot a black man for no reason—continued during the trial, especially in the reckless and wild CNN commentaries of Asunción “Sunny” Hostin.
Hostin boosted the prosecutors throughout and wanted viewers to believe a guilty verdict was a slam-dunk. “I think that they [the prosecutors] put the pieces of the puzzle together for this jury extremely well,” she told Anderson Cooper on Thursday night, July 11.
What was astonishing about Hostin’s commentary during the trial was her inability to find much of anything wrong in how the prosecutors presented it. She was sometimes in the courtroom and pretending to pay attention to what was going on, with a focus on jury reactions. She claimed to have somehow divined what some of the jurors were thinking.
She said of the prosecution’s closing argument: “It was passionate. It was convincing. The jury was watching everything he was doing. And what was terrific, I think, about this closing argument is that they brought the focus back to Trayvon Martin, the victim here. They brought the commonsense argument to this jury.”
Fortunately, another CNN commentator, criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos, was usually on hand, taking strong issue with what Hostin was saying. “There’s reality and then there’s Sunny-ville,” he said. Mocking her rosy view of the prosecution’s extremely weak case, he said, “So I’m going to start believing what Sunny tells me and I’m going to start ignoring everything that I watch on TV.”
Earlier, he told her, “Sunny, you have been bringing your own stuff to the table in this case and you know it.”
Whatever she was bringing to the table, it was not an objective analysis of what was taking place in front of her own eyes. Yet, she carried the title of “CNN Legal Analyst.”
An attorney, she calls herself a “multi-platform journalist” who serves as both a CNN legal analyst and anchor for ABC News. “Before joining CNN, Sunny could be seen on the Fox News Channel, where she was seen weekly on The O’Reilly Factor’s ‘Is It Legal?’ segment, sparring with Megan [sic] Kelly and Bill O’Reilly on various provocative issues and high-profile cases,” her bio says.
Regarding prosecutor John Guy’s rebuttal to the closing argument of defense attorney O’Mara, Hostin said on CNN, “John Guy hit it out of the park, he did great.”
She added, “If people were calling him ‘McDreamy’ before…they’re calling him ‘McBrilliant’ now. It was one of the best closing rebuttal arguments I have seen. The jury was riveted, they did not take their eyes off of this man. And what was so important …read more
The Zimmerman Soap Opera
In a better world, we should never have been subjected to the Zimmerman trial.
But politically motivated prosecutors in Florida turned a local tragedy into a race crime, and then the media turned a murder trial into a primetime soap opera.
The trial accusing George Zimmerman of murdering Trayvon Martin wasn’t about seeking justice. It was a ginned-up, politically motivated morality play presented on the national media stage.
Even the president helped with the pre-trial publicity, saying “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
The Zimmerman soap opera couldn’t have been written any better. Zimmerman was the perfect bad guy for a courtroom drama about race — a “wannabe cop” packing a gun on his side.
Trayvon Martin was the perfect good guy — the innocent victim of a racist “white Hispanic,” as the imaginative scriptwriters at The New York Times dubbed Zimmerman in their effort to create a racial narrative where there was none.
In supporting roles, the soap opera featured Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, so-called black leaders who still make their livings spotting racism everywhere and inciting the black community with their hate speech.
The Zimmerman trial was an American tragedy. It had no winners.
A teenager was shot to death in the heat of a fight that never should have happened.
The young man who pulled the trigger was acquitted. But he will have to live with what he did — and the fear that he’ll be killed by some thug in the name of “justice” — for the rest of his life.
Meanwhile, the country watched as the justice system was abused and exploited for political reasons by prosecutors whose courtroom incompetence was obvious.
Prosecutors got it wrong in the Zimmerman case. The media got it wrong — before, during, and after the trial.
In the end, it was the jury of six women that got it right. Because they did their job perfectly, the justice system ultimately delivered justice.
Those women sat through every minute of the trial. Sequestered and unaware of the national attention on the case, they listened to the evidence and then weighed it and debated it among themselves without getting the “help” of TV legal experts like Jeffrey Toobin.
