We are all Trayvon Martin.

[sheshe2]

It’s a sad sad day in America when a wannabe cop can profile, stalk, chase and gun down an unarmed kid and be found not guilty of his crime.

George Zimmerman murdered an unarmed child and got away with it. There is no such thing as equal justice for African Americans in this country. All the hope I ever had for the American justice system went down the tube after hearing that verdict. I am undone! Devastated. Heart ripped out. Soul crushed. The American justice system has spit in our faces.

(RT.com)People are expressing themselves on the streets from Los Angeles to New York following the ‘not guilty’ decision handed down in the court case, which has gripped the nation for the past three weeks.

Videos at the Link.

http://3chicspolitico.com/2013/07/14/protests-sweep-across-the-country-in-lieu-of-zimmerman-not-guilty-verdict/

[Pelican]

1. You might be...

... but don't speak for the rest of us.

[Electric Monk]

6. Yeah, we get it, the gungeoneers generally side with Zimmerman

because, guns?

[Cha]

12. We are obviously not speaking for you. Only those who give

a shit about Justice4Trayvon are claiming him.

[Llewlladdwr]

24. I agree with Pelican.

I'll decide both who I stand for and who stands for me.

[JaneyVee]

30. No you don't get it, we ARE all Trayvon Martin.

[ucrdem]

2. +1

Gotta love Oakland.

[ucrdem]

7. And today, after two nights of peaceful coast-to-coast protests against the Martin verdict,

Chris "Koch twin" Hedges weighs in to inform us that:

The legal system has been grotesquely deformed in most cities to, in essence, shut public space to protesters, eradicating our right to free speech and peaceful assembly.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/locking_out_the_voices_of_dissent_20130714/?ln

What. A. Dope.

[Cha]

13. What's he trying to do? Get a new angle for

red meat tossing?

[ucrdem]

16. Giving us "something else to think about" is my guess,

to cancel out any news that might filter through about the peaceful protests. It seems to work too:

Locking Out the Voices of Dissent by Chris Hedges
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023264521

47 recs and apparently no one thought, "hey wait a minute!" Because if it's Hedges it must be true?

[Cha]

17. When I saw the name "Chris Hedges" I

thought profiteering left.. am I wrong? If it's raging against the man then no matter if it's true or not is not up for consideration.

[ucrdem]

21. Hedges rages against Obama specifically.

He's one of the Obama-is-worse-than-Bush crowd that hit the bigtime as fake left pundits specializing in Obama hate around 2008. Scahill is another. Prior to that Hedges had been a war reporter for the NYT and Scahill supposedly was a college drop-out finding his way. And of course there's also our Libertarian friend Glenn, another "former" Bush war supporter.

Anyway Hedges' trick is to take good news on the Obama front, like the auto bailout, and turn it into world-is-ending rants, like his sermon on the ravaging of Detroit, which he rolls out regularly. You'll never hear good news about the BO admin from Hedges, just crap he pulls out of his fundament to reinforce the RW talking point du jour, like his idiotic Moby Dick allegory featuring Snowjob Snowden as the "great white" whale and guess who as mad Captain Ahab.

[Cha]

22. yeah, when I first wrote my comment I had written..

When I see the name "Chris Hedges" I think Obama hater, am I wrong? And, I changed it to be nicer(I thought) but, I guess I was just being euphemistic.

Another one is David Sirota..

Exploiting Trayvon by Equating what happened to him to the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki and then his 16-year-old son. He calls Pres Obama "zimmerman's president".. just to show how fucking damn vicious dumb he is.

http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/07/david-sirotas-racist-rant-compares.html

they all have their little petty hooks to sink into those who get off on hatin' the President and Wow.. this justifies it. Otherwise they wouldn't be such willing suckers.

[cali]

3. I know that's a statement of solidarity but it's such an ironic one

As a parent, I ache for Trayvon's, parents, but I'm keenly aware that my 25 year old son, won't be profiled for driving to his grandmother's house in New Canaan, CT in his 20 year old Volvo.

He gets a pass.

