The Trayvon Travesty

I see Jack Cahill has an article up breaking down the minute by minute of the Trayvon Martin incident, proving that the lamestream media is ignoring the fact that rather than being a seventeen year old kid with an Arizona Iced Tea and a bag of Skittles, he was in fact a dangerous gangbanger finally put out of commission by a heroic and misunderstood George Zimmerman. Or something like that. I feel a fisking coming on...

6:21

Trayvon Martin is seen on the security video through the 7-11 window approaching the store from the direction of the Retreat at Twin Lakes.  He had been staying there at the townhouse of his father's girlfriend, Brandy Green.  In major media accounts, the helpful Trayvon ventured out in the rain in a mile-plus round trip to buy Brandy's 14-year-old son, Chad, some Skittles and Arizona Iced Tea.  Not likely.

Why not likely? Upon what do you base this assessment? There is no link or further information supporting this assertion, other than "you ever met a helpful black kid?" Moving on:

6:22 

Trayvon, with his hoodie up, grabs two items from the shelves of 7-11.  One is the Skittles.  The other is Arizona Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail.  The media avoid the name of the real drink -- possibly because of the racial implications of the word "watermelon," but possibly to avoid probing the real reason for Trayon's trip.Trayvon, in fact, had become a devotee of the druggy concoction known as "Lean," also known in southern hip-hop culture as "Sizzurp" and "Purple Drank."  Lean consists of three basic ingredients -- codeine, a soft drink, and candy.  If his Facebook postings are to be believed, Trayvon had been using Lean since at least June 2011.  

...

6:23

Trayvon pays for his purchases.  He then appears to point to an item behind the counter, but the clerk seems to reject that option.  Trayvon turns from the counter with a couple of dollar bills still in his hand.

Ok, so the implication here seems to be that Trayvon attempted to procure codeine from the guy behind the counter at the 7-11 in order to complete his "Sizzurp." Anybody know of a 7-11 on the planet that dispenses codeine or other narcotic drugs? Seriously. Moving on:

6:25 

Three squirrely young men enter the 7-11, all of them with their faces concealed in part or in full.  The clerk had to have been nervous.  One of the three (Curly) takes off his hat and shakes out his long, curly dark hair.  He is likely either white or Hispanic, or, like Zimmerman, a "white Hispanic."

What?! OK, so I've watched the video in question, and these guys are not in the slightest bit threatening in terms of either their size or their body language. Also, the store clerk doesn't appear in the slightest bit threatened by these guys, maybe due to his ethnicity, which appears to be "white or Hispanic, or, like Zimmerman, a 'white Hispanic.'" If dude felt he was in danger, he should get into another line of work before he has a heart attack. Or shoots some kid with a bag of Skittles. We are seriously approaching Derb territory here.

In fairness, I should mention that Cahill is using this "incident" to provide very circumstantial evidence for his contention that these were Trayvon's friends, trying to pick up some cigars so they could all roll a blunt, which if true, justifies the homicide as we all know that marijuana use is a capital offence in Florida. Moving on:

7:10

"He's coming towards me," Zimmerman tells the police about Trayvon, who is now walking towards his truck.  He makes his first firm identification of Trayvon as "a black male."  Adds Zimmerman, "He's coming to check me out.  He's got something in his hands."  Zimmerman sounds a little anxious: "Please, get an officer over here."

7:11

After Trayvon passes his truck, Zimmerman says, "Shit, he's running."  He is heading towards "the back entrance," says Zimmerman.  That entrance is in the same general direction as Brandy's townhouse.  A question that goes unasked is why Trayvon was running. 

So Zimmerman gets freaked and requests an officer immediately because Martin is approaching the vehicle, Martin ends up passing the vehicle by and continuing on his way, and instead of saying "whew, that was a close one!," Zimmerman instead continues to track the kid. Two minutes later, the dispatcher tells Zimmerman, in no uncertain terms, to break off his pursuit, and Zimmerman instead continues to track the kid. Five minutes later, Trayvon Martin is dead.

Look, I don't think that George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin because he was a racist, that this was some kind of twenty-first century lynching. I think Zimmerman killed him because he was an overly caffeinated dude with a conceal and carry permit and a "Stand Your Ground" law that made him think he was NYPD. What irritates me is that all this examining Trayvon's Facebook page, his tweets, his drug use and thug photos all misses the point entirely. None of that shit matters any more than whether Zimmerman used racial slurs in conversation.

All that matters is, "at the time George Zimmerman killed him, did he have a legitimate reason to be pursuing him, in contradiction of the dispatcher's directions, and during this pursuit did he have legitimate cause to fear for his life, without a moral obligation to flee before engaging in violence?" Anything else is simply a distraction, trying to blame a rape victim for what she was wearing. Trayvon Martin might have been a punk ass, but whatever else was true about him, on the evening of February 26th he was a seventeen year old kid with a can of iced tea and a bag of candy. It was either justifiable or not, and that question has nothing to do with what he asked for a the freaking convenience store.