Surely you've heard about the shooting in Sanford, FL not too far from my very city of residence. You don't need me to recount details that have been endlessly retyped and posted everywhere. I don't get paid for that anyway.
No, I won't do that. What I will do is let you know how I feel about this whole mess. My opinion matters so I'm going to share.
Lets start with the basics. I have so many problems with this whole situation. I'll save best (worst) for last. That picture above goes first. What is the deal with that? I never liked the idea of a picture of Trayvon from 4-5 years ago being used to represent him. I felt like we were being set up for some foolishness. When I first saw that photo I thought, "how unfortunate that that young 17 year old boy, who looks about 11, was killed." And it was/is sad. The problem I have is that when recent photos of the ACTUAL 17 year old that was killed come out, people are going to feel hoodwinked, bamboozled, and tricked (not rightfully so).
Then, suddenly, all kinds of pictures of Trayvon pop up, and some people start to feel a bit different about the situation. I'm going to blame the 24 hour news cycle mostly for this mess. Instead of gathering all the facts and then reporting, we get bits and pieces here and there. It took a week just to get a recent picture of him! Now people see him and see a whole different person. Now he looks like a threat to Zimmerman. Now they have some doubts about the shooting. I wouldn't say ALL the media is trying to create bias (some are), but pictures without context do just that. The photo of Zimmerman in an orange jumpsuit next to a happy looking 12 year old creates one type of bias. A picture of a 17 year old black kid with a grill also creates a bias. I wish these pictures had background attached to help eliminate some of the bias associated with them. That annoys me.
Another thing I don't care for is the vilification of these two people. The initial story, along with 911 calls I've heard, make Zimmerman sound pretty bad. That along with a prior arrest record do him no favors. If that record has no connection to the current case, I don't want to hear about it. I want the facts as it pertains to this situation. If, by chance, his record did show this type of thing was possible, then please share. If he was an evil racist psycho, I want to know. If he got arrested for a DUI 5 years ago, I really don't care.
Now the spin is going the other way. So Trayvon had been suspended from school? He wasn't a perfect angel? He got in trouble for truancy? Hell, I got in trouble for that. Sounds like he was a teenager doing dumb stuff. I have yet to hear anything that would relate to what happened last month. There was marijuana residue in his bag once you say? Oh... that's nice. I have some stories to tell you then. Later...
My real problem is with the Sanford PD (SPD). Those dummies really screwed up. Whether they did on purpose or not isn't even my issue. Corruption is everywhere, racism is too. I can live with it. My problem is that they were so stupid as to not even do their due diligence at the scene. Whether malicious or not, don't you have to at least take crime scene photos? Did they get pictures of the wounds Zimmerman claims were inflicted upon him to at least somewhat corroborate his self defense claim? Did they take his weapon or do any sort of gunshot residue or drug test on the man? It would seem the answer to those questions is no. That is just plain dumb. Oh, but Trayvon got a drug test. Thanks for that, good looking out. Then you've got witnesses saying they were coerced into telling a specific version of the story during interviews. Then, Zimmerman gets to just leave the station. I guess because his story was good enough. Who knows? An all time poor showing for the SPD. They are the ones I'm truly upset at.
I'm willing to bet if they had done their job properly, we wouldn't even know this happened (maybe I would since it's kind of local). The whole thing is unfortunate. Zimmerman was out riding around trying to be a hero and Trayvon was truly in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Some reports have Trayvon at 6'3 140 pounds. That was me in high school. That's just something that hit close to home for me. I can visualize this kid because I was very similar physically (a little heavier though!). I can't even imagine what was going through his mind during whatever happened that night.
I'm not going to sit here in judgement of either person, just the police. I will say that Zimmerman had no business confronting Trayvon in any way. That was wrong of him. That's all I can say for sure. Now, one person is dead and another is in hiding. I just hope this all gets sorted out.
I know one thing though, however this plays out, someone is going to be mad.
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