Free Republic

Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday that the federal civil rights investigation into the 2012 killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin remains active, noting “recent developments” in the case. The Justice Department is weighing charges against George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman who shot and killed Martin in an incident that captured national interest. Zimmerman was acquitted of murder charges more than a year ago, but the Justice Department is still running down leads as part of its civil rights probe, Holder said. “That matter is ongoing,” said Holder, who was asked about the case during a news conference announcing the...

Activists say Holder dropped the ball on investigation of Sanford shooting. The NAACP delivered 1.7 million signatures to the U. S. Department of Justice a year ago, requesting a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford. Despite the outrage and demands for justice after Zimmerman was acquitted of manslaughter, Attorney General Eric Holder has yet to announce a clear answer on his findings in the shooting of the unarmed 17-year-old who quickly became a household name across America. Ben Jealous, the NAACP President who collected and electronically delivered the signatures says...

Rapper and Pastor Ma$e. Mason Betha, the founder of El Elyon International Church and Mason Betha Ministries, recently released a song about his frustrations with racial affairs in the United States titled "Politically Incorrect." Betha, 39, has reportedly stopped pastoring his church to focus on the release of his music. While his previous song releases seemed fit for partying, his latest effort seems to be inspired by the Ferguson, Missouri black teenager Mike Brown who was killed by a police officer last month. Betha, known in the hip-hop world as Ma$e, has raised some eyebrows in and out of the...

KINGSTON, Jamaica — US attorney Jasmine Rand said that Trayvon Martin’s accused killer George Zimmerman was acquitted because the victim was black. Speaking at press conference in Kingston on Monday, Rand, who represented the interests of Martin’s relatives in the case, said Zimmerman was set free because of where the incident happened. “Trayvon Martin was shot because he was black. Zimmerman got away because he (Martin) was black. I think the case was lost because the jury selection was not done properly and the area where the trial took place,” Rand said. The law professor is in Jamaica to...

Speech at work complaining about alleged anti-white bias in the context of the Trayvon Martin matter = ‘hostile work environment’ harassmentHere’s an excerpt from an administrative decision I just read, DeMay v. Richmond County Dep’t of Social Servs., 2014 WL 4206296 (N.C. Office of Admin. Hearings); it was filed July 2, 2014, but just posted on Westlaw on Wednesday. The petitioner was demoted because of a statement she made at a meeting, and the administrative decision upheld the demotion: SNIP 6. At a momentary pause between topics discussed at the meeting, Petitioner announced that she had a FaceBook post that...

Our belief that the government wants to help us achieve fairness is lower than ever—leading to fantasies of lawless revenge. The events in Ferguson and elsewhere across the U.S. have launched a heated national dialogue that questions our faith in the benevolence of government institutions — especially police, judiciary, and politicians. Dead black bodies always makes us wonder whether they really have the best interests of the American people at heart, or just the best interests of some American people. Sometimes in the dense fog of passion and tear gas it is hard to see what values a country as...

“Support Daren Wilson.” These three words emblazoned at the top of the GoFundMe website in support of the Ferguson, Mo, cop who gunned down Michael Brown said it all. In the span of less than 48 hours, nearly 5,000 donations were received and the site got tens of thousands of Facebook looks and tweets. The fund’s beleaguered sponsors pleaded for patience while they tried to respond to the flood of emails that poured in supporting Wilson. The organizers announced triumphantly that they’d raised three times more than their goal. This was no surprise. The instant Wilson was fingered as the...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)In Washington 21/2 years ago, the nation's top civil-rights enforcer, Thomas Perez at the U.S. Department of Justice, sat down with Sanford's mayor, city manager and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and promised to investigate whether Trayvon Martin was the victim of something more heinous than a homicide. Was he also the victim of a killer intent on harming him because he was black? That was March 20, 2012. The Department of Justice still has no answer to that question. Civil-rights investigators are due back in Central Florida this week to continue their work on the case. The agency has repeatedly...

It was in a college theater class that I learned about a genre called “Theater of the Absurd.” These were plays written mostly by European playwrights between the 1940s and 1960s, as well as a certain style that flowed from their work. What reminded me of this is now “playing” in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was – select one – a) innocently walking down the street when a police officer shot him to death without provocation, or, b) walking with a friend in the street and told by a police officer to get...

I watched the images of police in riot gear and protesters looting stores or running from tear gas in Ferguson, Mo., this week and thought: That could have been us. What happened to Trayvon Martin isn't anything for Florida to be proud of. Neither is the state's "stand your ground" law that received so much attention in the wake of Trayvon's shooting death. But Central Florida, specifically Sanford, can take a little satisfaction in knowing that during the tense days after Trayvon was shot, this was a place where protesters peacefully demonstrated and police didn't stand in their way. People...

