Last week we saw the victim of a Murder, convicted for that crime himself.
.
It's not the first time this has happened, as has been widely reported the percent of Whites who kill White victims in "Self Defense" who are acquitted or found justified in "Stand Your Ground" states are outnumbered by the Whites who kill Blacks by 345%
The fact is that America so often easily sees Young Black Men as Criminals rather than finding sympathy for them even when they've been Murdered, this in turn contributes to the Confirmation Bias Feedback Loop that rationalizes increased police scrutiny, increased arrests and increased jail time even when their actual level of "criminality" is shown to be the same or less than others.
So it was easy for the jury to believe that for apparently no good reason at all Trayvon just decided to "get mad" and punch a grown man in the nose, then try to bash his head in the ground and suffocate him. No reason. Just.. cuz
To them, it must have gone like this.
No muss, no fuss, thug-life boy got what was coming to him. Right?
It doesn't matter that George Zimmerman had made 46 previous Non-Emergency Calls and he hadn't complained about anyone except young black males in hardly any of them (once he called 9-11 on his own landlord who was trying to get his rent), the fact that George shouldn't have left his car, shouldn't have been armed (under the Neighborhood Watch Rules-PDF) that he had No Good Excuse for not able to get back to his car for 2 minutes when he said that's where he was going so he LIED about it, that in all likelihood George Grabbed Trayvon and started the fight himself then lied about that too, and also that it's simply not possible for him to have pulled his gun from his right-back hip while Trayvon was Sitting On Top of Him.
Trayvon had to be further away or in the process of standing for George to get to his weapon, in which case his life wasn't in imminent threat.
But who cares about that, since Trayvon was clearly a natural born thuglet, George is obviously innocent and Trayvon had to be Convicted.
And now he's being convicted again, in death.
Now Trayvon is being convicted again in the court of public opinion.
In these people's - um - "Mind" - Trayvon has been transformed not only from a Street Thug, but into a Murderous Lean Sizzurp Slurping Drug addict.
They argue he wasn't getting the Watermelon Flavored Ice-T and Skittles for his half-brother, he was making addictive low-grade narcotic Lean. Except that's not the right formula for Lean.
The original formula:
Promethazine w/Codeine syrup
Any fruit flavored soda
A jolly rancher
Put it all in a styrofoam cup and enjoy. The codeine is mainly responsible for the euphoria felt after drinking sizzurp. Promethazine causes motor skill impairment, lethargy, and extreme drowsiness. If it doesn't have promethazine, it ain't real sizzurp.
Jolly Ranchers aren't Skittles. Also missing is the codeine and the promethazine, which is interesting since Trayvon's post-mortem
Toxicology report mentioned trace level of THC, it didn't mention any
promethazine.
Nelson denied the motion filed by the state to have the toxicology reports kept from Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial because Zimmerman didn’t know Martin, the THC levels were minimal and there was no evidence it affected Martin’s behavior.
West said the state medical examiner’s change in testimony said the THC could have “some effect” on Martin. West also said in Zimmerman’s statement to the non-emergency 911 dispatcher that it appeared the person was “on drugs.” West said Martin’s behavior is now relevant to self-defense claim so marijuana as well.
If there had been any promethazine, don't you think Mr. West and Mr. O'Mara would have brought it up?
As a result the claim that "Trayvon Martin was on Lean" is clearly a lie and a smear.
Then they've argued that Trayvon had a "violent" past.
Well, here are the infamous Trayvon "Fight" Videos, allegedly from his phone. In neither case does he participate. At the most he's a spectator and in the second video, he seems to actually stop the fight by standing between the participants with his hands up.
This is evidence that he's a "Violent" kid? We don't see him throw a punch or get involved in these fights at all, other than to STOP the second one.
If Trayvon was so into fighting, and apparently liked to keep videos of fights - which I gues means we should lock up the entire fanbase of the WWE - why don't any of those videos Show HIM Fighting anyone?
And then there were the dreaded Text Messages which like the other issues, were not allowed by the Judge who argued "We don't know who entered these texts?"
No, we don't.
So what was in these texts?
