Zimmerman -Not Guilty – Trayvon Dead - How It Feels

"Never let a good crisis go to waste." -Rahm Emmanuel

Good job, DT!

If the young black man had killed the older white man, and the young black man was set free by the courts, would it even had made the back page of the news?

Why is it blacks always make it a racial issue? When people like O J are set free by the courts, I don’t recall riots by blacks? When an old Chinese man was shot to death by two blacks in Oakland because he only had seven dollars to give his robbers, I saw no protest. I’m beginning to think blacks are violent people by nature. If blacks can’t respect the court system, what do they respect?

Your comment seems to approve of those who break the law by rioting. Perhaps other races should riot when blacks are set free by the courts.

I don’t know if Zimmermen is guilty of murder. He may be, I don’t know. You seem to think you do? If you have such great insight, perhaps you can tell the world who killed JFK?

Your comment sounds prejudice to me.

Eh, I just see this book as capitalizing on a hot topic, and admire DT for getting it out so fast.

What LC said.

I put this out to let folks know how the verdict and situation felt to me. As far as capitalizing on an issue, the lowest amount something can be placed on Amazon and published is $.99 and that is the platform I use to get my point of view out to the public. CNN, Fox, HLN et all did not provide free advertising during their wall to wall coverage of the trial, unless I'm mistaken. As far as blacks making something a race issue, this is about more than that, it about peace of mind. A juror came on television and said she felt that Zimmerman feared for his safety, really the man that knew he had a gun before he started following a teenager, feared for his safety? What about a 17 year old kid wondering why this strange grown man was following him for no apparent reason, except those conjured up in Zimmerman's head, wasn't he fearing for his safety. It seemed that there was a lack of genuine identification with Trayvon Martin as a real person, a kid that went to a store to get snacks and was shot dead before he made it back home.

The reactions here are exactly why I wrote the book. Different life experiences create  different emotional reactions, you can't feel what I feel because of that reality. I knew there would be reactions and I welcome it.

Quote :

I put this out to let folks know how the verdict and situation felt to me.

If that's truly all you wanted to do, you could have put it in a blog post. Putting it in a for-sale book, .99c or not, gets your feelings out AND capitalizes on the situation. Which is perfectly fine, IMO. Successful people recognize opportunities and capitalize on them.

I already wrote a blog about this long ago, in fact it is included as the end piece of the book. What I had to say was too long for a blog. There seems to be a tolerance for opinions of a certain nature and not for others. Critics line up very deeply and all I saw was a man with a gun being turned into a victim and a dead 17-year old kid that was minding his own business being turned into a bone crushing monster. It even seemed like he planned the pouring of the sidewalk in order to use it as a weapon one day, come on.

I am scared for everyone.  If young people or old people  can be gunned down with impunity, it is scary.
    
America needs to wake up.  I have no answers, but feel for the black community.

Good for you, DT, Keep on expressing your feelings.

I think that there should be a disclaimer at the beginning of every news broadcast. 

"The foillowing program is the biased opinion of this news organization and in no way should be construed as truth.  Proceed with caution."

Love,
Betty

DT, I got it. 
I am looking forward to reading and reviewing it.

Good idea, Betty.  Disclaimers would be an honest way to distort the truth.

7/17/2013

                                  We are one !
   
                                  Cheers..Joe.... 

This is not a black or white issue.  It is bigger than that.  It is an issue about what kind of a country we want.  Do we want a country armed with wantabe cops protecting us whether we desire it and making errors in judgment?  Do we want a country that divides races into those more deserving and those less deserving of justice?  Or do we want a country that educates all of its citizens, all of them, to be compassionate and caring toward each other as spiritual members of the human race.

I fear for my friends' grandchildren because I live in Florida.  They are wonderful young men with dark skin who might walk at night in a white neighborhood.  I have a new neighbor across the street from me.  She always wears a pulled down hat when she walks her dog at dusk.  I stopped to talk with her.  She said she worried about buying a house on this street, and how people who talked to her at night with her dog don't talk to her once they realize in the light of day she is a woman of color. 

Is this the dark ages?  Don't we get it yet?  This country has many people who ascribe to bigotry and racial hatred in the guise of immigration law, job losses, and spending taxpayer money.  Well, white folks better sit up and take notice.  Miami speaks Spanish and so does much of California, Texas and a few other states.  People of color are finally reaching education goals and moving into neighborhoods that meet their economic standards not the color line.  Around the corner, I will be the minority.  Fortunately, I've already lived in countries where I was the minority and you get over it eventually. 

I started out by saying race isn't the issue.  Of course it is to many fearful people for whom change of any kind is difficult and there must always be someone lower class than they are.  When I lived and worked in Miami as the only white girl in the office of nearly 100 employees, I was the poor country bumpkin at the political events sponsored and attended by Miami's black leaders.  They were well-educated, well-traveled, well-connected and smart.  My boss was tall and thin and dashing in his Armani suits and I was proud that he hired a white girl as his top manager.  It was brave for both of us - and the right thing.  When I left the organization, people cried. We had a multi-ethnic staff that worked together feverishly to make lives of the impoverished better in Miami.  The common cause brought us together - beyond our differences.

