When the Obama Administration sent in a team to investigate civil rights violations in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, some of us expressed doubt over the basis for such a charge as well as the timing of the federal move into the case. Indeed, I was highly skeptical of how the case was charged and prosecuted. Now the Washington Post is reporting that, after two years of investigation, Justice officials do not believe that they have sufficient evidence to bring federal charges.
George Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in a state trial in Sanford, Fla., last year. Various community and political leaders demanded that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. bring a federal civil rights case against him. The protests led to considerable pressure for the Obama Administration to act and the investigation by the Civil Rights Section helped quell some of the discontent over the verdict. However, the case remained weak for both a second-degree murder case as well as a civil rights charge. While many read racist motivations behind Zimmerman motives, Zimmerman succeeded in establishing that he was acting in self-defense.
The Administration has also taken the same quick response to the shooting in Ferguson, though that investigation is centering on the police department as a whole.
Source: Washington Post
White privilege, prosecutors taking a dive, white people creating Ebola and AIDS to kill all black people. What’s next?? Is cancer a white conspiracy?
If there is an open mind here, please read for an understanding of white privilege.
What happens, exactly, when a white family that wants a white sperm donor gets a half-black child instead?
In the case of a lesbian couple from Ohio, it means a “wrongful birth” lawsuit against the sperm bank — two years after the fact. The lawsuit has apparently been prompted by the “racial problems” the parents are experiencing now that their child, 2-year-old Payton, is inching closer toward learning about the cruel, racist realities of American society. But there’s another large issue sitting at the crux of what’s otherwise a lawsuit about medical malpractice.
Dealing with blackness has become burdensome and inconvenient for these two white mothers — because the biracial baby completely upended their decades of enjoying the spoils of white privilege.
Jennifer Cramblett, a 36-year-old woman from Uniontown, Ohio, filed suit Sept. 29 against Chicago-area Midwest Sperm Bank because, according to the allegations, the clinic artificially inseminated and impregnated her with the wrong sperm. Cramblett told the Today Show that they chose a “blond hair, blue-eyed individual” so the child would closely resemble her partner.
Those dreams were dashed in April 2012, when Cramblett ordered more sperm from the chosen donor, for a second child the couple planned on having. It was then that Cramblett learned there may have been a mix-up. Not long after, it was confirmed she had been impregnated with the wrong donor’s sperm.
But the alleged medical malpractice is only part of what the lawsuit is concerned with, as seen in the documents made public by the Chicago Tribune. The filings paint a picture of a white couple’s discomfort with the admitted “steep learning curve” they have had to overcome in terms of understanding black people, black culture, black experiences and even how to do a black child’s hair.
On page six of the lawsuit, for example, Cramblett describes living daily with the “fears, anxieties and uncertainty” about her child’s future in their all-white, racially intolerant town, as well as within a culturally insensitive family. Cramblett acknowledges that she wasn’t raised with a high degree of cultural competence about African-American people. She now complains about having to travel to a black neighborhood to get her daughter a decent haircut, where she’s “not overtly welcome” because Payton has “hair typical of an African-American girl” and not the hair of the white child they wanted in the first place.
Still, Cramblett maintains that race is not an issue, despite the considerable amount of space taken up in court documents with respect to the racialized elements of the case.
“I don’t find any problems with having a mixed-race child as far as I am concerned,” Cramblett told NBC News, tearfully noting that she loves her biracial child and wants her to grow up in a more inclusive environment. “[Payton] will understand it wasn’t about, ‘We didn’t want you. We wanted a white baby.’ That wasn’t what it was about.”
Ihttp://mic.com/articles/100242/white-mom-s-lawsuit-over-black-baby-exposes-ugly-truths-about-white-privilege
We are presumed innocent until proven guilty by proof beyond a reasonable doubt of each element of the offense. I watched the trial. I had reasonable doubt about some of the elements. Take the gold in George’s tooth. Doubtful element. Looked like self defense to me. If some punk is pounding my head on the concrete I wanna have a gun to shoot him with. We all need to carry a gun in Florida. It is a pirate territory. Fly over and flush.
People have strong feelings on this cases. Its been politicized, the ultimate problem being that proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a very high standard to achieve in a case like this.
Jack, Doing surveillance, I observed people for a living. They would sometimes catch on they were being watched. Almost invariably, they would get angry and verbal. Only a few got physical. Telling the person following you to “Fack off” is normal. Assaulting them is not.
Darren Smith
Dredd, I retrieved your comment at 10:04.
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Thank you.
It’s easy to see why many cannot accept the verdict. They invest so much energy in declaring Zimmerman guilty before evidence is submitted that they just ignore everything they don’t want to hear. It’s a classic case of cognitive dissonance.
None of this is helped by statements from attorneys like Mike Appleton who declared “The fact that Mr. Martin may have initiated the physical altercation is both understandable and pathetically deficient as a justification for homicide.”
You’ll notice that Appleton does nothing to support his absurd proposition. Why not? Because he cannot. There is absolutely nothing in the evidence that would justify Trayvon Martin punching Zimmerman or bashing his head into the ground.
Face it, folks. Absent a lawful order from a law enforcement officer, you can exit your car and observe the activities of anyone in a public place. If the person being observed has a problem with it, they can leave the public place and seek shelter. They can even call the police if they feel the person is a threat. However, that person cannot ever use physical force to prevent the observation. Period. -If you don’t understand that or teach it to your children, you or your children may end up dead. And it may be justified.