Thu 23 May 2013 | 
Teenage death reopens race debate
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Enlarge textThe shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida by a vigilante has opened up a hot debate about race.
A senior pastor at St. James AME Church leads people in a prayer at the Titusville Courthouse in Florida. (AAP)
- 8 Comments | Join the discussion
On the night of Sunday, February 26, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin walked out the front door of his father's house in a gated community in Sanford, Florida.
Martin had been watching a college basketball tournament on TV and had headed out to a nearby 7-11 store to buy some Skittles and ice tea.
He made his purchase but never made it home.
Returning to his father’s house, Martin encountered 28-year-old George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighbourhood watch patrolman. What happened next is not entirely clear but for reasons that are somewhat ambiguous, Zimmerman felt compelled to call police, report Martin acting suspiciously, and pursue him.
Minutes later, the teenager was dead. Shot by Zimmerman who was carrying a 9mm handgun.
The story has blown up across parts of America after police released the 911 recordings to the public. You can listen to some of the recordings here.
“This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something,” Zimmerman says to a 911 operator.
“He's just staring, looking at all the houses. Now he's coming toward me. He's got his hand in his waistband. Something's wrong with him.”
“These assholes always get away," Zimmerman adds. “Shit, he's running.”
“Are you following him?” asks the dispatcher.
"Yes,” replies Zimmerman.
“We don't need you to do that,” the dispatcher says.
In another recording, a witness calls 911 to report a confrontation. There is screaming in the background, the sound of a single shot, and then silence.
There are further layers to the story. Martin’s father reported his son to Missing Persons when he failed to return home. He had no luck there. He called 911 to prompt a visit from police. They produced a photo of his son’s body with blood trailing from his mouth. Martin’s body had been lying in the morgue unidentified.
Zimmerman has not yet been charged in relation to Martin’s death. Not surprisingly, this has caused outrage in parts of the community.
How, it has been asked, does a teenage boy who dreamed of being a pilot, loved sport and music, and took his quadriplegic uncle to see basketball games, end up gunned down by a vigilante while walking to the store?
The answer is simple, according to others. Martin’s crime was being young and black and wearing a hooded track jacket.
The incident has reopened a hot debate about race. It is argued: had Martin carried a gun and killed Zimmerman, he’d already be locked up; the police case is biased; all black teenagers are at risk; Zimmerman was defending himself; Zimmerman is not racist – he’s Hispanic.
“He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever,” Zimmerman’s father wrote in a letter to the Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
“I just think that sometimes people get stereotyped and I fit into the stereotype as the person who got shot,” said another teenage boy who witnessed the shooting.
The message is brutal and one that many people are not comfortable discussing. But the message is also simple: Don’t be a black teenager and walk to a 7-11 for Skittles and ice team at night.
The debate will continue until this story plays out more fully. It’s also a debate that is not exclusive to Florida or even the U.S. There are, no doubt, parallels in Australia. Trayvon Martin, however, no longer has a chance to take part in it.
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Comments (8)
Missed the Point
Seems you all missed the point here - including the reporter! Violence is growing in the US and Sanford is a rough area - hence the need for Security. It's not about race - clearly you have NO understanding of what it's like to be Black, Hispanic, Jewish, Asian, etc... in the world biggest melting pot....it's about fear!! Get a clue people !!! There are HUGE holes in the reported story and until all the facts are reported you can't judge. He shot him put of fear when he ran - not because of race
01 Apr 2012 8:05 AEST
From: Sydney
Do something different
I appreciate my comment on the face of it is simplistic, but will any race other than white stop wearing hoodies? It seems to be this hideous garment is the common denominator in many stories we see of people being unjustly killed. Don't get me wrong, we should be able to wear what we like when we like, but when you have gun-totting red necks out "protecting" the community, perhaps it's time to invest in a beanie in the name of self preservation.
31 Mar 2012 13:01 AEST
From: Adelaide
Best Headline for this story
Hispanic shoots black, whites to blame.
31 Mar 2012 13:00 AEST
From: Adelaide
Ethical journalism
Matthew Hall presents a first-hand look at world events from a different angle. Hahahahahahahahaha! That would be the misleading and factually ioncorrect angle that almost every other Big Media journalist has, would it? The trouble is that there was a witness to the shooting, but no journalist wants to interview him because the truth doesn't fit their narrative. And why would a person intending to murder somebody call the police beforehand?
27 Mar 2012 12:35 AEST
From:
Matthew Hall accepts comments now?
Is there no tragedy that Indians in Australia won't hijack to solicit for personal pity and special treatment, Stray? Nitin Garg was killed for his phone, not because he was Indian. But I suppose you were one of those 'outraged' over the 'attack' on Jaspreet Singh, too... until it was revealed that he burned himself trying to set his car on fire in an insurance scam.
21 Mar 2012 22:51 AEST
From: Narnia
Racism
The culprit who shot the black "youth" (remember, when the media calls them youth they're actually criminals) was Hispanic/Jewish, not white, if the media started to report the culprit as anything but white it would automatically become racist to do so, it's only P.C. to report "racist" acts that whites commit, thus every ignores his last name, Zimmerman, which is Jewish. Bob Dylan's (a Jew) last name is Zimmerman, thus the culprit is Jewish. Anti-racism is codeword for anti-white.
21 Mar 2012 18:16 AEST
From: Australia
Parallels? nothing, nothing , like this!
This is not the only incident of racism in the USA that kills. It is common. In 2011 a white 18 yr old boy & his gang of 5, in Mississippi, which included a girl, went out specifically looking to kill a black. They found a 43 yr old Nissan factory worker & beat him to death, just because he was black. All caught on camera. Do we have such consistent HATE/KILL crimes in Australia? Some racism maybe! but No, Not like this! Why we Aussies broach anything & everything American defies logic.
20 Mar 2012 19:19 AEST
From: Melbourne
Racism in Victoria
'Don’t be a black teenager and walk to a 7-11 for Skittles and ice team at night' May I add, don't be Indian and work late or ride the train in Melbourne. Otherwise you get bashed or worse still, get murdered like Nitin Garg. Add to that, the police will probably send chain emails to each other mocking you, like was the case with Victorian Police. And an Australian public terming the attacks an 'isolated incidents'.
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Matthew Hall presents a first-hand look at world events from a different angle. Follow @Matthew_Hall
Matthew Hall New York-based writer Matthew Hall has chased fugitives across Texas, been shot in outback Australia and has lunched with Liza Minnelli.
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