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George Zimmerman’s brother says Twitter rant a mistake | Reuters

First, even the asshole who pushed the story admitted those pictures were of a Trayvon Martin in NYC, so I’m not sure why Reuters is describing it like they’re him.

Second, DAMN. Tell us what you really think.

(via sexartandpolitics)

anarcho-queer:

On the day Sanford police turned over the Trayvon Martin shooting investigation to prosecutors, they changed their final report at least four times over five hours and downgraded the charge they recommended from second-degree murder to manslaughter, newly released records show.

In the first version on March 13, lead Investigator Chris Serino and his bosses recommended that George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who killed Trayvon, be charged with murder. But they changed that about four hours later, according to paperwork released Tuesday by Zimmerman defense attorney Mark O’Mara.

Records reveal that Serino and his supervisors made several changes but only two major ones.

The first was the change in the charges.

The second was a strongly worded paragraph condemning Zimmerman’s actions, pointing out that there was no need for a confrontation with Trayvon.

letshuggiespeak:

Trayvon Martin

I heard your chest stared down the barrel of gun some time ago,

And your body is now sunken into the earth.

Several months later, your memory still resonates on the hearts and mouths of the world.

I didn’t know you but I often wonder if you could feel my heart break at the mentioning of you;

If you could see how the world has made you into a household name not even days after you left us.

This morning Trayvon, I realized a piece of me died with you;

And that when you descended into the ground you drug a part of the American dream down with you.

You hadn’t even began to taste life yet, your birthday hadn’t had time to expire before you did,

And I hurt because of it.

But I think it hurts God the most that we are dying prematurely every day.

That death finds us before things like love ever does; I want you to know that we broke when you did.

We’ve written enough poems to educate the world,

Faced it with our bodies armored in hoodies.

With our facebooks and twitters shrined with pictures and prayers

Skittles and Arizona’s never tasted so bitter to us.

We are still trying to find answers in the soil your blood was wasted on.

We’ve called you and your family’s name out over pulpits and dinner tables.

We’ve seen your mother’s hurt in our own mother’s faces, to lose a child is to sever the soul.

In a matter of months your death has become the 9/11 of the average household. Where do we go from here?

I don’t want anger to cloud my desire to fall on my knees and pray but this morning I clenched my fist.

This morning I thought of you and called out the name of Jade Hannah a young soul who left before you.

I thought of Michael Haynes who unfortunately left after you and my faith has diminished.

It seems as though the world is performing acts of genocide on its future, and I wonder if it knows how that in turn makes it suicidal.

If I’ve learned nothing from your death Trayvon, I have learned that we all hurt.

That race and religion don’t substitute the fact that we all cry when a soul is lost,

And instead of fighting to keep hope alive we have shoved it in our closets of hatred and prejudice

Reviving the skeletons of our forefathers.

Trayvon Martin

I woke up this morning to war with the pain that I feel every time I read your name in a newspaper or any other young person’s name for that matter.

 And I wrote this poem to silence the voice in my head that’s telling me to walk around in fear of enjoying my youth, of just being a kid.

After all, you were just hungry, weren’t you?

tpmmedia:

Far from comforting Martin’s parents, who were seated in the courtroom, the awkward moment seemed to rattle Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton. After the hearing was over, their attorney, Benjamin Crump, said the family didn’t believe the apology was sincere.

“All throughout the hearing, Tracy Martin had tears in his eyes as he watched the killer of his son,” Crump said outside the court. “And it was devastating that he got to give a self serving apology to help him get a bond. They were outraged about that.”

TPM’s Nick Martin looks at the theatrics which caught prosecutors off guard in today’s far-from-routine hearing.

What the fuck kind of ‘apology’ is that?

almostfamousmike:

nobody can just sit down and talk about something sensitive without it turning into a fucking bomb? Example is this Trayvan case. It was picked up almost immediately as a racial based crime. Black Panthers, Jessie Jackson, and Al Sharpton all joined forces with the black community and turned…

Some things:

 1. Do you really think that the ‘race card’ exists? Come on, now:

The “race card” is a concept that has been used to silence people of color who attempt to speak out when they feel that race has been used unfairly in determining how people are treated. It is one of the most dangerous weapons in the White privilege toolbox, for it implies that a non-POC would know better when something is truly racist than someone who is constantly subjected to racism.  … The race card concept implies that the true racial power in this country lies in the hands of minorities, and that as soon as we “cry racism,” we will then be allowed to get away with anything or to unjustly persecute innocent White people. This is so infrequently the case. We holler “race” because so often it IS about race. (Jamilah Lemieux @ Clutch Magazine) 

Honestly, the race card does not exist. I don’t know if I can ever stress this enough. Whatever privilege or perks or benefits you think people of colour get just by being people of colour are literally NON-EXISTENT. We do not have any sort of ~*magical life advantage*~ bestowed on us at birth once the world can see that we are, in fact, people of colour. I don’t get free coffee or anything just because I’m a brown woman! Surprising, right? This is not what I signed up for at all!

