An African American teenage boy, thirsty for some sweet tea and some skittles puts on his favorite hoodie to stay warm and walks to the store. He purchases his items and then begins the walk home. He decides to take a short cut through a neighborhood where a man follows him. He is accused of being suspicious, and the man confronts him, attacks him.
The natural instinct is to defend oneself, so that’s what Martin does. When he tries to escape, a bullet is sent into the back of the head. It doesn’t seem very fair that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed Feb. 26.
Much controversy has been stirred up over whether or not Martin was the aggressor. This is what 28-year-old George Zimmerman claims happened that night. Supposedly Martin knocked him onto the ground with a single punch, and Zimmerman claims that he was only defending himself.
This doesn’t add up to me.
Martin weighed 160 pounds, while Zimmerman weighed more than 250 pounds. It doesn’t seem practical for Martin to be able to knock him onto the ground with a single punch.
Zimmerman should face murder charges. He called the police and reported Martin, and the dispatcher told Zimmerman to stop following him, but he didn’t. He actually got out of his vehicle on foot and pursued him. Zimmerman is not a police officer; he just takes part of a neighborhood night watch.
I’m not sure why he even had a gun in the first place. After finally approaching him, the brawl started. Zimmerman had no right to continue to follow him or confront the teenager. He had reported Martin to the police and disobeyed the dispatcher by following him. Martin had every right to defend himself.
I definitely think that it was a hate crime due to the color of Marvin’s skin. People want to blame the hoodie, and that Martin looked suspicious wearing the hood up. I just don’t see how that could be. A person wearing a hoodie with the hood up is common. It’s just an excuse Zimmerman is using to protect himself. Blaming this on the hoodie is just bringing to light Zimmerman’s own bias.
This case has created a media frenzy. And others are trying to use it to further their own agenda. Even the President has gotten involved by speaking out. “If I had a son, he would probably look like Trayvon Martin,” the President said.
As reported by Dalina Castellano, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Geraldo Rivera became part of the discussion about Martin’s death by blaming his choice of dress.
“I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly not to let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin‘s death as much as George Zimmerman was,” the Fox News host said on “Fox and Friends.”
Rivera later apologized for hurting Martin’s parents with his comments, but he stands by the message. Martin supporters across the nation are wearing the hooded sweatshirt to memorialize his life and to make a statement.
Reports are being made that Martin got sent home from school for having marijuana residue in his back pack. His mother has now trademarked Martin’s name and started an organization called “I Am Trayvon” to help mothers who have lost children to gun violence. At least something good may come of the incident.
According to “Protect Children, Not Guns 2012,” research released by the Children’s Defense Fund March 23, 2012, in 2008 “2,047 children and teens died from guns in the United States and 2,793 died in 2009 for a total of 5,740-one child or teen every three hours, eight every day, 55 every week for two years. Six times as any-34,387-suffered nonfatal injuries in 2008-2009.”
Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens all the time and people don’t even blink an eye. Children die every day from guns, and teenager Martin fell victim.
