The rosy picture of Martin continues to degrade. Claims (remember, just that ‘claims’) of pot use, drug dealer, burglar tools, stolen jewelry, punching a bus driver, all contribute to a less than rosy picture of Martin than his parents would like to portray.
“They’ve killed my son, and now they’re trying to kill his reputation,” Sorry Mrs. Martin, but your son killed his own reputation with his behavior. Bringing it out merely highlights it.
But believe it or not, none of those really affect the outcome of the decision for me. It still left Zimmerman leaving his vehicle. And whenever I came to his claim that Martin came at him from behing, I was left asking; “where is the motive?” I saw no motivating reason that Martin would have come after Zimmerman. And that was the biggest issue I had with Zimmerman’s story. For me to believe that Zimmerman was acting in self-defense, I needed a motive for Martin to be assaulting him. Until today, I did not have one.
Zimmerman and Martin’s Girlfriend both seem to affirm this dialogue, or something close to it, occurred:
Trayvon: “What are you following me for?”
Zimmereman: “What are you doing around here?”
Seems innoculous enough at first glance, right? Nothing inflammatory. Nothing there that would seemingly make Martin rush George Zimmerman from behind is there?
Recently, there has been some mention that Travyon might have had some confrontational dealings with a gang of hispanics. If this is true, this becomes the missing piece in Zimmerman’s scenario – the motive.
Look at the following photograph of Trayvon Martin (recent, as opposed to innocent child) and George Zimmerman. Now picture in your mind not a confrontation between a Neighbor Watch but two rival gang members. Now re-read these statements:
Trayvon: “What are you following me for?”
Zimmereman: “What are you doing around here?”
Now these simple words take on a whole new confrontational meaning. Zimmerman’s response comes across as defending one’s “turf”. Could Trayvon Martin have interpreted the hispanic George Zimmerman’s comment as a challenge – believing it to come from a rival gang member.
Except that George Zimmerman was not a rival gang member, but a Block Watch (and yes, organized not vigilante / self-appointed as was first reported). Next thing Zimmerman knows he is being attacked by a Trayvon Martin who presumes he is from the rival hispanic gang.
The above is all speculative, but does provide an arguable motive. And this is why I have felt from the beginning that this particular case needed judicial review. Sadly, now with the media frackus and twits like Spike Lee tweeting out the address of Zimmerman’s residence. We’ve have to be careful that the judicial review is allowed to proceed with integrity and that Zimmerman gets his fair hearing in a court of law.
An Article on Daily Beast is espousing racism. But I question, what if Trayvon Martin is in fact dead because he was racist against hispanics? It’s presumptive but a possibility. However, it’s an topic that is unlikely to ever be broached publicly. And that right there is the problem with our nation, and what the author of the article does not understand. The problem is that race as been made a one-sided heirarchal dialogue. That is not the equality of Martin Luther King’s dream, nor does it further progress toward a color blind world.
Some additional links with good commentary (H/T PAGunBlog.com)
N.U.G.U.N. - New User of GUNs Blog 