The Oarsman
No justice, no peace: When will Trayvon Martin's killer, George Zimmerman, be brought to justice?Monday, May 21, 2012 By Hermela Bekele
The murder of Trayvon Martin, an innocent African-American, makes me question the morals and principles of the Florida government and many Americans. How can a man ruthlessly kill an innocent teenager and get away with it? On Feb. 26, the shooting of the unarmed teenager took place in Sanford, Fla. George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, was the triggerman. The Trayvon Martin case has sparked a national debate involving race and the self-defense law in Florida. Florida has a "Stand Your Ground" law which allows people to use deadly force when they believe they are in danger of being killed or suffering great bodily harm. Basically you can walk around with a gun and kill someone, claiming that it was self-defense. If it wasn't for the social media, the news of Trayvon Martin's death wouldn't have spread as quickly as it did. Twitter carried the teen's name across the globe, breaking people's hearts. It created protests in major cities including Los Angeles, New York and London asking for Zimmerman's arrest. He was arrested a month-and-a-half after the killing. Zimmerman's defense attorney, Mark O'Mara, also saw the power of social media. He created a website that helped raise $200,000 for Zimmerman's bail before the site was shut down. Zimmerman only had to pay $15,000 for his bail. Obviously, a person with no type of morals or respect would help donate money to a cold-hearted killer. Zimmerman doesn't deserve to be rewarded with money, he needs to be punished! Zimmerman claims that Martin was the instigator in the conflict that ended his life, yet there are many signs that reveal that Zimmerman's prejudice against Martin's African-American race was the real issue. Zimmerman claims that Martin attacked him. That was his reason for killing Martin. Yet his face after the incident showed no evidence of an attack. Zimmerman just didn't like African-Americans and he made that clear in the call he made to the police. In the 911 call, Zimmerman stated, "These a**holes always get away." He was talking about African-Americans. The way Zimmerman sounded on the tape says it all. Even when the authorities told him to stop following Martin, he continued. The 911 call is eye opening. Zimmerman said Martin was just walking. Zimmerman was suspicious of Martin because he was wearing a hood and looked as if he had a gun. Are all the American-American teens going to be killed because they look suspicious? That's just not right. "I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was I thought he was a little bit younger than I was I didn't know if he was armed or not," Zimmerman said in the initial court appearance. It doesn't matter how old Martin was. Zimmerman acted on impulse, rather than thinking about the consequences rationally. I don't care if the victim was 80-years-old or 8-years-old. That doesn't give Zimmerman the right to take another human's life. As bad as Zimmerman's actions were, the Florida police actions are worst. They didn't arrest the killer. They allowed him to walk the streets as a free man. Zimmerman actually turned himself in before the police arrested him. Zimmerman is currently out of jail on bail. He is under protective custody, and he is constantly being moved from place to place for his safety. Zimmerman's bail was set at $150,000, so he only had to pay $15,000 to a bail bondsman to get out of jail. Ridiculous. Why would this man even be allowed out of jail if he's a killer? Am I the only person that finds that disturbing? Martin is already starting to be forgotten. Why? We give Kim Kardashian and all these A-listers too much attention. We are forgetting that a teenager lost his life. All he was trying to do was go home after buying a snack so he could watch basketball. Is this what America is coming to? Innocent people getting killed in the streets? We owe it to Martin. Justice should be served to his parents. They lost their son and now they have to fight to give their dead son justice. Hopefully, Zimmerman is convicted of second-degree murder. People need to be more tolerant of young people, especially young minorities, and not stereotype them. Remember, don't judge a book by it's cover. |