just another rant …

and in memory of things we must never ever forget 5/2012

Today, as we move into 2016 the death count of not only Black Men, Women but Young teens are experiencing Police Brutality still being judged by the colour  of their skin  not as human beings who may need to be spoken to NOT rounded up. Unfortunately, there is a group of officers who believe America wants “SoftPolicing” NO we want treatment that is equal to the offense just as we expect of all things re: the enforcement of the law! anyway, i needed to repost my thoughts

We all use that cliché …”life goes on” … right. I was able to do my thing though the killing of Trayvon absolutely affected me but not until the days worn on and the main stream media had more and more parents wanting to tell their TM stories do we see that something just is not right. Americans began to hear how this “Stand your Ground” law works, applied or abused in the same state and that was a sad awakening. Shortly after the death of TM, two stories that still bother me were exposed; the first one is about a white man who was able to use SYG after looking outside his window watching two black males attempting to steal from or his truck. The story that I heard is that he left his house shot them both, claimed SYG and while he was questioned he was not convicted and yes he was on his own property.  The other story, is about a young black male who made a bad decision to go to a rave party, raided by the police. Yes, he was hiding on somebody’s property, until the chaos and police cleared out but then an older white man decided his domicile was under attack, calls the police who tell him not to go outside does and he shoots killing a 16yr old scared kid who had no gun and wasn’t trying to break in to this man’s house who successfully claims SYG. The big stink about these stories, is that these two white men from Florida claimed and were granted the use of that unknown law while an African American Floridian Mom of two is sentenced to 20yrs in prison for firing off a warning shot to scare her abusive husband. Reports are that Marissa had no arrest record and claimed self-defense. There was evidence of domestic violence by her husband and though the case was batted around for over a year due to the SYG law, Marissa was offered a deal to plead down to 3yrs. Ms. Alexander stated she was innocent, no one was hurt and the warning shot probably saved her life, Marissa’s use of SYG was denied. I cannot say I have read or listened to every story that is close or matches the Trayvon Martin case but my two stories here have a common denominator and that is most if not all who are denied the use of the “Stand Your Ground” law are all African Americans. This brings me to the Trayvon Martin care. We heard the reports that Zimmerman was not only a self-appointed block watch captain, he was a police wannabe who had priors, and it sounds like folks felt he was sort of a hothead. In my opinion, a piece of this tragic event is missing. We all know that he had been told, in my opinion … to stand down. I know too many people who feel as I do – that there are too many inconsistencies in what exactly happened on the night of and after Trayvon Martin died.  I want to know who left the scene why the investigator who wanted GZ arrested got override and the way Mr. Bonaparte behaved was not only offensive it confirmed the “nice place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there” attitude. We have what seems to be a group of Floridian Police behaving badly, leading to questions about the loud noise of silence and the look of a conspiracy in the making… some call the Deep South.

The idea that a law pushed by a couple of interest groups makes me wonder how many cases since, or before Trayvon Martin was killed, got dumped by this FPD or the state. I will admit; I keep saying there is something missing, the timeline is wrong and as that feeling creeped up like it does with parents of color feel; one can only hope the authorities will overcome that seemingly overwhelming lack of cohesive evidence to one of slow contemplation of right and wrong. The idea that “ stand your ground” is being claimed by Zimmerman in this case is not only offensive it does not seem to fit the description, even the folks who created “Stand your Ground” feel this law cannot be applied to the Trayvon Martin case.

I know what everyone else knows about the Trayvon Martin case. I accept that there is information that no civilian has access to; hope that prosecutors will exercise a good faith effort to make sure the person responsible; the person who was reckless, gets charged and jailed. I feel, according to the tapes and it is only my opinion but it sounded like Zimmerman stalked and killed TM because he looked shady and we all know that is not enough for a reasonably sane person to use as an excuse to kill. It was raining thus TM had a hoodie on and while gz is stalking Trayvon is telling his girlfriend someone was following him. The fact is the dispatcher told Zimmerman not to follow because they were on their way, yet he disobeys. I ask anyone reading this, why didn’t Zimmerman acknowledge himself while playing police officer or could it be maybe those %$&#@ always get away and wasn’t having any of it that night then claimed “Stand Your Ground”. We now know that the NRA and ALEC are associated with the “Stand your ground” law. I think this unknown law needs to be revisited reformed or dumped because it works — just not for African Americans. I have to say that since the death of Trayvon Martin it is eerie to hear so many examples of how the law works against people of color, specifically Black folks; Trayvon’s Mom stood up and rightly stated this was about right and wrong though Zimmerman’s own comments on that tape say much much more.

If you are in NYC, Please go the celebration !