17yr old black kid shot and killed for walking in white suburbia?

[dderek123]

He was suspicious. Would I have been? Most likely not, I probably wouldn't have even bothered following him. Carrying a gun around is wrong? Well that's a whole different issue.

I think they were both knuckleheads and this unfortunate event could have been avoided. A guilty verdict beyond a reasonable doubt was really hard to attain since there are a lack of witnesses and Jeantels version of the events wasn't believable. That's about it.

[bobvela]

Racism. When two minorities go to court and one loses.

To paraphrase a tweet I saw last night:

A black man is shot by a Hispanic man, who is acquitted by an all woman jury... but it's still the fault of racist white men.

and Jeantels version of the events wasn't believable.

Admitting to quite a few lies while on the stand can cause that... doubly so when some of those perjurious lies were instrumental in the bringing of the charges.

[fred41]

He was suspicious. Would I have been? Most likely not, I probably wouldn't have even bothered following him. Carrying a gun around is wrong? Well that's a whole different issue.

I think they were both knuckleheads and this unfortunate event could have been avoided. A guilty verdict beyond a reasonable doubt was really hard to attain since there are a lack of witnesses and Jeantels version of the events wasn't believable. That's about it.

Yeah...and I'm glad so far everything is mostly calm...I think a lot of that stems from the given facts of this case, as seen by people that actually followed it, and realized how hard it was to be to get a guilty verdict in this case.

[buttslinger]

Two guys:
one is walking home from the local store.
one is looking for trouble with a gun.

You don't need to be a mind reader to figure this one out.

[Bruce Wayne]

DDerek Zinnerman was white/Hispanic not just Hispanic.

[dderek123]

Two guys:
one is walking home from the local store.
one is looking for trouble with a gun.

You don't need to be a mind reader to figure this one out.

The evidence presented in court suggests that's not how it went. I'm not a mind reader but I still know how to read. haha

[dderek123]

DDerek Zinnerman was white/Hispanic not just Hispanic.

Thanks for the info. So did race still have an affect on the outcome of the court case? I believe stereotyping probably had more influence.

[bobvela]

DDerek Zinnerman was white/Hispanic not just Hispanic.

And President Barack Obama is white/black... yet he is generally only called 'black'.

Why then is it important to point out the whiteness in half of the roots of Zimmerman but not Obama?

[trish]

Zimmerman is not guilty. I'm good with that. It's good that he had a trial. I make no claims about racism in this case, though it's clear Zimmerman profiled the boy he killed. But the claim that

our neighborhoods would be far better off if we had more people acting like GZ and fewer acting like TM.

is crazy. Really? More vigilantes ignoring the police and killing more teenagers will make our gated communities even better? What we really need is less guns, no more concealed carry, an end to stand your ground laws and no more public sanctioned vigilantism.

[fred41]

The evidence presented in court suggests that's not how it went. I'm not a mind reader but I still know how to read. haha

..again I agree. When the case was first reported I had a different viewpoint...but the evidence changed my mind on a few things.

I think maybe a discussion on guns and changing some laws (maybe) would once again be appropriate...but that's about it.