RANT/RAVE #3

Rant & Rave: because sometimes, I've just got to vent. After being the nice little, sometimes doormat, darling for 20-something years, some things just get to me. Won't it be fun if I shared?

Nine hours ago, en route home from the doctors office, a voice on my FM channel reached through the speakers like claws of injustice and punctured the most vital organ I have...my heart.  Of all the messed up things that happen everyday, my heart bleeds for a complete stranger: Trayvon Martin. I cried when I heard his story on the radio:

On February 26, 2012, a 17-year-old African-American named Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in Sanford, Florida. The shooter was George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old white man. Zimmerman admits killing Martin, but claims he was acting in self-defense. Three weeks after Martin’s death, no arrests have been made and Zimmerman remains free.
Here is what everyone should know about the case:

1. Zimmerman called the police to report Martin’s “suspicious” behavior, which he described as “just walking around looking about.” Zimmerman was in his car when he saw Martin walking on the street. He called the police and said: “There’s a real suspicious guy. This guy looks like he’s up to no good, on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around looking about… These a**holes always get away” [Orlando Sentinel]
2. Zimmerman pursued Martin against the explicit instructions of the police dispatcher:
Dispatcher: “Are you following him?”
Zimmerman: “Yeah”
Dispatcher: “OK, we don’t need you to do that.”
[Orlando Sentinel]
3. Prior to the release of the 911 tapes, Zimmerman’s father released a statement claiming “[a]t no time did George follow or confront Mr. Martin.” [Sun Sentinel]
4. Zimmerman was carrying a a 9 millimeter handgun. Martin was carrying a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. [ABC News]
5. Martin weighed 140 pounds. Zimmerman weighs 250 pounds. [Orlando Sentinel; WDBO]
6. Martin’s English teacher described him as “as an A and B student who majored in cheerfulness.” [Orlando Sentinel]
7. Martin had no criminal record. [New York Times]
8. Zimmerman “was charged in July 2005 with resisting arrest with violence and battery on an officer. The charges appear to have been dropped.” [Huffington Post]
9. Zimmerman called the police 46 times since Jan. 1, 2011. [Miami Herald]
10. According to neighbors, Zimmerman was “fixated on crime and focused on young, black males.” [Miami Herald]
11. Zimmerman “had been the subject of complaints by neighbors in his gated community for aggressive tactics” [Huffington Post]
12. A police officer “corrected” a key witness. “The officer told the witness, a long-time teacher, it was Zimmerman who cried for help, said the witness. ABC News has spoken to the teacher and she confirmed that the officer corrected her when she said she heard the teenager shout for help.” [ABC News]
13. Three witnesses say they heard a boy cry for help before a shot was fired. “Three witnesses contacted by The Miami Herald say they saw or heard the moments before and after the Miami Gardens teenager’s killing. All three said they heard the last howl for help from a despondent boy.” [Miami Herald]
14. The officer in charge of the crime scene also received criticism in 2010 when he initially failed to arrest a lieutenant’s son who was videotaped attacking a homeless black man. [New York Times]
15. The police did not test Zimmerman for drugs or alcohol. A law enforcement expert told ABC that Zimmerman sounds intoxicated on the 911 tapes. Drug and alcohol testing is “standard procedure in most homicide investigations.” [ABC News]

The Martin case had been turned over to the Seminole County State Attorney’s Office. Martin’s family has asked for the FBI to investigate.

UPDATE: 
FBI tells ABC News they are monitoring the Trayvon Martin investigation and have been in touch with local authorities

-------From: thinkprogress.org/ -------

The actual 911 tapes are heart breaking; and I've been crying off and on majority of the time since I heard.  This is by far more sad then any novel I've ever read.  I've seen many websites online where this is being labeled as a crime about race.  I look at it like this:  Trayvon could have been anybody.  He could have been your son, your brother, your nephew, your boyfriend, your future husband, your grandson, your friend.  Wrong is wrong.  He was murdered, pleading for his life, screaming HELP and shot to death, by a "Neighborhood Watch" vigilante.  Perhaps some people and the media's assumption about this being a race thing is wrong; but the family at least deserve to see a trial on the murderer.   Zimmerman is NOT currently in jail.  He hasn't been charged nor on trial.  According to cops you can shoot someone and not be charged as long as you do the shooting when no one is around.  #ICallBS #RIPTrayvonMartin


This story is a few weeks old, so please Google:  Trayvon Martin for more details. (Also see: CNN article)

I'm sure there's alot of mixed feelings about this case, so I don't expect everyone reading this rant & rave to agree, but I've been on my Twitter soapbox all day about this.  I won't be able to sleep tonight until I've gotten it ALL off my chest.

There should be a trial to Prosecute the killer of Trayvon Martin and I've signed the petition in support of seeing it go to court:  http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin

About the Blogger

I'm Katrina, founder of Kindred Dreamheart. I'm an aspiring junior & women's petite celebrity "red carpet" clothing designer and book lover. I read select genres. However if it's a series I'm sure I'd love it also regardless of the genre. I read when I want to be entertained; watch TV when I'm bored; and when I'm not designing something fabulous, I blog. (((Contact Me)))