I first jumped onto twitter to talk with a reporter from the Miami Herald, Frances Robles, about some things she was reporting about me in her article.
I quickly found myself inundated with hateful tweets from the other side of the Zimmerman case. I wasn’t enjoying the medium at all and started to use it to just follow breaking news.
Robert Jr. tweeted out that he was blocking the hateful tweeters. I didn’t even know I could do that so I looked it up and found out how to do it. It was great. Whenever someone posting hate towards me came onto my mentions, I blocked and poof, my mentions line was full of the people and comments I was interested in reading and following. It usually works well and I started to enjoy twitter more.
There’s much I still don’t understand about twitter because I never took the time to properly learn about it. I just jumped in.
For the past couple of months though, most of the people I like to follow, love engaging the tweeters I’ve blocked. It’s the people I’m following who are talking to them and I find myself in the mentions of a whole lot of conversations I want no part of.
Screen shots of comments of those I have blocked are being disseminated by those I do want to follow. I’ve never understand the rationale behind this move. It gives a larger voice to someone they think is posting garbage. So why give it attention and attract more readers? I don’t get it. I blocked the person and their comments but now those I follow largely post examples of those I’ve blocked in their comments.
I’m back to finding twitter not much fun and think I’ll use it to just follow breaking news. By following a number of reporters, it’s interesting to see the news come out from different perspectives so quickly. It also shows just how bad the facts are reported initially and cautions all of us to withhold opinions until the facts have been vetted for reliability. For those who use twitter, what do you like or dislike about the medium?
On March 5th, George’s parents posted on their website their support for George attending a gun show. In part they wrote
“This event will simply provide George the opportunity to meet and greet those who stood with him during the most difficult time of his life.”
They wrote there would be no compensation for attending and no media would be present. You can read their full statement here.
The organizer began organizing this event a year ago and had about 100 sponsors set-up. Earlier this week, they invited George to attend and posted on their facebook page the announcement that George would be at the show.
This picture was also posted on the page and a page administrator posted on the photo “Only one man in the room with a confirmed kill.” As one could imagine, this caused quite a stir and many George Zimmerman supporters expressed their disapproval online.
Trayvon Martin supporters urged those who were upset by George appearing at the gun show to contact the venue and complain. The Majestic Orlando was quick to respond and posted on their facebook page this statement. As you can see, I responded but the event owner blocked me from the page and my posts were taken off as a result.
The Arms Room was asked to take the announcement down that George Zimmerman would be attending and agree to the fact he won’t be on the premises on the weekend. The Arms Room said they agreed to these demands because it would have a negative affect on their 100 sponsors and thousands of dollars would be lost.
George Zimmerman tweeted out confirmation that he had been uninvited and he encouraged his supporters to voice their opinions with the venue.
In spite of agreeing that George wouldn’t attend and the post being taken down announcing he would be a special guest there, the venue advised the Arms Room that it was cancelling the event as per this post by The Arms Room.
This decision has left many sponsors in a tough spot, so the Arms Room plans on going to court later today (Friday) to stop the Majestic from pulling the plug.
“We’ve had discussions with The Majestic and they decided to cancel the event because George Zimmerman was making an appearance,” said Mike Piwowarski, who organized the gun show.
Local 6 called and emailed managers at The Majestic but no one has replied. Local 6 posted this story about the incident late Thursday.
George was told that the African American community is important to the venue and its needs trumps his rights.
“Was That a Dr. Phil Impersonator, I Just Saw Doing the Maddy Interview?” No ,no, it couldn’t have been Dr. Phil because the Dr. Phil I watch asks tough questions…of both sides.
This “Dr. Phil” stated at the outset that “Trayvon’s case triggered a racial divide in our country.” No, no, no, no. no. The racial divide was already there. This case simply illuminated that gulf.
Juror Maddy admits that she had to follow the law instead of her heart! Duh! That’s what a juror is supposed to do! Lawyer Bloom replies to “Dr. Phil’s” question, “did she (Maddy) have a choice on how she voted? Bloom – “She didn’t”. Duh! So what is all the commotion about?
Lawyer Bloom says that according to Rachel, Trayvon was afraid of Zimmerman, that Trayvon tried to get away “time and time again” – well, then, why didn’t he just run the 40 seconds it took to get to his father’s girlfriend’s condo? Why was he hanging around instead?
Lawyer Bloom says that according to Rachel, that Trayvon wanted to get home “in time to watch the NBA All-Star game” so why did it take Trayvon 40 minutes to not get home on what should have been a 12 minute jaunt from the 7-11 store?
