"Why Did Jury NEVER see Trayvon Martin as a CHILD?"

[Cha]

by zizi @ the obama diary~

Snip***

"In his impromptu remarks this afternoon in the White House Press Room, President Obama asked a most salient question: “If Trayvon Martin had been of age and armed would he have been justified in standing his ground on that sidewalk?” Of course that hypothetical question is premised on Trayvon having the right to carry a weapon as an adult. But Sybrina Fulton yesterday put her finger on the more immediate concern. To her the jury did not consider Trayvon as their own Child. In other words, Empathy Deficit. But there is a reason for that. American culture has NEVER had a place for children of color in its construction of childhood."

Snip***

Six days since the phrase “Not Guilty” was curtly announced at the George Zimmerman trial about the killing of Trayvon Martin, a lot has been written from various perspectives endorsing, questioning, or parsing the verdict. A wave of activism has also sprung up in its wake demanding revisions to Stand Your Ground laws in states like Florida, while campaigns such as the NAACP’s #HesNotaSuspect seek to validate the human worth of black male children.

However at the crux of the court case, a key element never came up: What were Trayvon’s RIGHTS as a CHILD in the encounter with George Zimmerman that fateful night? What provisions do Stand Your Ground laws have to protect children in any encounter with an adult? What is a child supposed to do when confronted by an armed assailant/stalker/intruder/stranger?

The Rest~
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/19/why-did-jury-never-see-trayvon-martin-as-a-child/#more-127185

http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/19/trayvon-martin-could-have-been-me-35-years-ago-pres-obama/

BOG

[font color=blue] THIS IS POSTED IN THE BARACK OBAMA GROUP! [/font]

[babylonsister]

1. Good question. FL laws? nt

[Cha]

3. Excellent question, babylonsistah.. from the author..

He could not simply be a child, warts and all in the minds of those blaming him for his dreadful fate.

And Pres Obama could immediately see himself in Trayvon’s shoes. But as long as we were all children once, regardless of race, ethnicity, cultural, or economic background, we all should be able to walk in Trayvon’s shoes

To the Long Long Hard Road of Changing this..

[COLGATE4]

2. That's a faulty premise. Trayvon was 17. 17 year

olds are routinely tried as adults and if convicted serve adult sentences in adult penal institutions. The conflict was between two men, not a man and a child.

[Cha]

4. Not it's not a faulty premise..

This is obviously posted in the Barack Obama Group and I think it would be better for you to take your accusation of Trayvon Martin not being a child, elsewhere.

We're here to deal in the reality of this tragic murder. not some asshole legal argument of Trayvon Martin being an adult.

[COLGATE4]

5. I'm not making an 'accusation' - merely a statement

of fact. If the law recognizes a 17 year old as an adult for the purposes of sentencing him/her to a term of life without parole (or even capital punishment) then, for the purposes of this case a 17 year old is also an adult. Playing the "child" card is simply a crude attempt to shift the discussion to emotional grounds rather than factual.

[Cha]

6. Like I said.. Trayvon was a child when he was shot and killed

by an adult who was stalking him.

Nobody's "playing the child card".. it is what is. Trayvon Martin was killed as child trying to make it home in the rain. It is a very emotional thing for those who ask why we do not consider him as someone's child who went out for a snack and did not make it home.

[Warpy]

8. He'd only turned 17 3 weeks earlier

There's a massive difference in that and being 3 weeks shy of one's 18th birthday.

While I think it is inappropriate to call him a child, it was even less appropriate to call him a man and blame him for his own death.

The blame belongs 100% to the grandstanding oaf who stalked him with a loaded gun at the ready.

[hrmjustin]

9. BULL! Trayvon was still a kid!

Do you have any sympathy for him at all?

[yardwork]

11. Bullshit.

Seventeen year olds are minors. They are not adults in the eyes if the law.

Your bringing up penal institutions is a good example of the point of the OP. Trayvon Martin was not a suspect. He committed no crime the night he was murdered.

White supremacists recast this as "a conflict between two men" because they perceive all black males as criminals who deserve to be killed.

[JI7]

12. Trayvon had no Legal Right to own a Gun as Zimmerman did, so how the fuck is it a fight between two

men when they are not equal in so many ways.

the fucking thug zimmerman armed himself and went after someone who he knew could be underage.

[Mass]

13. A 17 year old is a child at so many levels. His brain has not finished maturing.

his problem solving abilities have not matured. In this exchange, Zimmerman was the adult. This is why, for example,the Supreme Court decided it was unconstitutional to execute children that are less than 18.

Also, the law authorizes 12 years old to be judged as adults if the crime is severe enough. Would you deny they are children?

I do not know if it would have been legal to show Trayvon as a child. I do not know if it would have made a difference. But the law that authorizes a child to be tried as an adult is simply wrong.

[sheshe2]

7. Thank you, Cha.

I saw the speech earlier today. It was incredibly moving.

However zizi's writing, just knocked the breath out of me.

Our history is so incredibly sad. That some still hold these beliefs is sadder still. Our children should be the window to our future. Not the shame of our past.

We Wear the Mask

We wear the mask that grins and lies
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,
This debt we pay to human guile
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries.
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

Paul Lawrence Dunbar
http://howarddrive.dadeschools.net/Ballent%20Links/Oratorical%20Poems.pdf

[Cha]

10. We all need to shed the indifference of

of masks, she.

Mahalo, for the poem from Paul Lawrence Dunbar~

zizi's history of race woven in with PBO's impromtu speech was epic, she..

The racism in America makes me sick. It's like racists never wanted to acknowledge Black People as their equal because then they would have to acknowledge that these are the People they enslaved.

BOG