[Tim]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2012/0...28025507936.txt

MICHIGAN CITY — More than 125 area residents attended a NAACP candlelight vigil Thursday night in memory of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot last month by a neighborhood watch volunteer.

Those who attended the Michigan City vigil met at Revival Center Church, 938 W. Eighth St., at 6 p.m. Thursday and then marched to Pullman Field, where they lit candles in memory of Trayvon.

Statements were provided by State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, and State Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, which were read at the vigil.

“Please accept my sincere gratitude for rallying against fear, for God’s love, and in memory of a young life that was extinguished far too soon,” Pelath wrote.

“Every once in a while, a horrible event like the one that cost Trayvon Martin his life will remind us that the eternal cause of justice remains unsettled in our nation. Today, you are again trying to build a more perfect union among us.”

Wes Scully, president of the La Porte County NAACP chapter, said the event was a statement that blacks’ lives should be protected and that the Martin situation boils down to the simple fact that African Americans have been suffering for years with racism and profiling, which are sins before God.

“We believe that black lives should be protected,” he said. “This is a spiritual walk.”

Scully said he reminded the young people who were attending the vigil and marching that they must be very careful in how they dress and what they do, because, “in America, the law is not for us.”

Scully said this is the community’s cry for justice for Martin. “We pray for Martin that justice will be served,” he said.

Police said Martin was walking home from a convenience store when he was killed. George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer in the town of Sanford, Fla., told police he shot the 17-year-old Martin after the young man punched him in the nose, knocked him down and repeatedly slammed his head against a sidewalk. Zimmerman has not been charged in the case.

The Michigan City march comes at the same time other Indiana communities are having vigils in memory of Martin. Vigils have been held in Muncie, Indianapolis, West Lafayette and South Bend this week.

In Pelath’s statement, he made reference to a famous quote by Franklin Roosevelt.

“When Franklin Roosevelt said, ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself,’ he conveyed more than he intended,” Pelath wrote. “Let me be clear about an added meaning of his words: The fear that anyone has of a young man walking down the street must end.”

Pelath asked those attending the vigil to share knowledge with others so that future evils can be prevented, and thanked them for their prayers for Trayvon.

_________________________________________

The murder of any young man for any reason is a tragedy. But was this really a racial incident? Or simply two guys who got in a fight and one of them got shot. According to both witnesses and Zimmerman Martin attacked him first, telling him he was "going to die." There seems to be a serious rush to judgment here - that because a white man shot a black man it had to be racial. Based on my research, I don't buy it.

Wes Scully's comment is particularly inflammatory - "“We believe that black lives should be protected,”. Shouldn't ALL lives be protected, and not just black lives?

Again, it's a tragedy that Treyvon Martin was killed. But a racial killing?

I don't think so.

[Commuter]

Interesting commentary on the whole incident.

I bet Zimmerman will get charged.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/trayvon...facts-1.3631047

Personally, I am far more watchful of neighborhood watch types and security guards or people who go through V.E.S.T. training to get the blue lights than I am of sworn police officers.

Police get sensitivity and diversity training and tend to be more color-blind and fact-oriented.

[Tim]

Yes - many different pieces of evidence are coming to light, and I am a bit surprised Zimmerman wasn't arrested here. But racial? Martin attacked Zimmerman, it seems - would that also be considered racial?

[Commuter]

Yes - many different pieces of evidence are coming to light, and I am a bit surprised Zimmerman wasn't arrested here. But racial? Martin attacked Zimmerman, it seems - would that also be considered racial?

I don't know. I think the stink is racial bias -- the perception being that if the racial tables were turned the shooter would have been charged.

[Commuter]

From wikipedia -- media bias -- my specialty --

Accusations of media bias
NBC alters 911 recording

After playing a recording of Zimmerman's 911 call, NBC was accused of selectively editing it to make Zimmerman appear racist. On the recording played by NBC Zimmerman was heard saying, "This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black." In the original 911 recording, however, Zimmerman actually said, "This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about." The 911 operator was then heard asking, "OK, and this guy - is he black, white or Hispanic?" Zimmerman answered, "He looks black."[129] The Washington Post wrote that NBC's alteration "would more readily paint Zimmerman as a racial profiler. In reality’s version, Zimmerman simply answered a question about the race of the person whom he was reporting to the police. Nothing prejudicial at all in responding to such an inquiry... it’s a falsehood with repercussions. Much of the public discussion over the past week has settled on how conflicting facts and interpretations call into question whether Zimmerman acted justifiably or criminally... To portray that exchange in a way that wrongs Zimmerman is high editorial malpractice..."[129] Sean Hannity said of this editing, "They forgot the dispatcher’s question! How could NBC, in good conscience, do that?", to which Brent Bozell responded, "This isn’t bias, this isn’t distortion, this is an all-out falsehood by NBC News."[152]
Publication of outdated photographs

Associated Press reported that at the time of the shooting, Martin was older than "the baby-faced boy in the photo that has been on front pages across the country," and that Zimmerman wasn't "the beefy-looking figure in the widely published mugshot," and that these outdated photos "may have helped shape initial public perceptions of the deadly shooting."[153]

interesting

[Tim]

Here's an interesting statistic -

The leading cause of death for black male teenagers is homicide, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Of all the black homicide victims, about 93% are killed by other black people.

So, when Wes Scully states "“We believe that black lives should be protected,” does he mean protected from other blacks?

Perhaps the search for the reason blacks are killing each other would save more lives than a fruitless search for a racial problem that doesn't seem to ever have existed.

[Ang]

Did you know that 60% of all statistics are made up?

[Tim]

Did you know that 60% of all statistics are made up?

So - you're saying there's a 60% chance this statistic itself could have been made up?

Okay.

[Ang]

yep

[Tim]

Yeah.... so, anyway -

Hopefully the truth will come out in this case.

[Commuter]

Yeah.... so, anyway -

Hopefully the truth will come out in this case.

It really s**** though that the media would doctor a 911 call to make it seem like a hate crime when in fact it was not. Isn't there enough tension in the world as it is?

I have this notion that tension sells stuff. News is never about babies being born or who gets married. It's always who beat up who or who killed who or what car crashed into what utility pole.

People get addicted to news just like booze or smokes. They go for their dose of fear.

Steven Colbert said: "Nothing moves product like the hot stink of fear."

I don't watch TV. I have a free antenna and flip on the weather station when the weather is bad but that's about it. I have slow internet through my phone lol.

I feel bad for Trayvon Martin, but I think it's wicked how the media has played it into something it wasn't, by portraying Trayvon as a child and doctoring 911 calls.

I hope the anger turns towards the media -- who deserves some scrutiny in this situation.