I agree, it doesn't help. I can't help but empathize with what they're feeling since I'm a white man who, if I've ever been racially profiled, I certainly haven't noticed it. Right or wrong, I understand the feelings that a case like this can energize in those who have experienced true racial bigotry.
It's too bad it took a Hispanic male defending himself against a black teenager that was violently attacking him to get this church to realize that there is a problem with the murder of African Americans in America. Considering this church is in or near Chicago (according to another poster) it seems like they would have come to that revelation sooner than this week. Quick Google searches of gun violence and Chicago brings up thousands of results for your reading displeasure.
He wasn't standing in the rain. He was walking in a way that caught Zimmerman's attention and was moving between houses. In a neighborhood that was having issues with break-ins, I think I might be suspicious as well if I saw someone walking around in the rain really close to houses as opposed to on the sidewalk.
So you want to just focus on drugs..... What about truancy, vandalism, suspicion of possession of stolen property, fighting, possession of a hand gun, photos of nude underaged kids on his phone? (hope you know that's illegal even though he is 17).
Why does everyone keep clipping the narrative? Do you work for CNN? He wasn't walking in the rain on the sidewalk. He was walking close to the houses and moving in between them. I really doubt you wouldn't find that suspicious if you saw it in your neighborhood at a time when you were having problems with break ins.
Seriously? You guys have made the primary focus his known drug use. It isn't illegal or immoral to possess a hand gun. I have committed every single one of those crimes.
Actually, I've seen it frequently. The behavior itself itself is not unusual. I think he profiled him based on the recent break-ins.
I do too. Which is why he called the police and tried to keep the dispatcher aware of his actions LIKE THE DISPATCHER ASKED HIM TO. Zimmerman did nothing wrong at that point. I agree with the juror completely in the interview she did where she said "Zimmerman's heart was in the right place." He was trying to protect his neighborhood that was riddle with crime.
I don't think it's as much about racial profiling as it was about very odd behavior by Trayvon. Zimmerman should not have followed Trayvon, but from the 911 call it does sound like Zimmerman had reason to be suspicious.
You'd also be pretty pissed if you were that person doing nothing wrong and had the police called on you. I don't think profiling and calling it in is necessarily a good thing when someone is doing nothing that appears illegal.
Except for it is illegal for TM to own or be in possession of a gun. And it sounds like you are proud to have committed those crimes. You've got that going for you, which is nice.
It's raining, and he's just walking around, looking about. To George Zimmerman, that is what a man on drugs or up to no good looks like.
In the context of a lot of robberies in the area it does look suspicious. If your neighborhood had a lot robberies would you be suspicious of that behavior?
So if a neighbor thinks someone is acting suspicious in my front yard, at what point should they call the police? When they are suspicious? Or after they hear the guy shoot my wife and baby and see him running. I actually have had the cops called on me when I was 16 and a neighbor was suspicious of some friends who were at my house. (I was inside and the neighbor didn't see me or know who they were.) The experience was fine because I was respectful to the officers and we weren't doing anything wrong. I won't say it was enjoyable, but it wasn't some nightmare either. It's strange that now you are saying Zimmerman shouldn't have even called the police to begin with. Kind of goes against all the public service announcements that people put out nowadays about reporting things you see that you think are suspicious.
You don't actually know the facts here. Listen to George Zimmerman actually explain why he is suspicious and what he was doing that made him think he might be on drugs. He didn't call the police because he saw a person walking in the rain looking around. That is a false characterization that gets put out by people who haven't actually delved into the facts of the case.
