Quote: (03-24-2012 07:02 AM)Pilgrim37 Wrote:
No doubt a tragic case,and the guy should be arrested but what about the right for two guys to walk home after a drink without getting shot...where were the rallies and protests at those innocents?
Non existent!
We all have prejudice it seems,doesn't matter what colour...acting before knowing the full facts seems to be a habit too!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...orida.html
The distinction between the case you linked to and this one is important. In fact, it highlights why people are so angry about this crime. In the case you mentioned the assailant WAS ARRESTED AND IS CURRENTLY ON TRIAL FOR MURDER. The police made AGGRESSIVE efforts to find and arrest the person guilty of that crime.
Now, what if in the story you linked to, the assailant was questioned, told the police that he was just defending himself when he shot those two tourists because he thought they were going to rob him, and the police ACCEPTED HIS CLAIMS AND DID NOT ARREST HIM? That sounds absurd, doesn't it?
THIS IS THE ISSUE. It is not just the fact that some trigger happy fool shoots a 17 year old kid. That shit happens. It is that the police accepted his claim of self defense at face value and made no attempts to do a more thorough investigation.
Underlying the whole investigation is the direct implication that it is reasonable for a 240lb man to stalk an unarmed 140lb black teenager in a hoodie confront him, then SHOOT HIM, because he was "in fear for his life".
The fact that the police so readily accepted his claims is the most appalling part of this story. I am absolutely certain that if the family had not pressed the issue and alerted the media the police would have just written this off as another accidental, yet JUSTIFIABLE shooting.
This is a protest about the SYSTEM. There are always going to be hotheads (whether they are racists or not) who are going to act irrationally and shoot innocent people. However, when the system PROTECTS those hotheads it validates those behaviors.