He has a message at 9:23 Am 11/22
Yee cuz he got mo hits cuz in that first round he got me on the ground and I couldn't do ntn
Is this a reference to an actual fight, or is it a video game? Real fights in the street don't have "Rounds", they just happen. Further the log shows
This Text Was Deleted. It might never have even been sent to anyone, nor is there shown any record of the conversation that would put this in any kind of context of perspective. Perhaps that's why the defense team wanted to bring it in to provide the maximum negative effect, but that's also why the judge
kept it out.
Update: I found more of this conversation here in this PDF - but nearly all of it but the above quote, is redacted, so it's not exactly helpful with the context.
Then starting at 6:15 that night we have this exchange. PDF
Sent: My Mom just told me I gotta move with my dad
Read: So what does that mean?
Sent: She just kicked me out :(
Read : Stop Lying
Sent: I promise, my Mom just told me I gotta move
Sent: I promiseT
Read: What did you do now? Why?
Sent: Da police caught me outta school
Read: LOL really dude? So you just turning into a lil hoodlum?
Sent: No not at all
Read: Yee
Sent: U a hoodlum
Read: Naw I'm a gangsta
Sent: Lies.com lol.... u soft
Read: Boy don't get one planted in ya chest
Sent: Lol I'm scared;
Read: You should be.
Sent: I think 2 make ppl feel gud about dey self
Read: ?
Sent: I mean i Like
Sent : !!
Read: LOL
He "Likes to make people feel good about themselves"- yeah, that's a "thug"
From this conversation, we see that Trayvon didn't leave his mom's house for fighting, it was because he was suspended for Truancy. (He was never suspended for Fighting) And that the idea of him being a "hoodlum" was basically A Sarcastic JOKE between him an his friend.
There's another section of the texts which talk about fighting from 3pm February 12th.
Read: Hood Boys [redacted]
Sent: U a hoo chick?
Read: Kinda [redacted]
Sent: What make u 1?
Read: Duh way I fight and duh golds I had last years, [redacted]
Sent: Lot u b fightn
Read: Yea a lot [redacted]
Sent: U had a fight dis year?
Read: Yeah, but not at skool
So here Trayvon is talking to a girl. A "chick". Maybe Rachel, maybe not. And if you assume he's the one sending messages - although sometimes
other people will send messages on each others phone - he's the one
ASKING "Lot u b fightn?" and the girl he's talking to is bragging about the fights she gets into. Again, this is not an example of Trayvon fighting. Not hardly.
There's another section again about Trayvon's suspension. Feb 14th 10 am.
Read: Why you not in skool?
Sent: Suspended
Read: I thought u was going out with ur friend?
Sent: Naw my ol g said she don want me home caus she think ima get in mo trouble
Read: Fightn
Sent: she kick me out
Read: What you fighting fo?
Sent: Naw
So here again, this reference to fighting comes from the friend on the other end, and again - Trayvon denies it. "Naw" He's not
bragging about getting into fights with anyone, they just happen to be discussing it.
Eventually I did find the infamous "make that kid bleed" reference in another section of the PDF's from 11/22 6pm, problem is this report doesn't really say whose talking to who.
...Wyd?
Tired nd sore
Mee too, what happen to yuhh??
Fight
Y?
Cause man dat nigga snitched on me
Bae y yun always fightingg man, yu got suspended??
Naw we thumped after skool in a ducked off spot
O, well Damee
I lost first round :( but I won da 2nd n 3rd...
Ohh so it was 3 rounds? Damee Well at least yo wonn, but you needs stop fightingg bea Foreal
Naw I'm not done with fool.. he gon hav 2 see me again
Noo bae stop, yuu aint gonn bee satisfied til you get suspended again huh?
Naw but he aint breed nuff 4 me only his nose... but after dat I'm done
Wow Smh'l
For some reason this report is formatted completely differently, as if it's taken from a
different phone or source and seems to be taking place the evening before the first mention "I lost da first round" from the previous PDF. This could be a smoking gun that Trayvon did get into at least one afterschool fight. Or it could be the person he's
talking to got into an afterschool fight, unlike the other files - this one isn't so clear whose saying what to whom.
References to Guns.
Sent: U gotta gun?
Read: it's me mommys but she buy for me
Sent: She let you hold it?
