Free Republic

George Zimmerman should be disarmed. If ever a man deserved to be shunned by society, it is pudgy Georgie Zimmerman. And in some quarters, he is. Unfortunately, there are enough of his ilk around – the big guns who run the National Rifle Association, conservative talk radio Obama haters and others – who quickly and emphatically drew the besieged Floridian into their warm and fuzzy protective cocoon of right-wing fanaticism. The ink was not even dry on the long-delayed Zimmerman arrest warrant when the NRA brass leaped to his defense because he fulfilled their classic gunfighter role model — a...

Of course, it was self-defense, but not by George Zimmerman. Let's forget blackness, racism, neighborhood watches and location for a moment and simplify the story. Let's say a person spots someone he has a perceived beef with; maybe this person doesn't like the way the other guy looks, or the way the other guy looked at someone else, or doesn't want him around his neighborhood, or this person is just out for trouble. Now this person follows the other guy slowly in his car for a while, ultimately getting out and confronting him. Maybe he even pushes the other guy...

On Feb. 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida there was a shooting that would, for whatever reason, transfix this country and pressure how we as a nation understand our natural right to self-defense. I am of course referring to the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. It’s not my intention here to pour over the details of this case — I’m sure we have all heard those, time and time again. I personally have no desire to hear them again. Rather, I want to look at what we can learn, as a community of gun owners and concealed carry holders,...

It would seem obvious, wouldn't it, that Trayvon Martin is dead because he was a black boy in the wrong part of town? I think most reasonable people know that all blacks are periodically subjected to being stopped for "driving while black" or even "walking while black." There's hardly a study done anywhere by anybody that doesn't show that type of thing to be a common and unfair occurrence in the black community. Statistical abuse of minorities is well-documented. Me, personally, I say Trayvon Martin is dead for two reasons and neither specifically because of his race. He's dead because...

You may find that headline confusing because it is. But remember, Bill Clinton was the first black president. Maybe Anthony Weiner can be the second black mayor. Stranger things have happened. And it turns out that there’s nothing a White Hispanic can’t accomplish for the Democratic Party without even meaning to. Repeated polling has found a racial gap in the races for mayor and comptroller: black voters are far more likely than white voters to view Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Weiner favorably, and more likely to say they deserve a second chance. How big a split is it? Spitzer,...

About 40 percent of white Americans and about 25 percent of non-white Americans are surrounded exclusively by friends of their own race, according to an ongoing Reuters/Ipsos poll. The figures highlight how segregated the United States remains in the wake of a debate on race sparked by last month’s acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting of unarmed black Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. President Barack Obama weighed in after the verdict, calling for Americans to do some “soul searching” on whether they harbor racial prejudice. There are regions and groups where mixing with people of other races is more common,...

Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin is facing a firestorm of criticism after sending letters to hundreds of organizations trying to find out the depth of their relationship with the American Legislative Exchange Council. The senator’s interest in ALEC is based on the stand your ground legislation that has become a focal point for liberal activists and lawmakers after the George Zimmerman trial in Florida. But his hometown newspaper, The Chicago Tribune, editorialized that the inquiries looked like “Durbin’s enemies list.” In the August 6 letter sent to think tanks and corporations, Durbin wrote, “I am seeking clarification whether organizations that...

The issue is beyond race and Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law. George Zimmerman’s fear of Trayvon Martin led to murder and his acquittal. Since fear for his life, even if unreasonable, allowed Zimmerman to walk free. Then, what of other fear-based prejudices? Last year, in Jacksonville, FL, Jordan Davis, 17, African American, and unarmed, was killed in a mall parking lot, while sitting in his car. Michael David Dunn, 46, White, claims Davis pointed a shotgun after Dunn told Davis to turn down his music. Dunn shot his 9mm into Davis’ car and sped away. Now charged with first degree...

Okay, well, somebody needs to paint a mural of Trayvon selling weed or smashing George's skull in or jumping from behind a bush and ambushing George and demand it be displayed as well. ORLANDO, Fla. – An eye-grabbing mural showing a picture of a man shooting a likeness of Trayvon Martin was unveiled Friday at the state Capitol.

A mural of a man who looks like George Zimmerman shooting a likeness of Trayvon Martin was unveiled Friday at the state Capitol of Florida. A mirror sits in the spot under a hoodie where Trayvon Martin's face would be, bordered by Martin Luther King, Jr.'s face decorated with streaks of blood....