ENCINITAS, California — Ferguson, Missouri, and the inexplicable shooting of teenager Michael Brown, represents not only the latest episode of America’s urban war against black men—it will be far from the last. Still unresolved is another horrifying racial incident in Miami Beach, Florida. Police there have still failed, ignominiously, to clear the air about the street slaying of motorist Raymond Herisse. Herisee, 22, was killed on a South Beach street in his vehicle in a barrage of firepower that entailed more than 100 rounds of ammunition. Herisse was taken out, reports the Miami Herald, “in a frightening war-like moment that...

"Trayvon," of course, is Trayvon Martin, the black 17-year-old who was killed two months ago in Florida. "Zimmerman" is George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who shot him. Referring to Martin by his first name and Zimmerman by his last is just one small tactic in the national media campaign to make Martin's death an enduring symbol of white racism. The Trayvon campaign is accurately described as "disinformation" because deception is a fundamental part of its planning, strategy, and implementation. Leftist disinformation campaigns are common but not widely understood. This article is intended to make them easier to recognize, and...

<p>The doctor who conducted the autopsy on Trayvon Martin, and who later raised eyebrows with his uneven testimony during the trial of George Zimmerman, has released a 37-page e-book in which he argues prosecutors “hoped to lose the case.”</p> <p>Despite that claim, “Dead Men Can’t Lie,” e-book by Dr. Shiping Bao, offers no proof.</p>

Consider the very first interactions: A cop and young black male interact on the street, and both give the other a bit of attitude. The officer gives some attitude because he's tired of getting attitude from other young men, and the young man gives some attitude because he's tired of getting attitude from other cops. Now, who's at fault? This, as simple as it sounds, is how it starts. Once the infection begins, it grows quickly. If you want to say the cop's at fault because he's the adult with training, you are right. And if you want to say...

Last year, George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. But before that decision was handed down the public got the chance to hear from the young woman who was the last person to speak with Trayvon before he died, his friend Rachel Jeantel. As she testified during the case, Rachel became a public figure as the media and audiences bullied her with harsh criticisms and unfair labels. As a result of the humiliating ordeal, Rachel received an overwhelming amount of support to better her own needs and accomplish her dreams as a young woman. Now, just one year...

From voter ID laws to broken immigration detention centers, the U.S. is not the model democracy it fancies itself. Watching Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinians in Gaza over our TV screens makes it easy to forget about the human rights abuses taking place right here on American soil. Sybrina Fulton and Ron Davis, whose sons were killed in what many believe were racially motivated attacks, are using their children’s deaths to remind Americans that human rights are being violated right here in the United States. More than a year after George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, Fulton felt the humiliating pendulum...

A new Trayvon Martin cartoon is causing controversy because it portray efforts to impeach President Obama as being similar to the actions of George Zimmerman. As might be expected, Republicans and conservatives were upset, but should even some Democrats and progressives be calling foul? In a related report by The Inquisitr, the civil rights movement led by the NAACP believes that so-called Trayvon Martin gun control laws should be implemented and the Stand Your Ground laws repealed even though Zimmerman’s defense team only used standard self defense. Zimmerman’s lawsuit against NBC is attempting an appeal, with his lawyers claiming...

The word stunned might best describe how U.S. citizens, particularly blacks, felt after hearing that a six-member jury, following two days of deliberation in a Florida courthouse last July, found George Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. One year later, with increased cases in which defendants have used the “stand your ground” law to avoid prosecution, civil rights leaders and activists have ramped up efforts to challenge a criminal justice system that often treats blacks and women as second-class citizens. “Blacks seeking justice must continue with protests, pressure and patience,” said Benjamin Crump, the civil...

Police: Acquitted killer was there 'as a friend'George Zimmerman, the man who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford in February 2012, was in DeLand over the weekend, providing security for Pompano Pat's on South Woodland Boulevard, the DeLand Police Department said. And reports of his presence prompted threats of violence against the business and its owner, a store employee said. Pompano Pat's, which sells guns and motorcycles, is owned by DeLand mayoral candidate Pat Johnson. Johnson is challenging incumbent Mayor Bob Apgar in the Aug. 26 election. Three hours after the story broke online, Pompano Pat's issued a press release...

Although he's not a hired security officer, George Zimmerman has been "patrolling" outside a Volusia County gun shop after it was recently robbed, according to the store owner. Pat Johnson told Local 6 that Zimmerman is not an employee of his DeLand store Pompano Pat's, which sells firearms, ammunition and motorcycles. Johnson said that Zimmerman, on his own accord, has been spotted outside the store since the robbery earlier this month. The thieves stole rifles worth up to $5,000 and two mini-bikes, according to Johnson. Johnson added that although he knows Zimmerman, he has not hired him as a security...