The killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch captain in the Orlando suburb of Sanford was obviously a case of racial profiling that went bad. It would appear that Martin’s family and the black community has a right to be outraged over the killing of the unarmed teenager. The shooting should never have taken place.
There had been several burglaries by young blacks in the gated subdivision where the shooting occurred. George Zimmerman, the watch captain, had called the police to report a suspicious black person in the neighborhood. He was instructed not to confront the subject. Zimmerman, who was armed with a handgun, disregarded those instructions and had a confrontation with Martin that ended up with the high school junior shot to death.
Zimmerman claimed he acted in self-defense. A police report indicated that Zimmerman was found bleeding from the nose and the back of the head, standing over Martin, who was unresponsive after being shot in the chest. According to the report, an officer at the scene overheard Zimmerman saying, "I was yelling for someone to help me but no one would help me."
The black community is demanding that Zimmerman be arrested and is accusing the police of racism for not arresting him. But his claim of self-defense is buttressed by the fact that he was injured during the confrontation. Thus, I can understand why the police did not arrest him.
Zimmerman had a license to carry a concealed weapon. Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels unarmed safety patrol, says that neighborhood watch patrols should never be armed. He pointed out that what happened to Martin would never have happened if Zimmerman had not been carrying a gun.
I agree with Sliwa. Being armed gave Zimmerman the courage to confront the innocent teenager. Whether Zimmerman was acting in self-defense or not is really beside the point. Had he waited for the police to arrive, no confrontation would have occurred. But being armed gave Zimmerman the courage to disregard police instructions not to confront the teenager.
This case is fodder for both the gun control and race card playing crowds. You can bet your life that this unfortunate incident is going to energize Sarah Brady and her fellow gun control zealots. And it doesn’t help the proponents of concealed carry laws either.
As for racial profiling, I know it’s not politically correct, but I can see why citizens and the police resort to it. That’s right, despite their denials, cops are racial profiling all the time and for good reasons to boot. The black community should not be surprised that blacks are subjected to racial profiling. All you have to do is watch the daily news on your TV set and you will see a preponderance of black males busted for burglaries, armed robberies and murders. And that explains why racial profiling is so prevalent.
It remains to be seen whether or not the shooting of Martin was justified. Even if the shooting was justified, Zimmerman is going to become the victim of a political shitstorm. The authorities are going to cave in to the nationwide demands of outraged blacks and white liberals that Zimmerman be tried for murder.
Neighborhood watch members are supposed to serve as an extra set of eyes for the police. They are not supposed to be a bunch of vigilantes. Zimmerman is a stupid jerk and, unfortunately, Trayvon Martin paid for the watch captain’s stupidity with his life.
1 comment:
Unfortunately this sort of neighborhood watch program can attract wannabe cops, and in a gated community where the streets are in fact NOT public property these sorts can assume more authority than they actually have. The shooter was within his rights to follow the kid, though it was probably not smart to do so. Without a badge his authority to roust the kid (if that is what actually happened) was probably zero. If the kid reacted badly to being followed, that is another matter. Trouble is, we have only one side of the story and a ton of angry rhetoric. Justice is a good thing. Hanging the shooter out to dry without as much info as can reasonably be gathered is not justice.
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