Non-PoC, on the other hand, get a few perks when it comes to racism. They have the privilege of ignoring racism when it’s convenient for them. They are able to say ”This isn’t an issue of race” when, you know, it might actually be an issue of race. They have the privilege to tell PoC that they are over-reacting and ‘playing the race card’. They have the privilege of not turning these issues into “fucking bombs”, whatever the fuck that fucking means, because THESE ISSUES DO NOT DIRECTLY AFFECT THEM. It is easy to dismiss racism (even blatant racism) when IT DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON YOUR LIFE OR YOUR SAFETY. THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM.

2. WHY DO PEOPLE INSIST ON TURNING THE DEATH OF A SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD BOY INTO A PISSING CONTEST? I am sick and tired of people bringing up murder cases, comparing them to Trayvon Martin’s murder, and saying stuff like “WHERE IS THE MEDIA OUTRAGE??????” If the man that shot that woman was arrested, tried, and convicted, there is no media outrage because justice was served. That is not what has happening in the Trayvon Martin case. Trayvon was shot on February 26, 2012. George Zimmerman was recently arrested. IN APRIL. IT TOOK THEM UNTIL APRIL TO ARREST HIM. It took public OUTRAGE, petitions, rallies, et cetera, et cetera, for Zimmerman to be arrested. THE POLICE ACCEPTED HIS STORY THAT HE SHOT TRAYVON IN SELF DEFENSE DESPITE WITNESS TESTIMONIES THAT SAID OTHERWISE. Please tell me you are getting this. Please. 

3. You say that “We’re all human, we all bleed the same blood.” I hate that shit. Saying stuff like that completely erases the issue of race. It’s akin to telling someone that they’re over-reacting or that they’re playing the race card. No! Calm down! There’s only one race: the human race! We all bleed red! We are all equal! I don’t see race! Being colourblind is not the way to end racism. Ignoring race in issues that are, in fact, about race, LIKE THE MURDER OF TRAYVON MARTIN, hinders rather than helps. Stop it. 

4. I wrote two exams today and I’m running on two hours of sleep, and I know the likelihood of you ignoring this post or claiming something like “OH YOU ARE SO RACIST!!!1111” or just responding to everything I’ve said with that fucking Morgan Freeman quote is very high, so I’m going to stop typing and go entertain myself with something that does not make me want to set the Internet on fire. Pictures of kittens. Modern Family. A good old fashioned book. I don’t know.

I’m GUESSING there’s no media outrage in 2012 about a crime that happened in January of 2007 because Davidson, Cobbins, Coleman, Thomas, and Boyd were all tried and either acquitted or convicted. Davidson got the death penalty. George Zimmerman wasn’t even arrested. DO YOU GET IT NOW?

The fact that people are trying to turn the murder of a seventeen-year-old boy into a pissing contest is disgusting. 

inchristhopeisfound:

You had your 15 minutes of fame many decades ago, please stop.

I am so sick of seeing politicians and talking heads using the death of this teenager to their benefit. Mr. Sharpton if you care about this one African American boy being killed, how come you show no interest in the MILLIONS of…

I am having trouble coherently expressing all of my feelings about this post, so I will try and sum them up in the following sentence: 

You are a shithead and I hope you feel bad. 

alexandraisalive:

my parents got into an argument over this whole trayvon martin thing with one of their friends.

i’m sorry, but in my neighborhood if i were to see ANYONE in a hoodie walking around, i would be a bit more aware of that person than if they didn’t have a hoodie on. no matter…

1. It’s none of your goddamn business how the family chooses to grieve. I can tell you right now that if my brother or my son was murdered for walking down the street and his killer was not arrested or charged, I’d be out in public doing as much as possible to bring attention to the case and get justice for my loved one…which is exactly what his family is doing. 

2. People will say it’s a ‘race thing’ WHEN IT ACTUALLY IS A ‘RACE THING’. THIS IS A ‘RACE THING’, WHICH IS WHY PEOPLE ARE CALLING IT A ‘RACE THING’.

3. HOW DO YOU ‘POSE’ SKITTLES AND ICED TEA TO LOOK LIKE A WEAPON? 

4. I’ll stop calling people racists when they STOP BEING RACISTS. 
 

(Source: clive-bixby)

racismschool:

In the beginning, I was on board. Things happened, things I am not going to get into in this particular post, that made me want to post less and keep a certain amount of distance.

Still, I wanted to believe in the overall cause.

I can no longer make excuses. I can no longer pretend that they…

— Elon James White, on how Occupy co-opted the Million Hoodie March.