https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin
Now the reason I say 'murders' in the entry title, is because Martin suffered all the indignities that typically befall Black people whenever one is killed by police or racist vigilantes. Young Black children are not immune to such abuse and smearing. But in Martin's case, said indignities took on what seemed to be exceptionally cruel qualities. Indeed, Martin was murdered three times. First, he was physically murdered. Then, in numerous grotesque attacks - both on and off-line - which pre-dated what we now fully recognize as the Alt.-Right by several years, coordinated permissive racist smears, heartless character assassinations, and classic victim-blaming, Martin was murdered a second time. Then, he was murdered a third time when his murderer George Zimmerman was found "innocent" at trial. A "self-appointed" neighborhood watchman with an extensive criminal record for violence, threats, and general thuggery, Zimmerman should never have been on the streets in the first place. Much less armed. a White-Hispanic, Zimmerman benefited handsomely from White Supremacy, and still does. And despite several other violent criminal acts since Martin's death, Zimmerman remains a free man to this day.
If you're reading this then you have to be already familiar with this horror story, whatever your political bent. What details that have been made public are easy to look up. The following is simply a basic run-down of events, and where things stand today.
Headlines of the day: Initially, it wasn't even the murder itself, so much as local authorities refusal to arrest Zimmerman right away. Only after weeks of mounting national pressure, Martin's killer taken in and charged.
Trayvon B. Martin had been a resident of Miami Gardens, FL, living with his mother Sabrina Fulton and older brother. His parents had divorced in 1999. In Feb. 2012, Martin was visiting his father Tracy Martin in Stanford, FL. Martin later went to visit his father's fiancee Brandy Green and her son, who lived in a gated community within Stanford. Later in the evening, Martin walked to a convenient store where he bought a bag of Skittles candy and an Arizona ice tea drink. As Martin was making his way back, Zimmerman was circling the neighborhood in his pick-up. He spotted Martin and immediately began stalking the youth. During this time Zimmerman called 911 and made a false report of a "suspicious Black male wearing a hoodie, probably in his 20's" (Martin was 17 years old. Anytime cops and racists pricks in general try and describe Black youths, they always dial the potential age waaay up). Against the 911 dispatcher's directive not to follow the "suspect", Zimmerman, who was 28 at the time, continued to pursue Martin. Moments later trouble-maker Zimmerman confronted Martin. An altercation broke out between the two, and Martin took rightful means to defend himself. At which point coward-ass Zimmerman pulled out a gun and shot Martin in the chest at close range. The teen was pronounced dead later that night.
Trayvon's parents Tracy Martin and Sabrina Fulton pictured here.
This case had been deep-fried in racism from the very beginning, to its conclusion more than a year later. Zimmerman was questioned by Stanford police, but never arrested on the night of Martin's murder. Thanks to Florida's so-called "Stand Your Ground" law, the gunman was able to claim "self-defense". Cops refused to take him in, and local prosecutors refused to bring charges, despite the fact that Martin was never armed and committed no crimes. News of events gained national attention. Protests were held all over the country, including several in Stanford. Six weeks after Martin's death, and after public demands for justice, a governor-appointed special prosecutor finally indicted Zimmerman on a second degree murder charge.
Unforgivable, inexcusable: the police/vigilante/racial terrorist murders of Black children has a long a sordid history in AmeriKKKa.
Zimmerman's trial began on June 10th 2013. That trial ended on July 13th with Zimmerman being found "not guilty" by a jury of six people - all female, all White except for one Latina. Between Zimmerman's formal arrest and his trial's end, he bonded out of jail and went into hiding. Meanwhile, vile racists took up Zimmerman's cause and waged an on-line race war against the character of Trayvon Martin. Later becoming the sewer-base of the Alt-Right, racist nerds/furries/MLP fans managed to hack into Martin's social media accounts and post fake photos of Martin on-line. The character assassination against a dead Black teenager and murder victim proved to be relentless and sustained. It's also what would lead in large part to the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement.
But it hadn't been just a trigger-happy gunman, or the racist trolls who rallied behind him. The entire system did its part to do Martin in. From the SYG state law mostly benefiting White gun-owners, to complicit local cops, to a weak and corrupt prosecution, to a grossly flawed (and many people suspect, deliberately thrown) trial, Martin was doomed the moment he set foot in Stanford. And even him being dead just wasn't enough for some. Meanwhile, child-killer Zimmerman walked out of that courtroom a free man (so to speak). He is officially one of the most despised humans on Earth, and he'll be having to watch his back for the rest of his miserably damned life. Zimmerman has since gone on to develop a sort of perverse semi-celebritism, as scumbags who commit infamous acts are often want to do (i.e. fellow Floridian child-killer
Casey Anthony).
And he's been milking it for all its worth. Two particularly ghoulish examples of this was when he visited Kel-Tec, a weapons manufacturer located in Cocoa,FL. It is the same factory that made the 9mm pistol Zimmerman used to kill Martin. The trip to that factory was a move that even his lawyer (the guy who helped win Zimmerman's acquittal) felt was too much! Later, he sold that very same gun in an on-line auction. When word of this became public, outrage ensued and many people placed fake bids. Ultimately, the weapon sold for a reported $250,000. The buyer remains anonymous to this day. This transaction took place in May 2016. This suggest that the handouts Zimmerman had been receiving from his racist supporters was running out, and he had to make a quick buck some how. Hell knows he's unemployable. And as mentioned before, Zimmerman has a criminal history of violence and threats that precedes Trayvon's murder. And since trial, he's also been busy adding to his criminal profile. Since 2013, Zimmerman has been arrested, cited, and questioned by police several times for incidents that included holding a girlfriend hostage, threatening an ex-wife, brandishing firearms in public, and threatening another motorist.
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