Middle and high school students in San Diego, California will be encouraged to vent their frustration that the world lacks justice when they return to school and participate in the “Trayvon Martin dialogues” this fall. The board of San Diego Unified Schools unanimously approved a proposal recently to establish classroom forums to discuss the death of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager who was shot during an altercation with a Hispanic man, George Zimmerman, in Florida last year. A jury recently acquitted Zimmerman, who claimed that Martin struck first and shot him in self-defense. The sponsors of San Diego’s Trayvon Martin...

Last week George Zimmerman — found innocent of murder, but still the killer of teen Trayvon Martin — was pulled over for speeding by a police officer in Forney, east of Dallas. Nothing happened. In fact, the only detail of note was that Zimmerman was packing heat in the glove compartment (which he disclosed to the officer) and was going “nowhere in particular.” The officer’s dashboard camera captured the non-incident, and the officer himself got away with snapping a cellphone picture of Zimmerman’s drivers license. Perhaps the officer couldn’t help himself, since George Zimmerman is “famous.” Not the kind of...

The Chicago Teachers Union has announced that it will send a bus to the 50th Anniversary March on Washington, a full week of events to be hosted by the four children of Martin Luther King, Jr. and several organizations including Al Sharpton’s National Action Network. The march will celebrate The Great March on Washington, which took place 50 years ago in the summer of 1963 and culminated with King’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech. It set to occur Aug. 21 through Aug. 28. The first day of school for students in Chicago Public Schools is Monday, August 26. However,...

If Councilman Nick Mosby has his way, Baltimore government would boycott Florida-based businesses in protest to the state's stand-your-ground law after George Zimmerman's acquittal. Mosby intends to file a resolution on Monday to encourage city agencies and investment boards to avoid doing business with companies in the Sunshine State. He hopes that would pressure the legislature there to rethink a law that allows individuals to use lethal force, if necessary, to defend themselves in public places. The resolution also calls on city officials to avoid traveling to Florida or attending events in the state. "Ultimately, the purpose of the legislation...

The "not guilty" verdict for George Zimmerman's killing of Trayvon Martin did not come as a surprise to African Americans or anyone familiar with the US justice system. Ultimately, the trial was theatre because the decision to clear Zimmerman was effectively made the same day that he shot Trayvon, a 17-year-old African American. Footage of the "arrest" of Zimmerman showed him walking into the police station without handcuffs, even though it was not disputed that he had shot and killed an unarmed teenager. The police knew, from Zimmerman's own 911 calls, that he had stalked Trayvon. They knew that Zimmerman...

Self-appointed civil rights leaders and celebrities remained mum on the vicious beating of a white sixth-grader at the hands of three older African-Americans in Florida, despite a growing chorus of critics who called their silence hypocrisy given their recent, racially-charged condemnation of the Sunshine State. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who both blasted Florida in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting and the acquittal of George Zimmerman in Martin's death, with Jackson calling it an "apartheid state" and "our Selma," have not spoken publicly of the brutal beating aboard a school bus caught on cellphone and surveillance video. Neither...

President Barack Obama discussed Edward Snowden, the health care law, Hillary Clinton and Russia during a Tuesday visit to "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno." But Obama´s comments about the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin had special local interest. George Zimmerman was acquitted last month of murder in the teen´s death in Sanford. Some Americans have criticized Obama previously for commenting on the issue, but Leno said that the president had spoken eloquently and from the heart about Trayvon´s death. "I think all of us were troubled by what happened," Obama told Leno.

The response was predictable, even to those who had maintained hope for a different outcome. After the jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin, many cities erupted into protests of what was perceived as a fundamentally unfair and racially-biased verdict that was the result of a broken justice system. Among those protesting that Zimmerman should be punished, some admitted that the flaw was actually found within the Florida law which departs significantly from the common law by allowing individuals who initiate confrontations to use deadly force to defend themselves without a duty to escape. Florida's Stand Your...

Just revealed Democratic anti-NRA talking points urge anti-gun advocates and politicians to hype high-profile gun incidents like the Florida slaying of Trayvon Martin to win support for new gun control laws. In talking points likely followed by top Democratic leaders including President Obama after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in December, the anti-gun "guide" urged gun foes to speak out when a shooting "creates a unique climate" to shout down the National Rifle Association."The most powerful time to communicate is when concern and emotions are running at their peak," said the 80-page document titled "Preventing Gun Violence Through Effective...

