The controversy around the death of Trayvon Martin continues.
The Daily Caller has the story:
Former NAACP leader C.L. Bryant is accusing Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton of “exploiting” the Trayvon Martin tragedy to “racially divide this country.”
“His family should be outraged at the fact that they’re using this child as the bait to inflame racial passions,” Rev. C.L. Bryant said in a Monday interview with The Daily Caller.
The conservative black pastor who was once the chapter president of the Garland, Texas NAACP called Jackson and Sharpton “race hustlers” and said they are “acting as though they are buzzards circling the carcass of this young boy.”
You’re exactly right, Pastor. His family should be outraged. Unfortunately, though, they appear to be trying to get in on the action, per thesmokinggun.com:
The mother of Trayvon Martin has filed two applications to secure trademarks containing her late son’s name, records show.
Sybrina Fulton is seeking marks for the phrases “I Am Trayvon” and “Justice for Trayvon,” according to filings made last week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In both instances, Fulton, 46, is seeking the trademarks for use on “Digital materials, namely, CDs and DVDs featuring Trayvon Martin,” and other products.
The March 21 USPTO applications, each of which cost $325, were filed by an Orlando, Florida law firm representing Fulton, whose first name is spelled “Sabrina” in the trademark records.
Some “pundits” have postulated that perhaps Mudear is just trying to protect her son’s memory from unscrupulous buzzards. We’ll see. In the meantime, more information has come out about Trayvon, which may be found at miamiherald.com:
In October, a school police investigator said he saw Trayvon on the school surveillance camera in an unauthorized area “hiding and being suspicious.” Then he said he saw Trayvon mark up a door with “W.T.F” — an acronym for “what the f—.” The officer said he found Trayvon the next day and went through his book bag in search of the graffiti marker.
Instead the officer reported he found women’s jewelry and a screwdriver that he described as a “burglary tool,” according to a Miami-Dade Schools Police report obtained by The Miami Herald. Word of the incident came as the family’s lawyer acknowledged that the boy was suspended in February for getting caught with an empty bag with traces of marijuana, which he called “irrelevant” and an attempt to demonize a victim.
Trayvon’s backpack contained 12 pieces of jewelry, in addition to a watch and a large flathead screwdriver, according to the report, which described silver wedding bands and earrings with diamonds.
Trayvon was asked if the jewelry belonged to his family or a girlfriend.
“Martin replied it’s not mine. A friend gave it to me,” he responded, according to the report. Trayvon declined to name the friend.
Trayvon was not disciplined because of the discovery, but was instead suspended for graffiti, according to the report. School police impounded the jewelry and sent photos of the items to detectives at Miami-Dade police for further investigation.
A lawyer for the dead teen’s family acknowledged Trayvon had been suspended for graffiti, but said the family knew nothing about the jewelry and the screwdriver.
“It’s completely irrelevant to what happened Feb. 26,” said attorney Benjamin Crump. “They never heard this, and don’t believe it’s true. If it were true, why wouldn’t they call the parents? Why wasn’t he arrested?”
Trayvon, who was a junior at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School, had never been arrested, police and the family have said.
“We think everybody is trying to demonize him,” Crump said.
No evidence ever surfaced that the jewelry was stolen.
“Martin was suspended, warned and dismissed for the graffiti,” according to the report prepared by schools police.
That suspension was followed four months later by another one in February, in which Trayvon was caught with an empty plastic bag with traces of marijuana in it. A schools police report obtained by The Miami Herald specifies two items: a bag with marijuana residue and a “marijuana pipe.”
The punishment was the third for the teen. On Monday, the family also said Trayvon had earlier been suspended for tardiness and truancy.
What about the horrible incident that took the 17 year old’s life? What actually happened that fateful night? Orlandosentinel.com reports
With a single punch, Trayvon Martin decked the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who eventually shot and killed the unarmed 17-year-old, then Trayvon climbed on top of George Zimmerman and slammed his head into the sidewalk, leaving him bloody and battered, law-enforcement authorities told the Orlando Sentinel.
That is the account Zimmerman gave police, and much of it has been corroborated by witnesses, authorities say. There have been no reports that a witness saw the initial punch Zimmerman told police about.
Zimmerman has not spoken publicly about what happened Feb. 26. But that night, and in later meetings, he described and re-enacted for police what he says took place.
In his version of events, Zimmerman had turned around and was walking back to his SUV when Trayvon approached him from behind, the two exchanged words and then Trayvon punched him in the nose, sending him to the ground, and began beating him.Zimmerman told police he shot the teenager in self-defense.
…Zimmerman’s account
This is what the Sentinel has learned about Zimmerman’s account to investigators:
He said he was on his way to the grocery store when he spotted Trayvon walking through his gated community.
Trayvon was visiting his father’s fiancée, who lived there. He had been suspended from school in Miami after being found with an empty marijuana baggie. Miami schools have a zero-tolerance policy for drug possession.
Police have been reluctant to provide details about their evidence.
