dont let facts get in the way

I’m thinking that if I lived in a gated community, it’s raining outside and there’s a kid STANDING in the rain, yea, I think I want my security guard, cop, neighborhood volunteer, whatever to give the kid a closer look.

I remember as a young teenage punk wandering around the streets of South St. Louis in the late 70’s, Johnny-Law questioned us all the time.  A few were pretend cops or security guards. One of them busted by buddies lip. (We had a thing for a while where we’d hop fences and take a dip in people’s pools late at night.)

The jury won’t get to hear anything about this but this kid was on his 3rd suspension from school, was caught with a burglary tool in his possession and on Twitter a few days before this incident, he and his friend seemed to be talking about an incident where Travon attacked a bus driver.

Since everyone else is speculating, here’s my two cents. Zimmerman either questioned  the kid or had turned around and was heading back to his truck before he spoke to him. (I don't recall if Zimmerman said he actually spoke to him) Travon sucker punched him from behind, jumped on him and began pounding his head on the walk. That fits the injuries on Zimmerman and what the witness’s saw.  Based on Travon’s recent past, it seems to me this was an young thug starting to emerge. He didn’t have a problem fighting. He over-reacted and to his bad fortune, picked a fight with a guy carrying a gun.

Is Zimmerman guilty of murder? Nope. Is he guilty of anyting? Yea, something, not sure what however.  

Ask yourself honestly,... if you had been Zimmerman, would that boy be dead?...      I have absolutely no idea what I’d do if attacked. Not long ago, I was at a driving range and saw two punks hitting golf balls at a sharp angle trying to hit people playing on the course next to the range. I walked over and stopped them. There were a few harsh words spoken. Later, I’m on the putting green as they are leaving the parking lot and they stopped in their car watching me. If they had attacked me from behind and I had a gun, what would have happened?
(Now Sew, what you want to know is what color they were, don't you?... Because that matters to you.)

Would you have called 911 to report a black boy armed with candy and soda?...             If I were the neighborhood volunteer and saw a kid standing in the rain, I think it would be my job to ask him what’s up; white or black. why mention 'armed with candy and soda'? did he have a sign on him saying all I have is candy and soda? I don’t recall Zimmerman saying anything in the 9/11 call to make this into a racial case. You and everyone else are making it into that after the fact.
How many rational lines must you cross to get into Zimmerman's position?...   Again, without being there, I’m not sure how many he crossed? How many did Travon cross?

Here's a question for you.... if Zimmerman were a black neighborhood volunteer and the exact same circumstances occurred, would you even give a crap?  Remember, there's nothing to indicate Zimmerman was racist in his identification of Travon.

by the way, here's a transcript of his call. Sorry, but I don't see anything racist.





Zimmerman: Hey, we’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there’s a real suspicious guy. It’s Retreat View Circle. The best address I can give you is 111 Retreat View Circle. This guy looks like he’s up to no good or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around looking about. [00:25]

DispatcherK, is he White, Black, or Hispanic?

Zimmerman:He looks black

Dispatcher: Did you see what he was wearing?

Zimmerman:Yeah, a dark hoodie like a gray hoodie. Either  jeans or sweat pants and white tennis shoes. He’s here now … he’s just staring. [00:42]

Dispatcher:He’s just walking around the area, the houses? OK.

Zimmerman:Now he’s just staring at me. [00:48]

Dispatcher: OK, you said that’s 1111 Retreat View or 111?

Zimmerman:That’s the clubhouse.

Dispatcher:He’s near the clubhouse right now?

Zimmerman: Yeah, now he’s coming towards me. He’s got his hands in his waist band. And he’s a black male.[1:03]

Dispatcher: OK How old would you say he is?

Zimmerman: He’s got something on his shirt. About like his late teens.

Dispatcher: Late teens?

Zimmerman: Uh, huh.Something’s wrong with him. Yep, he’s coming to check me out. He’s got something in his hands. I don’t know what his deal is. [01:20]

Dispatcher: OK, just Let me know if he does anything, OK?

Zimmerman: OK.

Dispatcher: We’ve got them one the way. Just let me know if this guy does anything else.

Zimmerman: OK.These assholes. They always get away. When you come to the clubhouse, you come straight in and make a  left. Actually, you would go past the clubhouse. [1:39]

DispatcherK, so it’s on the left hand side from  the clubhouse?

Zimmerman:Yeah. You go in straight through the entrance and then you'd make a  left. You go straight in, don’t turn and make a left. Sh**  He’s running. [2:08]

Dispatcher: He’s running? Which way is he running?

Zimmerman: (Sound that indicates perhaps Zimmerman is getting out of his car) Down toward the other entrance of the neighborhood. [2:14]

DispatcherK, which entrance is that he’s headed towards?

Zimmerman:The back entrance.

[Disputed utterance by Zimmerman at 2:22 that the subsequent affidavit of probable cause said was " "these f---ing punks".]


Dispatcher: Are you following him? [2:24]

Zimmerman: Yeah. [2:25]

DispatcherK.We don’t need you to do that. [2:26]

Zimmerman: OK. [2:28] (wind noises heard)

Dispatcher:Alright, sir, what is your name? [2:34]

Zimmerman:George. He ran.

Dispatcher:Alright, George, what’s your last name?

Zimmerman: Zimmerman.

Dispatcher:What’s the phone number you’re calling from?

Zimmerman: 407-435xxxx (wind noises die down)

Dispatcher: Alright, George, we do have them on the way. Do you want to meet with the officer when they get out there?

