public safety trayvon Essay

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The Trayvon Martin Case
On February 26th, a 17 year old African-American male, named Trayvon Martin, was visiting his father and stepmother in Orlando, Florida, and decided to go to a local convenience store in the area. Walking back from the store, with a bag of skittles and an Arizona iced tea, Trayvon was followed by a self-appointed neighborhood watchman named George Zimmerman. Zimmerman called the police stating that there was a suspicious “black” male in a hoody that was looking around at the houses while walking down the street. Police told Zimmerman not to follow Trayvon but Zimmerman continued to pursue him. After ignoring police and following Trayvon, Zimmerman confronted Trayvon and the altercation resulted in the death of Trayvon Martin. When police arrived, no arrests were made because Zimmerman claimed Florida’s self-defense law. The Trayvon Martin case turned into a nationwide story and made a mockery of public safety. A lot of people in the African American community feel like they aren’t safe walking to a local convenience store without the possibility of getting murdered.
George Zimmerman did not plead guilty which led to an outcry in America who believed he cheated the system; there were a lot of people in the community that echoed this case. "If the police had arrested Zimmerman that night there would not be a Trayvon Martin case or movement” (Al Sharpton). If an altercation resulted in the death of a person, the situation should have been handled very differently. Zimmerman, at the very least, should have faced a court of law and not acquitted it the back of a police station. This, I believe, is the main cause of the situation being blown out of proportion. "We live in a world where a girl that threw flour on Kim Kardashian was arrested on site…but the man who KILLED Trayvon Martin is still free." (Will Smith). Kim Kardashian, an American socialite, was doing interviews at a launch party held at a hotel for her new fragrance “True Reflection”, when a younger female threw an entire bag of flour on Kim. The young female was arrested on site and charges were immediately filed against her. Thank God the outcome of the situation didn’t get worse, if a girl can get that close to her imagine how bad it could have been. This raises another question about our public safety, how safe are we? How do we know when we walk outside of our home to an event, to a local store, to our friend’s house, that we will come home safely? Can we truly trust the public?
George Zimmerman says that a number of house robberies have occurred in his neighborhood so he thought that Trayvon Martin was a criminal. During the 911 call that Zimmerman talked to an officer, he repeatedly mentioned that the person he was following was black. Zimmerman also says that, “They always get away”. His words were hinting that black people always commit crimes and get away with it. George Zimmerman is obviously influenced by the media because according to the most recent U.S. census, a statistics report which surveyed all offenders, stated that of the crimes surveyed for which the identity of the offender could be determined, 77.2 percent of all persons were white, 20.3 percent were black or black and Hispanic, and the remaining 2.4 percent were of other races. The survey proves that even though African-Americans (Blacks) are portrayed to be the ones always causing crimes, the truth is that Caucasians (Whites) are the ones that commit most of the crimes. Lets fast forward to the present moment, after the verdict has been reached and George Zimmerman has been set free and allowed to return the public. There was an article published recently by Orlando Sentinel asking whether George Zimmerman is a threat to public safety, to me, the answer is an easy yes. “Lake Mary police Chief Steve Bracknell hinted in a recent email exchange that he thinks George Zimmerman may be a threat to public safety, that came in an exchange last week with a West Coast man
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