We need a common cause in this nation to rise above all the separation and hatreds that smoulder under the surface of smiles and excuses and allow a young boy to be murdered by a misguided man, the total circumstances of the event unknown even to the jurors.  Yet on this very forum people read thoughts into the minds of both people and created scenarios from their own bitterness and bias.

  

DK, I live your post. This is not academic or theory to me. A young person I know is concerned about what happened to Trayvon Martin and how that trial turned out. It sent a signal to that person that the cloak of the law does not seem to be for certain people. This person also is wise enough to know how that scenario could play out again on a personal note. Talks of changing where he/she goes has taken place. It's really sad to think of the loss of peace of mind that something like this causes because now we have a proven way someone could be killed and the killer walks free even if he/she may had instigated the encounter because the only thing that mattered in this case were the words self defense after the fight started. Only one person in the fight knew he had the ultimate equalizer.

License has been given to those feeling self empowered that their view of who is good or bad should and can be acted upon.

So DK and DT are concerned about where they walk as a result of this. I have some questions.

Do you feel safer walking through a Miami ghetto, anywhere in Detroit, through Houston's Fifth Ward, on Chicago's South Side? Are those safe for black or white people? Are they safer for blacks? What about those white British guys who were shot and killed just walking through a black Miami neighborhood a couple of years ago? Was that ok?

So you  think it's unfair that Trayvon didn't know George had the "ultimate equalizer" or that George had that equalizer. Are you aware of the Knockout King and Polar Bear Hunting racial attacks of blacks on whites and Asians, where they have killed whites and Asians whom they (rightly) perceived to not having an "ultimate equalizer?" Are those OK? Since they get almost no press, I presume many people DO think it's ok.  Should whites and Asians avoid where they go, or avoid young blacks, so they're not victims of black mob attacks? Google black mob attacks, knockout king and polar bear hunting, then come back and tell me what you think.

Do you think George had no right to question Trayvon despite the neighborhood being burglarized by 8 black men in the 15 months prior, him not recognizing Trayvon as a resident, and seeing Trayvon looking in windows? Do you think a proper response to George's approach was a sucker punch and attack?

Can you understand why so many "conservatives" think "liberals" are all fucked up and hypocritical?

DT, why are you calling the altercation a "fight?" What was the "fight?" It appears Zimmerman was sucker-punched by Trayvon who circled back to assault him. It wasn't a "fight."  Al Sharpton himself said he didn't get involved in this case on its "merits," he did it for his usual attention-whoring.

Do you think the publicity in this case is because white- (even if it's really hispanic) on- black crime is so vanishingly rare that when it happens, it's worldwide news and 60-year old Emmit Till photos have to be brought up because there's nothing more recent? That maybe blacks are upset because walking through a white neighborhood may not be as safe as it was for them, in fact, it may start becoming as unsafe as walking through black neighborhoods?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/54-people-shot-in-chicago_n_3606394.html

My 5 star review:

This is a respectful, thought provoking analysis of how a middle-aged person of color, DT Pollard, views the George Zimmerman incident.
He points out the lack of empathy for Trayvon Martin which is truly appalling.
I am thankful that DT can take such a measured approach to this crime.

He far exceeds my tolerance for this unfortunate, unnecessary situation.
Excellent viewpoints.

Hey, look what's on AOL's home page today. A black guy is suspected of killing two white store clerks. Isn't it great that the clerks didn't have "ultimate equalizers?" The DOJ would run out of taxpayer money organizing marches!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/18/brenna-kathleen-machus-body-found-family-dollar-store-dearborn_n_3617073.html?1374159738&icid=maing-grid7|maing5|dl3|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D345605

LC you are the issue by constantly bringing up other examples to bolster some other balancing narrative. This is not about sport, keeping score or inane political points. A man tracked with a gun tracked down a kid. If he had been tracking down an adult, It might not have mattered if Zimmerman had a gun. if some guy is following me at night while I'm just walking home and I decide I need to try and take him out because I'm too far from home, all bets are off. Call it what you want, any person has the right to retaliate against a potential murderer, robber, molester tracking them down for no reason. It's amazing how the Zimmerman point of view of someone looking like their up to something or looking like a thug is somehow valid when he's the man following an innocent individual, what did he look like, a creepy ......!

btw - put this in your pipe and smoke it!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/17/john-henry-spooner-video-darius-simmons_n_3612378.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices&ir=Black%20Voices

LC,

Would you be as exultant over the Z verdict, if the victim had been your relative?

DT -ok, so you ARE saying it's ok to assault someone if they question you! Well, that's really what I wanted to know, because that perception is where so many people are at odds. And I see you've dismissed all my questions by telling me this isn't about keeping score. Whatever.

Alice -I'm not "exultant," and I don't know what your point is. If my kids were walking late at night around a neighborhood already on edge from multiple burglaries and looking in windows, I would not be happy if they were accosted, but I would understand it. I know you don't get that.

I find your question as irrelevant as DK's telling me in another thread that her neighborhood has pot smokers and domestic violence, so that ...well, I don't know what that means.