17-year-old unarmed black teen shot by "neighborhood guardian"

Dr. Javelin said:
Nosferatu Man said:
Dr. Javelin said:
You know, not to downplay how tragic this is, but if it had been a white kid who got shot by a white guy there wouldn't be nearly as much fuss.

Because there have been so many false accusations of racism as a drive for crimes, I'm reluctant to blame this on racism unless someone can actually prove that the shooter had past indications of racist behavior.

Perhaps we all should be focusing on the sadness of this instead of yelling "RACIST RACISM BLARGH".
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The kid was shot because he "looked suspicious" when in fact he wasn't doing anything remotely wrong. Black people as criminals is a stereotype that a lot of people believe. The shooter obviously thought the kid was going to commit a crime or do something terrible. I really don't see how it couldn't be about race.
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I haven't seen any details either confirming or denying that it was based on that stereotype, so I'm keeping an open mind about it.
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I see you're point, and I guess it's kind of easy to jump to the immediate conclusion of racism... But from where I sit, I can't see any other reason for this guy to shoot this kid, and for the police to let him go. Racism might be an easy and obvious conclusion that may or may not be, but in this case, I can't see any other reason.
 
He got off scott-free?

"Oh, I'm just gonna shoot everyone who looks funny at me. Who knows if they'll kill me."

If it was a black guy who shot a white guy, he wouldn't have gotten away with it, even if the white guy was hostile (assuming the white guy didn't have a gun).

It just proves that someone can't do anything at all without putting his/herself in danger.
 
Smashgoom202 said:
Dr. Javelin said:
Nosferatu Man said:
Dr. Javelin said:
You know, not to downplay how tragic this is, but if it had been a white kid who got shot by a white guy there wouldn't be nearly as much fuss.

Because there have been so many false accusations of racism as a drive for crimes, I'm reluctant to blame this on racism unless someone can actually prove that the shooter had past indications of racist behavior.

Perhaps we all should be focusing on the sadness of this instead of yelling "RACIST RACISM BLARGH".
Click to expand...

The kid was shot because he "looked suspicious" when in fact he wasn't doing anything remotely wrong. Black people as criminals is a stereotype that a lot of people believe. The shooter obviously thought the kid was going to commit a crime or do something terrible. I really don't see how it couldn't be about race.
Click to expand...
I haven't seen any details either confirming or denying that it was based on that stereotype, so I'm keeping an open mind about it.
Click to expand...
I see you're point, and I guess it's kind of easy to jump to the immediate conclusion of racism... But from where I sit, I can't see any other reason for this guy to shoot this kid, and for the police to let him go. Racism might be an easy and obvious conclusion that may or may not be, but in this case, I can't see any other reason.
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There are a lot of people who refuse to attribute anything to racism against blacks, as part of their rich-white-males-are-sooo-persecuted delusions.
 
People have tried to label things I've done as racist purely because I'm white, which makes just as much sense.
 
Dr. Javelin said:
People have tried to label things I've done as racist purely because I'm white, which makes just as much sense.
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Well, okay, not EVERYTHING a white person or black person does is immediately racist, and I can attest to the idea that certain extremists do tend to overreact to things, but here, I think it's completely justified.

After all, from the information we've got, I see nothing to justify Zimmerman's case. Trayvon, who was unarmed and just getting some candy and iced tea, did nothing, and yet he thought it was "suspicious", and to make matters worse, he was told by the police to do NOTHING until they got there, and yet he basically left looking for a confrontation after that. Who knows, maybe the fact that the kid happens to be black was incidental, but then again, that area they live in has been known to have racism issues...
 
The Sanford Police have released the 911 calls regarding the shooting:

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/sanford-911-calls-released-teens-shooting-death/nLWWS/

...Yeah, and they had the NERVE to call this "self-defense". >:(
 
GreenDisaster said:
I hate to sound like a horrible person, but this kind of stuff has already happened, and it's going to happen again. Remember Amadou Diallo?
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Captain Obvious saves the day, with the help of his sidekick, No Shit.
 
GreenDisaster said:
I hate to sound like a horrible person, but this kind of stuff has already happened, and it's going to happen again. Remember Amadou Diallo?
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Well, then, why don't we, oh, I don't know, TRY AND STOP IT FROM HAPPENING AGAIN?! I hate how we've been desensitized to this crap, this sort of thing shouldn't be the norm!
 
Unfortunately, stupid people exist and stupid people will do stupid things. Maybe this is a reminder to all the dumb people out there to not do stuff like this (but of course, some idiots won't listen).