Lawyer Bloom says that the prosecution “failed to connect the facts to the law”. Not a problem, The defense did that for them!
Lawyer Bloom uses a fallacious argument to suggest that the defense attributed the wrongs of two African-American men to all African-American men (which the defense did not do) via the testimony of a white female who was victimized in that housing complex which Bloom says is the “very definition of racism.” That is not why the testimony was taken, but Dr. Phil viewers won’t know that from this show.
Lawyer Bloom states that “Trayvon Martin was not a burglar, he had no criminal record”. She’s right. Trayvon was a non-burglar who was caught with stolen jewelry and burglary tool in his backpack on school grounds.
He had no criminal record is true, but school records indicates this may have been due more to the recent Miami-Dade schools policy to not record student criminal activity as such, but as a disciplinary matter.
This “Dr. Phil” didn’t have any sharp questions for Lawyer Bloom or Maddy. Maybe the real Dr. Phil will return tomorrow. Maybe Dr. Phil can get George Zimmerman on his show and ask him softball questions. That is, if he can pull George away from his twitter account.
You have to feel sympathy for Maddy. She did the best she could. The glare of public attention is often not kind.
Dr. Phil, nor no Dr. Phil, the Trayvon Martin case remains what it always was, a tragedy. A tragedy for the Martin family and for George Zimmerman. A tragedy with a lot of confusion left in its wake due in part to shows like this Dr. Phil segment.
How can we as a society fix what ails us if we use our time together to do a commercial for a book which this Dr. Phil segment turned out to be?
How can the truth ever be told in full? Do we simply chock this case up as the best its going to be and move on to other matters? Is there anything more we can do to fix the problems with media reporting, abusive prosecutors, and racist vulnerabilities in the justice system?
This segment today truly let both sides down. What do you think?
Why do black, brown and white people view the same set of facts so differently? How does the color of someone’s skin play a role?
In the Zimmerman case, there has been accusations that George Zimmerman made some incorrect assumptions about Trayvon Martin when he saw a young black male in the neighborhood and as a result, he treated Trayvon Martin as a criminal. To answer that question and address the public’s demand for answers, the FBI sent a dozen agents to Sanford to comb through every aspect of Zimmerman’s life. After speaking to 36 people who knew Zimmerman the result was no history of racial bias could be found.
The Orlando Sentinel ran a story about the findings and I thought that issue would be put to bed. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. The media largely to this day insinuates a racist white man killed an unarmed black child because he was black.
Until the George Zimmerman case, I was unaware that black people also made assumptions on people’s motives and agendas based on the color of their skin. For some black people, they just needed to know the dead teen was black and the shooter was not to assume the boy was killed because he was black. That’s the very definition of racism. I was surprised to learn some black people are extremely racist. Some see every situation as a response to the color of someone’s skin.
I first started talking about this case on facebook. In talking with black commenters I learned some have perceived code words. I was taken aback one night over being called a racist because I corrected someone about the flavor of drink Trayvon bought. I learned, for some, watermelon, was a racist word. Really? I was dumb-founded. Similar with the hoodie. I had to ask others why assumptions of someone wearing a hoodie would be made. It meant nothing to me. My sister explained that I should put myself in the shoes of a cashier at a convenience store, or a bank and someone approaches while their face is hidden by the hood. If I’m to take what some pundits said about it, it is racist for the clerk or the cashier to think the person wearing a hoodie may be trying to hide their face. I disagree, safety first. Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
When an arrest didn’t come, it was because Sanford cops were racists (according to Crump and others). To help with the perfect storm, there had been race issues with that police department and the Chief of Police left as a result. The new police chief had only been on the job 10 months when the shooting occurred.
Mr. O’Mara wrote a post on the legal case website on October 10, 2012 about race and how it should not be factored in this case because there was no evidence of it. He thinks it does apply in other cases but he knows the facts of this case and says it doesn’t belong. Well, I challenge that assertion. Perhaps if all cases were racism is alleged, there was given as much sunlight as this case got, we’d find our assumptions were wrong there too.
I recall a tweet from Shawn Vincent, O’Mara’s spokesperson, asking where all the outrage was when a black defendant gets railroaded in the courtroom. From his perspective, he’s seen plenty of it I suppose. I think George Zimmerman has an opportunity to help all defendants by going after that sanctions motion and revealing what prosecutors do to defendants, of all color.
