My thoughts on whole situation:
1. The entire situation was a tragedy of IMMENSE proportions. Trayvon Martin lost his life in an incident that should have never occurred and George Zimmerman has ruined his own life FOREVER.
2. Mr. Zimmerman should have stayed in his car. He did act properly by calling the police, but he should have left it at that. Instead, he caused the fight by stalking (yes, that is the only word for it) Martin. As a
typical American youth, Martin felt threatened (I know that I would have felt threatened by someone stalking me). So he fought him (as most people would) and ended up getting shot. Both sides were, at least partially, in the wrong. Though it would have been VERY difficult, either side could have retreated.
3. One point President Obama made that is VERY valid: What if the tables had been turned and it was Trayvon Martin who had shot George Zimmerman? Martin would have been arrested ON THE SPOT (Zimmerman was free for quite awhile). The trial would have found him guilty (yes, the probabilities are VERY strong in this favor) and he would have done serious time.
4. Another point: The whole trial was based on George Zimmerman's word. What jury of white females (or white anybody, for that matter) would have taken the word of a black teenager about the shooting of a Hispanic man? That is the sad truth of our country today.
5. The jury should have had a more diverse background. There should have been African-American representation on that jury. The prosecutors didn't do their job properly during voir dire. What were they thinking?
6. "Stand Your Ground" is part of the problem with our NRA-approved, gun-idolizing, macho-thinking, "I'm entitled to everything I want and you can't stop me" U.S. culture of today. To call it exactly you what it is, it's survival of the fittest: no more, no less. If you have a gun, then you are automatically right, no matter what you do (let me correct that. If you have a gun and you're of a certain hue on the color chart, then you're right. If you are not of that hue, then good luck because you will have luck of the draw in the judicial system). After all, sometimes not fighting or not shooting can display a strong character trait. Even our Lord, Jesus the Christ retreated when threatened with violence at several times in his ministry.
7. A lot of people blame the liberal media for their "slant" on the news, yet the conservative media has their own slant, which is JUST AS WRONG. I won't say they're racist, but there appears to be quite a bit of evidence toward that conclusion. I notice that, because George Zimmerman was found innocent, it was a "fair" trial. Some conservative organizations (Newsbusters.org) are as bad as, if not worse than, the liberal media. In those cases, I'm ashamed to say that I lean more toward conservative than liberal.
8. The conservative media has pointed at Zimmerman's defense of a homeless black man and Martin's alleged criminal record. Zimmerman's defense is not a "feel free to shoot at will" card and Martin's record is not a "okay, you deserve to be shot" license. Each and every situation is different.
9. Finally, having traveled the U.S. and the world extensively, I've been in a lot of situations not unlike Trayvon Martin's (where people are looking at me and saying "You're not from around here, are you?". I'm thinking "What gave it away?"). So, if I 'm shot, was I wrong for being there?
Having said all of that, I think that the jury did the best it could in a lose-lose situation. I back President Obama (I'm worried that I might be morphing into a Democrat, which is a nightmare that could make me wake up at night screaming in terror) on his remarks yesterday. I know my conservative friends will damn me to the seventh ring of hell (courtesy of Dante's INFERNO), but I will "stand my ground" (pun intended) because, after all, RIGHT IS RIGHT!