Read: yea
Sent: But she keep it?
Read : yea
Sent: I gotta bill right ne 4 sum le
Read: you want a 22 revolver
Sent: Wat shoota??
So in this case Trayvon isn't the one with the gun, the person he's talking whose Mother has a gun, and when they ask him if he wants a 22 revolver he comes back that "What Shoot?" or "What Shooter?" which is not exactly "Yes, Please I'd like to have that gun now, Sir".
Later on they talk about a .380 on Feb 21, 7am.
Sent: U wanna share a .380 with [redacted]?
Read : who
Sent: [Redacted]
Read: wat with dat money I gave you
Sent: yea nd he gon put in
Read: how ima git da fle
Sent: yall gon split it
Read: its gonna be at my crib
Sent: u wanna shar it with [redacted]
Read: naw am finna cop a 38 4 a face
So there talking here about chipping in together to by a .380, and to share with a third person but ultimately
Don't, because the other person wants one for themself - not to share.
And continued Feb 22, 7am. the next day.
Read: You want 150 for the 38
Sent: Naw I'm gonna git it 2late
Read: ight
Yet again, the answer is NO, this time from Trayvon saying it. So in the end they agree
Not to try and buy a gun for various reasons. And this is proof of
what exactly to the people who keep telling us the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun?
There's discussion of guns, there's discussion of fights, exactly whose saying what - and whose actually typing the message, because as Jeantel mentioned on the stand - people share their phones - is not entirely clear.
Yet again, this was why the judge didn't allow it.
Let me be honest with about kids and "Fighting". They do that shit. I'm not condoning or excusing, I'm just saying it does happen - usually off campus or afterschool. The thing I want to say is this, getting even with a kid at school by having a fight is one thing, punching out and trying to KILL an Adult is an entirely different matter.
It's not even close to being on the same scale.
Then we move on the the "Burglary" charge. The fact is that Trayvon was never arrested or charged with Burglary. There is a story that he was caught at school with a "burglary kit" and "jewels", but there's more to that story.
In October, a school police investigator said he saw Trayvon on the school surveillance camera in an unauthorized area “hiding and being suspicious.” Then he said he saw Trayvon mark up a door with “W.T.F” — an acronym for “what the f---.” The officer said he found Trayvon the next day and went through his book bag in search of the graffiti marker. Instead the officer reported he found women’s jewelry and a screwdriver that he described as a “burglary tool,” according to a Miami-Dade Schools Police report obtained by The Miami Herald.
...
Trayvon’s backpack contained 12 pieces of jewelry, in addition to a watch and a large flathead screwdriver, according to the report, which described silver wedding bands and earrings with diamonds.
Trayvon was asked if the jewelry belonged to his family or a girlfriend.
“Martin replied it’s not mine. A friend gave it to me,” he responded, according to the report. Trayvon declined to name the friend.
Trayvon was not disciplined because of the discovery, but was instead suspended for graffiti, according to the report. School police impounded the jewelry and sent photos of the items to detectives at Miami-Dade police for further investigation.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/...
Ok, so not fighting, graffitti, and eventually "weed dust" - although
he didn't have the marker and while searching him they found a screwdriver, rings & earrings.
Here's the interesting part that most people who jump up and down about this saying it proves Trayvon was a Burglar seem to forget, or ignore.
No evidence ever surfaced that the jewelry was stolen.
So, even though pictures of the jewelry were sent to the police, the police
did not confirm that the jewelry was stolen. It just might have been exactly what Trayvon said it was, the jewelry belonged to a friend - and NO ONE has proven anything different.
Oh, and sometimes a screwdriver - is just a screwdriver.
So in total although it's true Trayvon did have some of the pictures that we've seen distributed showing him with a grill, and standing around with shirt off, flipping the bird (where actually he looks quite a bit younger), or with a gun (which as far as we can tell from the texts, he never actually got a hold of and may have been someone elses, not his gun or hand) - there are also other pictures of him with family and riding horseback (where he appears much more mature and were taken much more recently).
So who is the Real Trayvon?
Clearly the defense cherry-picked through the texts and pictures to paint the portrait of Trayvon they wanted to create in order to justify George's actions after the fact.