Race just wouldn’t go away. The prosecutors didn’t argue race because the facts didn’t support it. Lisa Bloom thinks because they didn’t argue it, they made a mistake to convict George. If there is no evidence of it, how can one argue it? Yet they do, over and over and over.
After the verdict, there were marches. I recall reading of a 10 year old black boy telling a reporter in Miami, at the march Tracy Martin was at that his mother told him white people will judge him on the basis of his skin color. He didn’t know white people could be so mean. Wow! just Wow!!
One could argue, it was teaching like this that prompted Trayvon Martin not to go home that night. For reasons we won’t ever know, he had a chance to go home and he chose not to. Rachel, in her testimony, said she had to encourage him over and over to just go home. But he wouldn’t. Did Tracy and Sybrina teach him what they are teaching other black boys? If someone looks at you suspiciously, it’s because of your skin color. Don’t take that son. Deal.
I shared on yesterday’s thread your President and me had the same experience as a teen. Both of us were followed through the store. I recall getting mad about it and leaving the store. Mr. Obama insinuates the reason he was followed was because a white person saw his black skin and decided to keep an eye on him. How does Mr. Obama know that to be true? The fact is he doesn’t. I’m white and it never occurred to me I was being followed because of my skin color. But for a large number of blacks, they are told very young that any assumption made about them has to deal with skin color as top reason.
The media didn’t initially pick up this story. It’s not automatic that a black and white case garners national attention. Mr. Crump and the PR firm was needed. Mr. Crump knew of the grievances some on the black community harbour. He knew what code words were even if I didn’t. He got the community angry by spreading lies. The first one was that the racist cops didn’t care about the black boy to even attempt to identify him. His firm went on national television a month after the shooting telling the public Trayvon laid in the morgue unidentified for 3 days. Mr. Crump knew the cops had identified Trayvon on Feb. 27th but he needed to anger the black community to sign petitions and get their butts off the couch.
Mr. Crump didn’t do this to help the black community. He did it for greed. Large settlements is how he makes a living.
President Obama angered many of you with his initiative to throw money at the problem of young black males. Turns out, he angered Toure of MSNBC as well. Toure chastised the President for talking about personal responsibility when he sees the problem as structural racism. I think Toure’s message is a sad one and looks to take the power away from people of color. I found the President’s comments on personal responsibiity much more empowering for the youth.
Why do we look at the same facts and see things so differently?
Happy Valentine’s Day to each and every one of you! YOU, are my favorite. But don’t tell the others. ♥
Art – Respecting you ♥
Boricuafudd – Missing you ♥
Cassandra – Admiring you ♥
Coreshift – Loving you ♥
Danny – Wishing peace for you ♥
David – Appreciating you ♥
Diwataman – Listening for you ♥
Fabi – Adoring you ♥
Facebook Friends – ♥
Fake Tony – Welcoming you ♥
George – Praying for you ♥
Hooson – Reading you ♥
JB from SoCal – Cheering with you ♥
Jennifer – Proud of you ♥
Jordan – Hugging you ♥
Justfactsplz – Thankful to you ♥
Kadar2012 – Touched by you ♥
Legal Defense Team – So So Grateful to you! ♥
Lorac – Believing in you ♥
Menostupid – Liking you ♥
Minpin – Missing you ♥
Mimi – Dreaming of you ♥
Nivico – Heartened by you ♥
Nwtex – Pulling for you ♥
Readers/Lurkers/Limited Commenters – Watching you ♥
Rumpole – Kisses for you ♥
Sad Lib – Hearing you ♥
Sharon – Caring for you ♥
Shellie – Hoping for you ♥
Skeptiktank – Thankful for you ♥
Stevie G. – Missing you ♥
SelfdefenseAdvocate – Missing you ♥
Sundance – Indebted to you ♥
Tess50 – Enjoying you ♥
Tina – Agreeing with you ♥
Twitter Friends – Strong, Brave and Fierce ♥
Unitron – Laughing with you ♥
Wes – Grateful for you ♥
Winsome – Feeling Supported by you ♥
Yancy – Thinking of you ♥
Zimmerman Family – Admiring you ♥
We began as strangers and learned a little about each other; some more open than others. I’m feeling lucky and blessed to have gotten to know you over a common issue. May your Valentine’s Day bring you much love, tons of happiness and wonderful surprises. Happy Valentine’s Day friends. ♥
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart”
― Helen Keller
kNOw Truth, kNOw Justice 