(Note to readers: The following is pure fiction.) We stopped for gas and coffee near the Oregon border and then pulled back onto the road, continuing North. It seemed like George hadn’t felt like talking these last hundred miles or so, not as much as he had earlier on in the time since I’d joined him on his journey. But now that he had a fresh jolt of java starting to flow into his veins, he started to open up again as he drove. “I’m thinking of changing my name,” he blurted out. “To what, Bob Dylan?” I wisecracked, trying...

<p>How did the world get here? Did you hear what they said: Another young brother is dead. Meanwhile Zimmerman is set free; how the f*** can this be? A man with a gun killed Sybrina and Tracy’s son. Yet he received an acquittal while Trayvon was only armed with a bag of skittles, showing once again how little America values Black life.</p>

I was a little disappointed in reading your bold headlines "Zimmerman Walks" (July 14) and "Still Outraged" (July 15) with the picture below showing protestors carrying signs reading "Whole System is Racist" and "Say NO to Racism." Racism is in the eyes of the beholder and, so often, if those eyes would look into a mirror they might see things differently. I am not a racist by any means, but I saw a trial with a judge, prosecutor, defense lawyer, and a jury, agreed upon by all parties involved. I saw arguments, and testimony for both sides, and a jury...

The National Association of Town Watch will hold its 30th annual National Night Out celebration, otherwise known as "America's Night Out Against Crime," on Tuesday. The event, which celebrates crime prevention throughout the country, encourages communication between communities, police and neighborhood watch groups. While National Night Out is intended to be a fun event, filled with celebratory block parties and cookouts, one might wonder whether the George Zimmerman case has cast a shadow on neighborhood watch groups and influenced how they are perceived. "Everyone uses the neighborhood watch umbrella for what [Zimmerman's] group is, when really there is a severe...

Members of the New Haven community are up in arms as rocker Ted Nugent gets ready to play at the legendary Toad’s Place Tuesday night evening. More than 2,700 community members have signed a Change.org petition asking Toad’s Place to cancel Nugent's 7:30 p.m. show in the wake of several controversial remarks he has allegedly made about Trayvon Martin. The petition reads: “We, the undersigned, ask that out of respect of the New Haven community, which is experiencing a great deal of grief as a result of the Trayvon Martin verdict, you cancel the Ted Nugent show scheduled for...

As previously stated, Trayvon Martin have felt sufficiently paranoid to lash out violently in the way Zimmerman and witnesses claim. This is important because a street drug that is popular in the young urban community known as Purple Drank or Lean produces those very side effects — agitation and paranoia. Purple Drank or Lean is a cocktail that is created by mixing Robitussin or other over-the-counter cough medicines with — yes — Skittles and Arizona Watermelon Juice, the same flavor of tea Trayvon Martin was carrying that night.

Oprah Compares Trayvon To Emmit Till video at linky

The scene: Two school kids aged 12, one white, one black, beat a Hispanic child in a school classroom. The white child is suspended. The black child is absolved of responsibility. Welcome to Obama's New World of Race Based Discipline and Punishment Quotas Barack Obama's "African American Education Initiative" creates a new Federal bureaucracy. One of its goals will be to stop disciplinary action against black public school students who misbehave. ~~~~~~ On July 26th Obama signed an executive order titled the "African American Education Initiative." The order essentially gives a green light for black students to misbehave in public...

Monday afternoon towards the end of The Five, fill-in host and frequent O’Reilly Factor correspondent Jesse Watters shared his opinions about Oprah Winfrey’s first public comments about the Trayvon Martin case. Watters called Winfrey’s analogy to Emmett Till “atrocious” and said it was a “missed opportunity” for the influential media mogul to move the country forward on the issue of race. After explaining to Fox viewers who exactly Emmett Till was, Watters expressed his dismay at what he saw as an unfair comparison.

Last week, Don West, defense attorney in the George Zimmerman murder trial, asked friend of Trayvon Martin and case witness Rachel Jeantel a strange question. “Are you claiming in any way that you don’t understand English?” he inquired, though she had been answering his questions in fluent English throughout much of the previous day. Jeantel, who was born and raised in Miami, insisted that she did, but West wasn’t convinced. He asked her once more whether perhaps, because her first language was Creole (transmitted to her by her Haitian mother), she had any trouble understanding English. West was not...

According to Essence magazine, the GRAMMY Award winning gospel dou Mary Mary will Join Stevie Wonder in his Florida concert boycott following the acquittal of former neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman. "We will stand with Stevie Wonder & boycott Florida until the Stand Your Ground Law is changed," the pair reportedly told their Twitter followers. The pair explained "We love our fans but we MUST do something. We understand that a No from us isn't as big as a 'No' from Stevie Wonder, but if all our voices join together we can REALLY change things." Before the announcement, Mary Mary singer...