But then you have to compare all that with This portrait of Trayvon from his Family and Teachers
After taking an airplane ride two years ago, Trayvon decided he wanted to learn to fly, his uncle Ronald Fulton said. The teen attended a Miami aviation school part time and was studying to be an engineer, a path to realizing his ambition, Fulton said.
Math was Trayvon's favorite subject.
He liked to tinker, and he was good with his hands. He once took apart and repaired a broken scooter, Fulton said, and he liked to construct model cars and airplanes and draw pictures of things he wanted to build.
"He was extremely creative," said Michelle Kypriss, Trayvon's English teacher at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School in Miami. "He just loved building things. He really was intrigued by how things worked."
She described Trayvon, a junior, as an A and B student who majored in cheerfulness.
His uncle said Trayvon was still a typical kid who loved sports, music and was just feeling the first flush of youth. "He was trying to start driving. He was just finding out about girls."
We're supposed to believe Trayvon was an A/B Student with Gang-Banger aspirations? Does that even make sense?
The point is that no kids is as perfect and sweet as their parents might make them out to be, but then again no kid is an absolute devil either. This kid had potential, he just might have become a pilot. Who knows he might have become another Captain Sully, or perhaps an Astronaut. Despite wanting to act out on his cell phone and with texts - the evidence of him being a violent thug neo-felon is actually rather thin and sketchy.
But the other side has to believe the worst about him in order to explain and or excuse George's cold-blooded murder of a 17-year-old kid. The kid had to have done something to deserve it rather than George doing something that made Trayvon Fear for HIS Life, causing their confrontation to escalate out of control.
Yes, Trayvon did try weed, he and his friends talked about "Kush" in the texts messages and I didn't bother to transcribe those because a small amount was found in his system, so that's stipulated by the evidence. It wasn't enough to affect him that night. But he was not on Lean, that wasn't found. He did talk about guns and have a picture of one, but it doesn't appear that He Bought a Gun.
He wasn't a "Gun-Runner" as Robert Zimmerman Jr. suggested and he certainly didn't have a gun with him at the time. And as so many of the Zimmerman Fans like to tell us talking about guns - is not a crime.
He did talk about fights, and video tape them. He may have mentioned one fight of his own, and to me that's not a lot really. Also it's unclear to me if he ever actually had that fight or he was just talking shit (Kids do that), or it was someone elses fight prior to his run-in with George Zimmerman or not, that portion of the texts is unclear. If it was an actual fight, then the other kid should be able to attest to it, right? I mean we should at least expect some evidence other than text messages, where kids clearly joke and exaggerate with other, to prove this shouldn't we?
If this was the presentation in the case of "Trayvon Benjamin Martin: Thug-Wannabe" - there would more than enough reasonable doubt to acquit him of the charges.
Either way George didn't have access to any of this information before he decided to start watching Trayvon, and to following him, and to call the cops, get out of his car, track him down and ultimately kill him. And even without this information, the jury decided that Trayvon, was more dangerous and scary than George, because, y'now, black kid.
No, Mr West- George being convicted wouldn't have been a "travesty" - This is the Travesty. The fact that you could used card-board Trayvon to frighten the Jury and they bought it, is sad and pathetic.
The final point is this, Trayvon wasn't yet done becoming whoever it was he was going to become. He was in the process of figuring it all out. That's what youth is supposed to be, the period where you have a chance to make mistakes and learn from them. He was in the process of learning those lessons until all his 1st chances, and his 2nd chances were taken away by a hollow point bullet through the heart.
The last thing that he has now, is his memory and his potential, and we shouldn't let that be taken away from his family just so that those people who want to argue that "there is no more racism" in America can get away with it while at the same time they demonize and slander every black kid in the nation as a probable Violent THUG.
What do they think racism is, anyway?
Unfortunately for them, they've turned Trayvon into a Martyr. He won't be forgotten, not for what he did in life, but for what he eventually could have done if he'd had that chance.
Vyan
While you're pondering this Join Color of Change Campaign to Repeal Stand Your Ground Laws and get your asses Registered to Vote [Share the QR below], because at certain point - as I said before - we have to start thinking what happens #AfterTrayvon