Then those six ordinary citizens — unsung heroes, really — had to decide Zimmerman’s guilt or innocence based not on racial grounds or the history of blacks being mistreated by the justice system, but on the actual evidence.
The race baiters and the media experts are still re-trying the case and desperately trying to figure out how six women on a jury could be so naive or stupid to not see the “truth” they saw right away — that Zimmerman was a murderer and a bigot.
For the race baiters, facts and the decision of the jury don’t matter. To them, Zimmerman will always be a racist white vigilante who got away with murder.
And Trayvon will always be just an innocent victim — a young kid in a hoodie who died simply because he was black.
The Sharptons and Piers Morgans, like the thousands …read more
The Truth About George Zimmerman
The day before yesterday I ran a backgrounder on Trayvon Martin (elaborating on this), revealing who he was and what he did before that night.
I was remiss not to address George Zimmerman’s history before that fateful night. Back Fence has this:
The media and majority of blacks want you to believe that George Zimmerman is a racist. This is far from the truth, George Zimmerman is not a racist. The Telegraph (London, England) is reporting the following.
George Zimmerman voted and campaigned for Obama.
George Zimmerman and his black friend opened an insurance company in Florida.
George Zimmerman has black family members. Some of George’s black family members lived with him, at some point.
George Zimmerman launched a campaign to help a homeless black man who was beaten up by a white kid.
George dated and took a black girl to the prom.
George Zimmerman also mentored young black males.
You will never hear the media mention any of this.
Read More at Atlas Shrugs . By Pamela Geller.
Trayvon Martin Protest Leaders Revealed
Dream Defenders, the main group that has been agitating the protest movement surrounding the Trayvon Martin case, was spawned by activists employed by a who’s who of the race-hijacking radical left.
From the socialist-oriented SEIU union to ACORN to Occupy to a litany of George Soros-funded organizations, the deep connections behind Dream Defenders raises questions about the motivation of an organization that claims to be a grassroots effort working to oppose racism.
Dream Defenders has been leading Martin protests since the onset and has been credited with agitating for George Zimmerman’s arrest.
The group was behind the protests that blockaded the Sanford Police Department, demanding the police chief be fired for failing to bring charges against Zimmerman, who was acquitted of second-degree murder Saturday.
The small Community Relations Service at Eric Holder’s Justice Department facilitated a meeting between Dream Defenders and city officials that resulted in a Justice review of the police department.
Read More at WND . By Aaron Klein.
Video: Honor Trayvon Martin: Shove Thugs Our Of Our Community
By capblack
This Saturday, July 20th, 2013, I will use Al Sharpton’s call for a national gathering in front of federal courthouses to go to Baton Rouge and share “Don’t Love The Thugs- Shove The Thugs!” (a plea for an urban safety movement to finally combat Black On Black Crime by refusing to embrace thugs any longer)!
DOJ Wants Your Help in Zimmerman Case
By Arden Dier
The Justice Department is asking for the public’s help in its investigation into George Zimmerman, Fox News reports. A public email address (Sanford.Florida@usdoj.gov) is up and running, and ready to collect any tips you may have on him; Eric Holderpreviously said the DOJ will “consider all available information.” Officials tell the Washington Post the email was set up “because of interest in this matter,” and the paper calls the move an “unusual” one. But Fox News reports it’s pretty much standard procedure when it comes to highly publicized cases like Zimmerman’s.
Still, don’t expect a response if you write in. “Unfortunately, the Department will not be able to respond to all messages received,” the DOJ said in a statement. But police are still responding to those angered by the case: The Los Angeles Times reports that 17 people were arrested last night after a Victorville rally unraveled. And this morning, Trayvon Martin’s parents spoke out in their first post-verdict interview. Mom Sybrina Fulton tells CBS This Morning she was “stunned” Zimmerman wasn’t found guilty of second-degree murder. To President Obama: “make sure all the Ts were crossed and the Is were dotted,” requests Fulton.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home