Mark O'Mara, the attorney of acquitted George Zimmerman in the highly-politicized trial for the murder of black Trayvon Martin, said that his fight with the prosecution is not yet over. America's career anti-racists, the Left and the mainstream media had convicted Zimmerman long before the trial, because for them it is axiomatic that a black must necessarily be innocent, so, despite all the evidence in support of the neighbourhood-watch volunteer Zimmerman (who is of mixed white-Hispanic parentage) and his plea of self-defence, in their prejudiced eyes he must have been guilty of murder. But people with a bias don't...

The acquittal of George Zimmerman, like the O.J. Simpson acquittal years ago, calls into question the validity of the jury system. Perhaps it’s time to replace it with panels of legal experts or with a smart computer like Watson, the world champion of chess and Jeopardy. The practice of asking peers, or jurors, to sit in judgment has been around since ancient Greece and Rome. This was to provide a check and balance against tyrants or government-sanctioned officials. It was devised to tap collective wisdom as opposed to allowing one individual to determine the fate of another. Unfortunately, juries fall...

Vigilance, not vigilantism. No weapons, other than pepper spray for self-defense. More reliance on paper and cellphones. For almost everyone on neighborhood watch groups in Williamsport, a question of what message did the George Zimmerman verdict send was followed by a common answer: Those involved do not take the law into their own hands. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla., got out of his car after police instructed him not to. His actions led to an altercation with unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, whom Zimmerman said he shot in self-defense on Feb. 26, 2012. Martin died and in a...

Since the end of the George Zimmerman trial, many of those dismayed by the not guilty verdict have pushed for the Department of Justice to press federal civil-rights charges against Trayvon Martin’s killer. Given the strong possibility that race played a role both in Zimmerman's decision to follow the unarmed teenager and in the jury’s verdict, it seems plausible that federal intervention might be warranted. Indeed, soon after the verdict was read in mid-July, Attorney General Eric Holder launched an inquiry into whether civil-rights charges should be filed against Zimmerman. But unless the investigation uncovers evidence that was not publicly...

<p>A wrongful death suit filed by the parents of black teenager Trayvon Martin who was shot to death by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman has been settled, according to documents filed in a Florida court yesterday.</p> <p>Trayvon Martin's parents have settled a wrongful-death claim for an amount thought to be more than $1 million against the homeowners association of the Sanford subdivision where their teenage son was killed.</p>

A school bus driver can be heard on surveillance footage pleading for help from a dispatcher as he witnessed a 13-year-old viciously attacked by three older teens. "You've got to get somebody here –quick, quick, quick," John Moody said. "They are about to beat this boy to death." The victim came away from the July 9 beating with two black eyes and a fractured hand, according to WFLA. Authorities charged the three suspects, all 15-year-old boys, with aggravated battery and one of them with unarmed robbery.

As we continue to struggle with the verdict in this murder case – as the only juror of color states that George Zimmerman “got away with murder” and as the nation lurches through yet another tragic episode that forces us to deal with our racial legacy – new ways of viewing race are surfacing. Commentators suggest that the Department of Justice will have a difficult time prosecuting George Zimmerman because it will be nearly impossible to show that the shooting was motivated by racial animus in an intentional manner. As I listen to these discouraging words, I think of psychological...

Los Angeles - Following a unanimous L. A. City Council resolution calling for a civil rights investigation into George Zimmerman’s shooting of Trayvon Martin, Angelinos again rallied, demanding Zimmerman be jailed for what many Angelinos see as a cold-blooded murder On July 31, 2013, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously (13-0) adopted a resolution calling on federal prosecutors to investigate possible civil rights violations in Trayvon Martin’s death. But according to Pastor Jonathon Moseley, the resolution didn't go far enough. The crowd at the August 3rd Pershing Square rally strongly agreed with the Pastor. The event was attended by people...

I am an 84-year-old angry Black man. I am Mississippi born, Mississippi bred and Mississippi fled. I am the son of former slaves. My parents and I rode in the back of the bus. We rode in the front of the trains. We drank from water fountains designated for coloreds only. We picked cotton in fields owned by White people. My parents attended separate but equal schools in Mississippi. I attended separate but equal schools in Mississippi and in Oakland, California. My wife was educated in Oakland public schools and at the University of California at Berkeley. She could not...

