| By Ralph SeeramHe was thirsty and wanted some ice tea,Cheap NHL Adidas Jerseys, his young relative wanted some Skittles, and so he stepped out to buy them at the corner convenience store outside the gates of his subdivision. Less than thirty minutes later he was lying dead on the sidewalk,NFL Jerseys Discount, shot and killed by a wannabe cop and self-appointed neighbor watchman.Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin’s only crime was being a black male walking in a predominantly white neighborhood; his only weapon, a pack of skittles candy. His killer, a known character to the Sanford Police,Alexis Sanchez Arsenal Jersey UK, still walks free with his 9mm handgun, because their investigations revealed that Trayvon Martin’s killer, 28-year-old George Zimmerman was acting in self defense.The murder of this innocent black youth has created a fire storm of protest that has now reignited national attention on the age old question of racism in the U.S.A.The death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was hushed up for a little over two weeks by the Sanford Police Department; they “stonewalled” the family and the media when asked to release the 911 tapes of George Zimmerman’s call to the police in the final moments of Trayvon’s life. They stubbornly refused to release the public tapes which supported the fact that Trayvon Martin was murdered by a man obsessed by blacks in his neighborhood.Zimmerman claimed it was self defense under Florida’s “stand your law” which basically states that you have the right to defend yourself if you feel your life was threatened; you do not have to retreat. Sanford Police was prepared to give George Zimmerman a “pass”, they accepted his story without question, no deep investigation whatever, even though their own 911 tapes said otherwise.Sanford is a small town outside Orlando, Florida. Its down area is largely populated by low income Afro Americans,cheap jerseys cc, its police predominantly white. This police department has always been accused of racism by minorities, but nobody paid any real attention to black residents’ complaints. Only a few months ago this police department gained national attention for its policies against minorities.The national media is now all over the Trayvon Martin killing, but few mentioned an incident that occurred late last year. A white male coming out of a night club “sucker punched” a homeless black man for no reason. The Sanford Police was informed but no action was taken until the video went viral on the internet.Turns out,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, the young white male was the son of a Police Lieutenant in the Sanford Police Department. After the video surfaced media and civil rights activists brought the issue to the forefront, the policeman’s son was charged and convicted for the assault in addition he had to compensate the injured man for his injuries.If someone did not capture the incident on the cell phone, it would have been another racial incident “swept under the rug” by the Sanford Police Department.Coming back to what I would describe as the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, the following undeniable facts surfaced to contradict the lies – the police department’s version of the incident. George Zimmerman was a self appointed neighborhood watchman. He frequently called the 911 to report suspicious persons in his neighbor hood. He always prequalified his calls by identifying himself as from his Neighborhood Watch, he always says that there is a rash of burglaries in his neighborhood and on the majority of occasions the suspicious persons are always black.Apparently a black person should not walk in his neighborhood. There is no record of anyone being arrested because of his calls and we are talking of dozens of call.On the night in question these are the undeniable facts. George Zimmerman called 911 to report a “suspicious” black male.” These a**holes always get away” he told the dispatcherDispatcher: “Are you following him?”Zimmerman: “Yeah”Dispatcher: “We don’t need you to do that”.Here Zimmerman was told by the police not to engage the young man, but gun in hand he did follow, as confirmed in another phone call by a teenaged girl who was on the phone with Trayvon and heard his last words in the final moments of his life.According to the young lady “he (Trayvon) said a man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man,” she said. She told him to run but he said he walked fast; he was not going to run. He thought he lost the man but the man was back cornering him. Still on the phone with Trayvon the girl overheard Trayvon say, “What are you following me for” and the man said “What are you doing here”?“Next thing I heard somebody pushing, somebody pushed Trayvon because the headset fell, I called him again but he did not answer the phone”Phone logs confirmed that both Martin and the young lady were on the phone the same time as she said; the 911 tapes heard a scream for help then a gun shot.From the moment Zimmerman was told by law enforcement not to engage the young man, he lost any claim from immunity under Florida’s “stand your ground law”, because he still pursued the teenager making him the aggressor. Any altercation after that cannot be self defense because he still engaged the young man.Zimmerman, it was revealed, was not part of any registered Neighborhood Watch Group. Neighborhood watch manual clearly states that they do not have police powers and they should NOT CARRY A GUN. After public pressure, the police “passed the buck” to the State Prosecutor Norman Wolfinger (a man accused of selective prosecution when it comes to minorities). Instead of charging Zimmerman he took the cowardly way and summoned a grand jury (something like an inquest in Guyana).Today the outrage and publicity of this senseless racially motivated killing has resulted in the following. The Sanford Council passed a no confidence vote against the Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee who has been forced to step down; the case was removed from Prosecutor Norman Wolfinger.The Governor of Florida Rick Scott has appointed a special prosecutor Angela Corey who has been described as a “no nonsense State prosecutor’ to investigate the case. The United States Department of Justice is investigating to see if the civil rights of Trayvon were violated, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (F B I) is investigating, The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating, The Governor, Rick Scott,NFL Cheap Jerseys China, has set up a special committee to conduct hearing on the case with a view to ascertain if changes have to be made in the law.NAACP now has a team of investigators taking complaints from residents and their personal experience with the Sanford Police.I can personally relate to Trayvon Martin’s death; the only difference is I am alive to tell it. Some years ago in the 90’s my son and I were doing some installations on a contract basis for a large company. We were stopped by two white males who asked us what we were doing in the neighborhood, I explained to him that we were doing some work and even showed him our work order with the address.They attempted to detain us, telling us we have to wait until the police arrived. I told them in very “colorful Guyanese language” that if he only touched me somebody will be gong to the hospital or mortuary and it won’t be me.We went along our business and were later stopped by a policeman who after our explanation profusely apologised and told us that we should not pay attention to the people in that neighborhood; he obviously realised it was a racially motivated call. True story.Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: [email protected] |
