Stand Your Ground

Getting the Kids Involved Already

Louis Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and a whole host of liberals of all stripes are enraged over the incident in Sanford, Florida on February 26th. News broadcasts are uniformly led with the story of Trayvon Martin, a seventeen-year-old black male who was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch man, George Zimmerman. We've even got a "Million Hoodie March", in honor of the hoodie Trayvon wore that night.

The president has also weighed in, curiously thinking that it mattered to anyone that "if [he] had a son, he'd look like Trayvon". And while all this outrage swirls around us, the tragic death of this young man is being exploited by the very people who profess to care the most about him. Those who perpetuate the race game as a cottage industry for retention of relevance, and those who would strip Americans of their Second Amendment rights for preserving power, are all shamelessly using this poor kid's death for personal gain.

Now there are reports that may pour cold water on their efforts to exploit the tragedy and render the outrage moot.

To briefly recap, George Zimmerman is a Neighborhood Watch captain in his community. He has a penchant for frequently calling police, and some reports allege that this is because they have had a bit of a crime wave in the community. On the night of February 26th, Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin walking in the rain, and began to trail him, phoning police as he did. In the end, Trayvon Martin was dead of a single gunshot.

Sean Hannity has been discussing this with guests on his syndicated radio show for most of the previous week, and he's played audio of Zimmerman's call to a police dispatcher as he pursued Martin. Also, Hannity has played audio of a neighbor's call to 911. On that call, a man can be heard screaming just before the fatal gunshot is heard, and it has been assumed that they were the screams of Trayvon Martin, particularly by Al Sharpton.

Now, however, it is being reported by MY FOX Tampa Bay that there was a witness to the shooting, one who paints a different picture of that night than has been painted for us thus far. Sanford police have in their possession a file containing the deposition of this witness, known only as "John", to be presented to a grand jury in a matter of weeks. The report states that the information from the witness was key in determining whether to arrest Zimmerman that night.

According to the accounts, Zimmerman's claim to self defense appears valid based on the eyewitness deposition and corroborates Zimmerman's statement that he was attacked by Martin while returning to his SUV. The witness says that Martin was on top of Zimmerman and was beating him. Police described Zimmerman as having a bloodied face and a wound to the back of his head.

MY FOX Tampa Bay writes the following:

"The guy on the bottom who had a red sweater on was yelling to me: 'help, help…and I told him to stop and I was calling 911," he said. 

Trayvon Martin was in a hoodie; Zimmerman was in red.

And further: "When I got upstairs and looked down, the guy who was on top beating up the other guy, was the one laying in the grass, and I believe he was dead at that point," John said. 

 Based on this information, one would reasonably surmise that the screams were not Martin's, but rather Zimmerman's.

None of this negates the tragedy of it all in the slightest bit, but instead promises to exacerbate it. It remains true that Zimmerman may well be innocent of murder, but no less guilty of poor judgement. He should have heeded the dispatcher when told to break off pursuit, and he should have adhered to the "rules" of the neighborhood watch committee. He may have been attacked by the smaller Martin, that will come out in court, but even if true, the likelihood that -- absent the gun -- anyone would have lost their life would have been greatly reduced.

What will be truly tragic for the Martin family will be if Zimmerman's story holds up, along with that of the witness. When all of the agenda-driven "support" from the left wanders off seeing no further profit in remaining, and the Martins are left alone to grieve, who will be there to comfort them? Who will care then?

The answer is equally sad; the same silent Americans who had the good form to remain apart from the circus will care and pray for them. Regrettably, the Martins will never know it.

Sphere: Related Content