Zimmerman: Yeah.

Dispatcher: Alright, where are you going to meet with them at?

Zimmerman: Um, if they come in through the gate, tell them to go straight past the clubhouse and, uh, straight past the clubhouse and make a left and then they go past the mailboxes you’ll see my truck. [3:10]

Dispatcher: Alright, what address are you parked in front of? [3:21]

Zimmerman: Um, I don’t know. It’s a cut-through so I don’t know the address. [3:25]

Dispatcher: OK, do you live in the area?

Zimmerman: Yeah, yeah, I live here.

Dispatcher: OK, what’s your apartment number?

Zimmerman: It’s a home. It’s 1950 – oh, crap, I don’t want to give it out – I don’t know where this kid is [inaudible] [3:40]

Dispatcher: OK, do you just want to meet with them at the mailboxes then? [3:42]

Zimmerman: Yeah, that’s fine. [3:43]

Dispatcher: Alright, George, I’ll let them know you’ll meet them at …

Zimmerman: Could you have them call me and I’ll tell them where I’m at? [3:49]

Dispatcher: OK, yeah that’s no problem.

Zimmerman:My number … you’ve got it?

Dispatcher: Yeah, I’ve got it. xxxxx?

Zimmerman: Yeah, you got it.

Dispatcher: OK, no problem. I’ll let them know to call you when they’re in the area. [4:02]

Zimmerman:Thanks.

Dispatcher: You’re welcome.

Call ends 4:07

I got into all kinds of mischief when I was a kid, drank, smoked a little weed, got suspended from school for 3 days for fighting but I didn't deserve to die. You could say I was well on my way to being a criminal but nothing is further from the truth. I wasn't mean, just mischevious. I heard Dispatch telling him to back off until the police got there, which Zimmerman refused to do. If he would have followed orders instead of trying to be Billy Boy Bada$$ both of them would be alive today. When the police broght him in he didn't look like he had been beat up at all, at the least a light a$$ whooping. If he had been beat like he said he was he couldn't have walked and should have went to the emergency room. His father is famous for being a racist and I don't think the apple fell far from the tree. The Boy Scouts and an occasional whipping from my dad helped set me on the right path. Once I learned how to play guitar that's all I wanted to do. That's why I don't believe in video games, Ipads or ipods, whatever you call them. Its important to learn how to think and learn for yourself. I never had a single guitar lesson.

What I find perplexing, or perhaps more of a symptom of a world that seems addicted to "news" , is that this happens every day, somewhere, somehow. A life is lost prematurely, be it white on black, white on white, black on black, black on white etc, to circumstance that upon reflection could have been avoidable.

I venture to say, using the same rationalizing that the "gun" is a major component to the outcome of this sad affair, then so is the press, akin to (them) chumming bloody meat to sharks, then exclaiming its wasn't a feeding frenzy that killed the innocent photographer who leaned over the rail a little too much to get a better picture.....  
As it will continue to feed racial discourse, not mend it.
Until people can learn to forgive, reaching out, instead of striking out, to one another, accepting, instead rejecting, their own uniqueness (which we all are) as not a threat to "themselves", and acknowledging we ALL hold prejudice (for that is the way our mind is wired) then we will continue to slide into further decay as a society.   

A question to all: What have you done today, putting the other person first, before your own needs?

Ed L. wrote on 06/30/13 at 17:28:16:

That is a big assumption on your part...
No one knows who was the aggressor... no one witnessed the start...
Unless you are assuming that Zimmerman is telling the truth... which is unlikely seeing as he's told several different versions...

What is known,.. is that Zimmerman was pursuing Travon...  
Travon was just going home...

Haven't been watching, don't care. There are multiple black on black homicides in my county weekly, 2 second news blurb and forgotten by not only the broadcast media, but the print media and the community at large.

This case made news become somebody decided to try and make some political hay out of it. It was a local shooting, it should have stayed a local issue.

I don't live there, really don't give a rat's ass about the case either way.

to conclude that your opinions are based on something other than the evidence. The bloody nose?

Who knows who was on the top or bottom as the scuffle ensued. I theorize that the blood appeared on his face after Zimmerman pulled the trigger and the gun kicked back and hit him in the face. Grappling around Z must have shot Travon with one hand and couldn't control the recoil.

wow.... that's quite a conclusion there based on stuff other than facts Star.....

"Gun is a 9mm. Pretty light recoil even in a very light gun (which that one is) I'm a lot smaller and older than Zimmerman and I've shot .357s, and 44 magnums one handed hundreds of times and never had one hit me in the face. Sorry, that  theory aint gonna fly." oldNslow

Not true. Yeah I've shot those guns also...maybe ten thousand rounds or more in 43 years. A light weight 9 mm snub-nose packs a hell of a wallop.

Sure you've shot such a gun one handed...so have I. At The range. Arm extended And Locked. Firm grip exactly where it should be. Braced for recoil.

Piece of cake.

Now we have Zimmerman on his back (supposedly), Travon on top of him (supposedly). Zimmy manages to free his gun one handed, wrest the gun upward just above his face and fires. The recoil Smacks him in the face, and ergo the bloody nose, lip, or whatever.

(I have an image of Zimmy's cell-mate....and he ain't white).

BTW, you seem to be a pro-gun kind of guy. As I've said before this kind of incident is just the thing to bring about more cries for gun restrictions if this guy gets away with this...you are metaphorically shooting yourself in the foot here.