It's Watch!... Neighborhood Watch. Not shoot.

You mean this issue is a wee bit more complex than a racist, nut-job shooting a black teen armed only with Skittles?

 

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/11/when_stand_your_ground_fails/

Angry white contractor with history of flying off the handle shows up at black guy's house and is hanging out in the back yard. Black guy's son tells white guy to leave. White guy threatens black guy's son with knife. Black guy comes home to find white guy coming at him. Black guy gets his gun and fires warning shot. White guy still comes at him. Black guy shoots him dead.

Georgia has castle doctrine and stand your ground laws, but black guy is sentenced to life in prison for murder. State Supreme Court shoots down appeal. NRA says nothing.

 

Alleged Skittles. I haven't seen the forensics report, yet. Could have been Mike & Ikes, could have been Reeces Pieces, may even have been Good-N-Plenty. Let's not jump to conclusions.

 

Yes -- lesser included offenses like manslaughter are included.

 

Well, I still don't know exactly what happened that night, and I still feel terrible for Martin's parents. Regardless of the circumstances, no parent should have to bury his/her child at 17.

But mostly what this situation -- and specifically this thread -- has shown me is how incredibly far we still have to go in terms of race relations in this country.

Lots and lots of racism on both sides of this sad mess.

 

Not sure why Devil is taking so much heat on this. The fact is, the people who are going to be angered most by an acquittal will be the black community because of the race element in the case. It is assumed by many that Zimmerman stalked Martin because of his race and clothing. If he is not convicted, there will be quite an uproar. I don't see how pointing that out makes someone a bigot. And there is a long history of riots in similar cases where a cop shoots an innocent (or not) black person. Devil linked some, but I can find you many more. It has happened in my hometown more than once.

There also is a history of white people rioting when their teams win championships or whatever, but that is not what we are discussing here. What we are discussing is the reaction if Zimmerman is acquitted, and it will not be good. I don't think Devil's comments imply that black people are any more likely to riot than anyone else.

 

Is it any wonder why the general public has such a distaste for the media? The Salon piece selectively picks out part of the story and presents them as "fact." But when you go to the actual transcript of the Georgia Supreme Court you get a different picture, a complete picture of what happened between McNeil and Epps.

In part, the transcript reads:

Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence reveals that, in September 2005, McNeil contracted to buy an unfinished home from Epp Elevations, a small building company owned by Epp and his wife.   On December 6, 2005, Epp went to McNeil’s house to complete required work.   McNeil’s son, La’Ron, was home and called McNeil to report that someone was in the backyard.   Believing that Epp was a trespasser, La’Ron confronted Epp and asked him to leave, and an argument ensued during which Epp pointed a knife at La’Ron.   La’Ron called McNeil to report this incident to him.

In response, McNeil headed home in his car.   On the way back he reported to an emergency 911 operator that a man was on his property and had pulled a knife on his son.   Moments later, McNeil told the operator, “I’m at the property now ․ and there’s the builder and I may get ready to whip his ass right now.   So get the cops here now.”   As McNeil was pulling into his driveway, he retrieved an automatic handgun from his car’s glove compartment, removed it from its case, and loaded it with ammunition.
An eyewitness who was across the street heard McNeil and Epp arguing loudly.   A few minutes later he heard a loud pop and saw smoke and McNeil pointing his hand toward the ground and stepping backward.   Epp was in the yard between McNeil’s house and the one next door and walking toward McNeil.   McNeil continued to back up with his hands pointed toward the ground and said “Back up, I am not playing with you.”   Epp increased his speed toward McNeil and McNeil raised his gun and fired at Epp’s head.   Epp’s hands were at his sides, and the eyewitness did not see him raise his hands or see any weapons in his hands.[...]

From the evidence presented, the jury was authorized to conclude that McNeil decided to confront Epp with the specific purpose of “whip[ping] his ass” before Epp even knew that McNeil was on his way to the scene;  that McNeil had time to stop in his driveway, retrieve a gun from his glove compartment, take the gun out of its case, load it, exit from his car, and “argue loudly” with Epp for a few minutes before firing the first shot at him;  and that McNeil lied to police when he claimed that he had shot Epp because Epp had “pulled a knife on him” during the confrontation (because other eyewitness testimony showed that Epp had no weapon in his hands at the time of the shooting, and further testimony showed that Epp’s knife was folded and in his pocket after he had been shot).

Now from my reading of that transcript, Epps certainly was in the wrong. No question. But McNeil headed home looking to whip this guy's ass. Hey, who could blame him after all the bull Epps put him through. But there is a difference between whipping someone's ass and shooting them dead. Should McNeil have waited for the cops? Absolutely. But, having said that, I completely disagree with a murder conviction. Manslaughter, maybe, based on the 911 operator's tape which has McNeil saying he was going to whip Epps' butt. But two wrongs never make a right and there certainly were two wrongs here, just like there were two wrongs, at least, in the Zimmerman-Martin case. If Martin had heeded the suggestion of the 911 operator and gone home, there would not have been a confrontation. But if Martin had just continued home forgetting about the guy watching him, he'd still be alive. Yes, yes, I know that is purely my take after reading a number of stories out there on the case. I wasn't there and can't possibly know exactly what happened. But the Al Sharpton's of the world also don't know what happened, either, and should shut up instead of inflaming racial tensions. The bottom line is a young man is dead and an older one's ruined his life all because they both couldn't let it alone. Why is everything in our society today a confrontation?

 

Martin was wearing a hoodie. Martin was asking for it.

 

WTF?

 

Going back a bit, because I try to avoid this thread, but...

What's OFFENSIVE, 93D, is saying (as you are here) that all black people think alike. "Trying to go inside A black person's head right (now) and explain how THEY are feeling."

What's OFFENSIVE is to say that THEY could go "batshit crazy."

Now, if you didn't mean to be offensive, then I would take a deeper look into how you said that, if it's a slip or if it's a subconscious post. But the random broad brushes people use throughout this board AND this thread specifically are upsetting.

 

I guess I should have read the last two pages.