But after the Sentinel story appeared online Monday morning, City Manager Norton Bonaparte Jr. issued a news release, saying there would be an internal-affairs investigation into the source of the leak and, if identified, the person or people involved would be disciplined.
He did not challenge the accuracy of the information.
…Zimmerman has gone into hiding. A fringe group, the New Black Panther Party, has offered a $10,000 reward for his “capture.”
One-minute gap
On Feb. 26, when Zimmerman first spotted Trayvon, he called police and reported a suspicious person, describing Trayvon as black, acting strangely and perhaps on drugs.
Zimmerman got out of his SUV to follow Trayvon on foot. When a dispatch employee asked Zimmerman if he was following the 17-year-old, Zimmerman said yes. The dispatcher told Zimmerman he did not need to do that.
There is about a one-minute gap during which police say they’re not sure what happened.
Zimmerman told them he lost sight of Trayvon and was walking back to his SUV when Trayvon approached him from the left rear, and they exchanged words.
Trayvon asked Zimmerman if he had a problem. Zimmerman said no and reached for his cell phone, he told police. Trayvon then said, “Well, you do now” or something similar and punched Zimmerman in the nose, according to the account he gave police.
Zimmerman fell to the ground and Trayvon got on top of him and began slamming his head into the sidewalk, he told police.
Zimmerman began yelling for help.
Several witnesses heard those cries, and there has been a dispute about whether they came from Zimmerman or Trayvon.
Lawyers for Trayvon’s family say it was Trayvon, but police say their evidence indicates it was Zimmerman.
One witness, who has since talked to local television news reporters, told police he saw Zimmerman on the ground with Trayvon on top, pounding him — and was unequivocal that it was Zimmerman who was crying for help.
Zimmerman then shot Trayvon once in the chest at very close range, according to authorities.
When police arrived less than two minutes later, Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose, had a swollen lip and had bloody lacerations to the back of his head.
Paramedics gave him first aid but he said he did not need to go to the hospital. He got medical care the next day.
The Daily Caller got access to the “Tweets” of Trayvon. They reveal a young man who was playing “Gangsta”, spewing vulgarities and talking tough. No one knows what happened that night, except Zimmerman and the witnesses. Trayvon is not here to tell his side of the story.
Even though all the evidence seems to reveal that the young man was not as pure as the driven snow, it is still unfortunate that his young life has ended.
And, it’s also unfortunate that certain race-baiting vultures have descended to take advantage of this tragedy.
As I’ve written previously:
Somewhere, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is sadly shaking his head.
Jewelry? Yeah but all 17 year old guys carry diamond earrings and wedding bands in their backpack. Let’s talk about how Zimmerman was a member of the KKK…..
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This incident–and the race-baiters who are coming out of the woodwork–soil the memory of Dr. King…
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Zimmerman has been tried already in the media, guilty or not.
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duke lacrosse case 2.0
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Drip, drip, drip, drip.
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“Even though all the evidence seems to reveal that the young man was not as pure as the driven snow, it is still unfortunate that his young life has ended.”
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No 17 year old is “as pure as the driven snow.” I don’t think there is really any allegation being made that he was engaging in any kind of criminal activity while he was being stalked by some random guy in the neighborhood. I can say personally, at 17, I would have been seriously intimidated by some grown man following me around like Zimmerman was following him. It makes no sense to me to believe that he came up to some guy he didn’t know, who outweighed him by almost 100 lbs, and started beating him to death without any provocation. But while we’re using our imagination, I’d like to suggest a likely scenario… Zimmerman, stalking this kid got him paranoid. Z was getting highly aggitated that this “suspect” was going to get away (if you listen to his 911 calls he is very aggitated at the prospect of him getting away) and approached the kid himself. I can see them getting in to an altercation. If I was walking through my neighborhood, or a friend’s, and someone told me to stand there and wait for the police, I’d be HIGHLY pissed and tell him exactly where he could go, and I’d continue on my merry way (I can only imagine what it’s like for a black kid, who, let’s face it, puts up with this kind of thing much more than this little white girl ever has.) It is no stretch for me to picture Z trying to restrain him at which point Trayvon probably does start swinging. Now THAT is self defense if you ask me. No ONE has the right to detain me, especially not some random person carrying a gun. I’m going to fight like hell to get out of there. My 2 cents. 🙂
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How ’bout we wait for the facts…
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Because that would allow a perfectly good crisis to go to waste…..
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Great comments Heidi. I’ve thought much the same.
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The grievance mongers are out in force — their enablers helping all they can — and it appears that the young man’s family is caught up in the hoopla…
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The way they tried to brush it under the rug as just an unfortunate accident is crazy. Even unfortunate accidents need to be very thoroughly investigated. At the very least they should have taken the man’s gun. I don’t presume to know what his motives were when he shot that boy, but if something like this happened to my son, you can be sure I’d be raising cain to find out the truth as well.
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Reports say that his gun WAS taken. He was taken in to custody and questioned, and police initially wanted to charge him with manslaughter. It seems the DA did not want to pursue the case. Let’s wait until all the facts are out on this.
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