I do too.

[sheshe2]

5. No cali.

We are All Tayvon. You are not exempt if you are white.

Same as We are All Texas. We are All Women.

You are not exempt if you are a husband, son or father in your solidarity for women.

You ache for Trayvon's parents? Well I ache for America.

The irony~ it can turn on a dime. It could happen to you. The bitterness, hate and loathing grows. It could happen to anyone of us.

If we stand for ALL we can change this world.

[cali]

10. to me, it's just really presumptuous

and I"m not in a frickin' competition with you as to who aches more.

No, it couldn't happen to me. It happens to young black men.

we can all stand in opposition to hate crimes without claiming we're all Trayvon.

[sheshe2]

14. I was not referring to just

anger directed at young black men. Who knows where the hate will turn next.

or maybe I do~

I"m not in a frickin' competition with you as to who aches more.

I was nothing if not cordial to you in my reply. Why the anger in yours?

Bye~
sheshe2

Peace~

[Cha]

18. We are all Trayvon because we care that there was

no Justice4Trayvon. We are all Trayvon because we will honor Trayvon by working "to stem the Tide of Gun Violence" in our communities and our Nation as PBO called for in his Statement on the verdict.

We are all Trayvon because our empathy for Trayvon's Family and Loved Ones.. knows no bounds.



http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/15/rise-and-shine-554/

Mahalo, she~

[sheshe2]

19. OMG!

The emotion in that picture is moving.

And the T shirt:

Smash
The New Jim Crow

and the words of our President


Here is the text of the president's statement.

"The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America. I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we're doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we're doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that's a job for all of us. That's the way to honor Trayvon Martin."

http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/14/comfort-2/

The marches for Trayvon were calm as the President asked for. This is Respect.

Thanks Cha

[Kath1]

4. I am so sad and angry about this that I can hardly think!

As my daughter said last night, "Land of the free, my ass!" Unfortunately, she is right.

[sheshe2]

9. I know Kath~

[ucrdem]

8. Yesterday was the 2nd day of coast-to-coast protests against the Martin verdict,

including massive crowds peacefully protesting in Oakland, DC, Chicago, SF, LA, and NYC to name a few locations:

'No Justice': Thousands March for Trayvon Martin

Protesters speak out against 'not guilty' verdict, from Sanford, Florida to Times Square


Trayvon Martin supporters crowd Times Square in New York.

By Ryan Devereaux, July 15, 2013 1:55 PM ET

(snip)

President Barack Obama – who said last year that if he had a son, "he'd look like Trayvon" – made an appeal for calm in the wake of the verdict that came down late Saturday night. "The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America," said Obama. "I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son."

But in cities around the country, people took their outrage to the streets. In Los Angeles, protesters temporarily blocked a highway, carrying posters bearing a now-familiar image of Martin's face with a hoodie pulled over his head. The LAPD issued a city-wide tactical alert and deployed cops in riot gear; the police claimed batteries and bottles were thrown at officers and responded by firing non-lethal rounds. Six people were arrested at an "unlawful assembly" in Hollywood's CNN building. In Oakland, fires were set in garbage bins. Following the peaceful gathering in Times Square, the NYPD arrested 12 people on a splinter march bound for Harlem.

But despite the raw emotions involved, the vast majority of the demonstrators – in San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Milwaukee, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami and even Sanford, Florida, where Martin was killed – were overwhelmingly peaceful.

Protesters were not alone in speaking their minds about the verdict. At a Nashville concert, Beyonce called for a moment of silence "for Trayvon." Early Sunday morning, Young Jeezy uploaded a new track – "It's a Cold World (A Tribute to Trayvon Martin)" – to honor the dead teen. At a Q&A on Saturday night, Michael B. Jordan, star of the acclaimed new film Fruitvale Station – which tells the story of Oakland's Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man killed by a white cop in 2009 – said, "My heart hurts so bad right now. I wasn't going to come after I found out about George Zimmerman getting acquitted. It broke me up."



Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/no-justice-thousands-march-for-trayvon-martin-20130715#ixzz2Z9Z8F3Ed

[sheshe2]

11. This part, that you hi-lighted...

But despite the raw emotions involved, the vast majority of the demonstrators – in San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Milwaukee, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami and even Sanford, Florida, where Martin was killed – were overwhelmingly peaceful.

that tells of dignity and respect for Trayvon, his family and for every person of color.

As for Zimmie... oh the irony.

On Sunday, Zimmerman's lawyer told the press there's no question his client will retrieve the pistol he used to shoot Martin through the heart – because he needs it now "even more." With no apparent sense of irony, Zimmerman's brother Robert said, "There are people that would want to take the law into their own hands as they perceive it, or be vigilantes in some sense. They think that justice was not served, they won't respect the verdict no matter how it was reached and they will always present a threat to George and his family.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/no-justice-thousands-march-for-trayvon-martin-20130715#ixzz2Z9oTjJCZ
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

urcdem

[Cha]

15. Beautiful Golden pic, she!

Mahalo, she~ Justice4Trayvon

[Scurrilous]

20. K & R

[pipi_k]

23. We certainly

Are.

And I'm not talking about color, either

People are going on and on about how unsafe it will be for young black men now

You know what? It's not safe to be anybody out on those streets

For every Trayvon Martin, there are probably a hundred kids (or more) per day being kidnapped and murdered. Grabbed from the sidewalk. Kidnapped from their own beds. Killed by their own parents

White kids, black kids, brown kids. Kids just as innocent and deserving of living their lives as Trayvon Martin was. Murdered for no reason, many of them whose killers have never been found so they could at least have the dignity of a trial to show they had worth as human beings too

And it's not just children.

None of us is safe

[Llewlladdwr]

25. Paranoid much?

I think 36,500 children kidnapped and murdered at their parents hands each year might get noticed.

Not to mention that violent crime is tending downward and has been for years. You're safer walking the streets today than you were 20 years ago.

[pipi_k]

28. Here's the scoop from

where I am...

I can't recall very many cases where a white man shot a black kid in my state.

Oh, there is the Aaron Hernandez (white) shooting of Odin Lloyd (black), but that's two adult men and will very likely end in a conviction of some kind because there were witnesses there at the time of the murder.

Instead, there are lots of cases where kids have disappeared, never to be found again. Or found, days later, dead.

Because someone was out riding around and decided to pull one into his car, rape or molest them, then kill them.

I could give you a whole list of kids in my state who have died that way.

Paranoid? I think not.

I think it's reasonable to worry about the safety of my own grandchildren. To hope nobody snatches them up while they're walking or riding in the streets.

Young black males do not have a monopoly on fear. If they're profiled for murder based on race, there are just as many whites profiled for murder based on gender.

So that number you cited...where is it from, and what does it signify? Is that the number of black kids killed by white people each year?

[Llewlladdwr]

29. The number 36,500 was based on the claim in your post...

...that 100+ children a day were being kidnapped and murdered by their parents.

[pipi_k]

38. Read again please...

For every Trayvon Martin, there are probably a hundred kids (or more) per day being kidnapped and murdered. Grabbed from the sidewalk. Kidnapped from their own beds. Killed by their own parents

I wrote that perhaps 100+ kids a day are being killed in a couple of different ways.

Not JUST being killed by their own parents.

And I qualified that with "probably". Maybe it's only 90 per day.

But it's not, as you suggest, just kids being murdered by their own parents. It also includes kids being murdered by total strangers.

In any event, my point is that just about anyone can be a potential victim of violence, based on who s/he is.

Serial killers targeting women, for example, based on hair color or physical size.

Women targeted by rapists just because they're women.

Today investigators are searching a pond in a nearby community 21 years after a 16 year old boy (reportedly with the mental abilities of a 12 year old) went missing. The alleged killer finally confessed and told police where they could find his body.

A kid targeted by his murderer because he looked...weak? Trusting?

http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/crime/murders/lent-responsible-for-jamie-lushers-disappearence-murder-da-says

Some people aren't just being profiled...they're being targeted.