I just read that George Zimmerman, who was recently acquitted of both second-degree murder and manslaughter for killing Trayvon Martin, was stopped in Texas for speeding. He revealed that he was carrying a handgun in his glove compartment. The fact that he was driving with a gun was not surprising. The suspicion that he felt about a 17-year-old boy in a hoodie will probably pale in comparison to the uncertainty that he now feels about who might be in the next car, or who might be following him on dark streets at night. Perhaps this feeling will be the punishment...

Police in New York City are trying to find a black man wearing a hoodie who is responsible for a horrific attack on a teenage white girl who was stabbed 11 times just steps from her front door. The knife-wielding maniac ambushed Natasha Martinez, 17, as she returned home from working her shift at a local McDonald’s restaurant. Hearing her daughter’s screams, Natasha’s mother, Wendy Martinez, came running outside — and the bloodthirsty attacker fled. “She came home from work, and her body was full of holes,” Wendy Martinez told the New York Daily News. “I was holding her because...

The death of Trayvon Martin is a tragedy - an unnecessary tragedy. That the trial brought forward the reality that his death was caused by his own violent actions does not make it any less tragic - and unnecessary. To make matters infinitely worse, his death has escalated the polarization of our nation along racial and ideological lines. Some are using what they perceive as injustice to excuse their own commitment to injustice and general lawlessness - including high ranking officials in the federal government. Yet Christians and others committed to peace and a healthy culture have an opportunity to...

THOSE CRAZY birthers who insist that Barack Obama is from a foreign country are not completely lunatic. The America of Obama's youth is not the mainland United States (US). And it's not mainstream. Hawaii, Obama's state of birth, was not admitted into the union until 1959. That's almost two centuries after the American declaration of independence from Britain, and only two years before Obama was born. The most absurd 'fact' I've heard about Hawaii is that it has the highest racial minority population of any state in the union - 75 per cent, according to US census figures. How can...

To quote Nancy Pelosi, we can now see what's in the Zimmerman-Martin case "without the fog of the controversy". I think the biggest lesson to be learned was from Rachel Jeantel, a friend of Trayvon Martin that testified at the trial. Rachel Jeantel has just had her 15 minutes. Predictable packaged responses full of defensive fury were covered very well by Thomas Lifson's AT article. The left has exhausted her value by attacking and chiding all white people about the racist thoughts they have decided we are feeling. They skipped the fact-gathering and evidence stage and went right for the...

Amerson’s son, Marvin said, “He just wanted the best for us all, but just went the wrong way.”A bank robbery in East Memphis last week ended in the suspect killing himself, but not before taking off with a bag of money and terrorizing employees and customers in the bank. On July 23, just before 10:00 a.m. the suspect walked into the Wells Fargo armed with a gun. “He just forced me to the ground and he said, ‘Blame this on George Zimmerman,’” one of the victims told the 911 dispatcher. “I thought he was going to shoot all of us,”...

I keep running into these posters here in Pittsburgh. The design was created by Queer & Brown in Steeltown. For those that asked, the posters and t-shirts are not for sale. We reject the white supremacist capitalist system that entices us to profit from a black person’s tragic death. We have made a hi-res copy of the image available for non-commercial use. That means you should never see this image for sale. Get the image and read our full response here. Team Q&B**"

A photo of the author On the day of college graduation, I told my friends and family the news: I was leaving the country I had lived in since childhood. “I just need a change,” I told them, but they knew there was more. Was it some romance gone awry, they wondered? Some impulsive response to a broken heart? And I was running from heartbreak. My relationship with the United States of America is the most tumultuous relationship I have ever had, and it ended with the heart-rending realization that a country I loved and believed in did not love...

Do you agree with the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial? Yes No I'm undecided

The death of Trayvon Martin was an avoidable tragedy, and some of the things that happened following the incident are also avoidable if we heed to the lessons learned by two of Sanford’s top cops.Born and raised in Sanford (Fla.), former Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee was in his position 11 months when the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman occurred. Leveraging his three decades of law enforcement experience, Chief Lee was at the helm of a department with budget woes. Two months before the Zimmerman/Martin incident occurred, Lee had hired another law enforcement veteran with 30...

The recent acquittal in the George Zimmerman case reignited a national discussion about race relations in America. There were many on one end of the spectrum, who stated the Zimmerman case typifies the lack of racial equity and justice in America for Black-americans, from the initial profiling of Trayvon Martin, the trying of his character during the legal procedure to the not-guilty verdict for Zimmerman. Others countered that Zimmerman was within his legal right to defend himself and that the case has nothing to do with race. Some even went to the extreme of saying Martin was a thug who...