Happy birthday Trayvon Martin: in memoriam
author: mariam dini | contributor
Credit: PROVic Damses via Flickr
“Fact: Zimmerman attempted on May 12th of last year to auction the gun he shot Trayvon Martin with.”
Sad fact: Trayvon Martin would have been 22 years old Feb. 5, if it weren’t for violent murderer George Zimmerman.
Trayvon Benjamin Martin was an African-American high school student from Miami Gardens, Florida. When Trayvon was 17 years young, he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Florida; why? I don’t know! I mean I do, but I don’t quite understand it. In Feb. 2012, Trayvon was serving a school suspension and went to visit his father and his father’s fiancée in Sanford.
On Feb. 26, Trayvon went out in the evening to a convenience store to buy candy and pop. The neighborhood at the time was having troubles with robberies. Stupid George Zimmerman was a member of the neighborhood watch, and yes I am referring to him throughout this article as “Stupid.” Zimmerman, in his SUV, spotted very innocent Trayvon walking through the neighborhood, and decided to call the police to report a suspicious black man, with obviously suspicious behavior. The police then instructed Zimmerman not to approach the person. Stupid Zimmerman, of course, ignored the very specific instructions and decided to confront Trayvon. A few moments later, the police were called again, this time by neighbors reported hearing gunfire. Stupid Zimmerman admitted that he shot Trayvon, and claimed it was self-defence.
Officer Timothy Smith wrote in the police report that Zimmerman was bleeding from his nose and the back of his head. Zimmerman was not charged with anything at the scene. Stupid Zimmerman was injured, so the police said that there was no evidence to disregard or refute his claim of self-defence. Luckily for Zimmerman, Florida’s stand your ground law prohibits law-enforcement officials from arresting or charging a person in this position.
On Feb. 27, Trayvon’s father filed a missing person’s report. Officers from the Sanford police department visited him, and he was able to identify Trayvon’s body using a photo.
A few weeks later, on March 13, a homicide detective, Christopher Serino, advocated that Zimmerman should be charged with manslaughter. According to CNN, Serino reports that he thought Zimmerman’s head injuries were “marginally consistent with a life-threatening episode, as described by him, during which neither a deadly weapon nor deadly force were deployed by Trayvon Martin.”
It was only after rallies and the media going a little crazy on the tragic incident, Zimmerman got arrested and charged in July 2013 with second-degree murder of Trayvon’s death. Wait, don’t get too excited though! After a ridiculous amount of trials and rallies, on July 13, 2013, The U.S. Justice Department announced George Zimmerman not guilty. Yes, not freaking guilty.
Fact: Zimmerman attempted on May 12 of last year to auction the gun he shot Trayvon Martin with.
Another fact: Zimmerman is still stupid.
Sad fact: We live in an incredibly unjust world.
Finally, stop making racist and bad judgments, stop making stupid people rich and famous, show love and compassion towards one another, and please fight for stricter gun laws.