[sheshe2]

40. Thank you, pipi_k great response!

sheshe2

[Scootaloo]

26. I stand with those seeking justice for Trayvon, but I am NOT Trayvon Martin.

[ucrdem]

32. Empathy fail.

I am not Little Miss Sunshine.

p.s. Scootaloo, how could you watch that and not laugh? Seriously, I'm embarrassed for her.

[Scootaloo]

33. It's simple

I am a white man. At no point in my life have I ever been stalked by someone because of this feature about myself. I have never been accosted over it. I have certainly never been shot because of it. I have never been tailed when I go shopping, I have never had someone cross a street to avoid me. I have never had my very identity savaged on national TV by people who had nothing to go on about me other than a portrait photograph. I have never experienced these things and i dare say, i never will. That is my privilege - unearned as it is - as a white man in a society dominated by other white men.

I am not Trayvon Martin, because I am not a black man in this society. No matter my amount of empathy I will never be able to put on those shoes. I will never have that perspective. I will never actually know what it's like. If I were to put on a shirt saying "I am Trayvon Martin," if I were to pretend that I know how it feels, what it's like, when I don't, when I never will, then I would feel I am belittling and lessening the experiences of people who do know, intimately what it's like to be in those shoes.

It's absolutely not a failure of empathy. It's me deciding to not crown myself with claims of experiences that I do not have and probably never will. I make this decision because of empathy, because of my understanding that such a gesture, no matter how good the intent, is ultimately misplaced. I can't say "I've been there, that's me!" because I haven't, because it's not. I can say "I stand with you," I can offer my solidarity, lend my ears, my heart, and if asked, my arms and legs and voice. But to claim this young man, to say "I am Trayvon," well that's just a self-aggrandizing lie, to the way I see it.

If you disagree, well, that's you I suppose. But this is how I feel. Only Trayvon Martin is Trayvon Martin.

[ucrdem]

34. Were you ever a 17-year old? Did you ever buy a candy bar?

That's the point here. He was just a kid doing what kids do. Maybe he'd never been stalked by a crazy racist vigilante, either. If he had he probably would have avoided that street. How hard is it to put yourself in his shoes? And why is it so important at this particular moment to make it very clear that you are not Trayvon? Are you worried someone is going to think you are if you don't point it out?



p.s. the kid in the video is a familiar type: the suburban college freshman rebelling against her "PC" peers and professors. How my heart bleeds.

[Scootaloo]

35. I think you're missing my point (and hers, for that matter)

And don't mistake me, you and I are very clearly on the same "side" here.

I can understand, but I can't know. I can sympathize, even relate, but I simply can't say "I am Trayvon Martin." To me that's like claiming something that I am not entitled to claim. If you think this is a "lack of empathy," all I can do is say that you're very wrong.

[ucrdem]

36. I get her point, and I happen to think it's mean-spirited and tactless.

I guess we see it differently.

[Scootaloo]

37. I think we do

But then, i'll admit i'm not someone who's ever been laudedwith praise for being tactful, so...

Anyway, aside from that, yeah, you and i are on the same page over this situation. And it feels fucking [weird to be on a place like DU, and feel relief at knowing that.

[pipi_k]

39. Reading your post...

I will amend what I wrote about all of us being Trayvon Martin.

You are probably totally correct in saying that, as a white male, you have never been targeted for being who you are.

But children of all colors can't say that. Some of them are targeted by stalkers and murderers because of who they are...weak...can't fight back.

Women. We've been targeted by rapists since the beginning of time. Because we're women.

The elderly. Targeted for fraud and abuse (sometimes leading to their deaths) based on who they are.


So, yeah...OK. Not everybody has to worry about being in the sights of someone else's (literal or figurative) gun...

[ucrdem]

27. MLK Jr: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

From his 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail:

Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

Folks, "We are all Trayvon Martin" is not meant to be literally taken. It's a figure of speech.

[Puzzledtraveller]

31. I can't stand in his shoes

claiming I can is very disingenuous.