Zimmerman and Dunn

Florida doesn't appeal to me as a place to live. It is now rapidly falling down the list of places I want to visit. When George Zimmerman shot and killed Travon Martin there was some part of the average person who could see where a scuffle occurred and maybe there was a small chance that Zimmerman had to defend himself. Could a jury in those circumstances find reasonable doubt? I personally think they could have found doubt but that the doubt was not reasonable. It seems that the Michael Dunn case which resulted in the death of Jordan Davis shows the real problem with Florida's stand your ground law. If I have the relevant facts correct Jordan and several of his friends were listening to loud hip hop music in the parking lot of a convenience store. Mr. Dunn did not like the "thug" music and started an argument with the boys. Words were exchanged and Mr. Dunn determined he was in fear for his life and defended himself resulting in the death of Jordan Davis. In my mind all Mr. Dunn had to do was either make his purchase and leave or just leave without making a purshase. He instead chose to start a confrontation with a group of black teens. After starting the incident he gets to claim he got scared and starts shooting. I have a problem when Zimmerman and Dunn both seem to start the confrontation, get scared and someone else, someone unarmed, ends up dead.

It seems like too many people want to run away from the race issue here. It seems to me that the offense committed by Jordan Davis and Travon Martin is being black. It wasn't hoodies or hip hop music, it was being a young black male. It seems that society is all too willing to accept the fear of whites as an excuse to shoot young black males. Travon Martin and Jordan Davis both came from two parent homes. They were and are from all outward appearances good families. Yet in both cases their sons did not live to see their 19th birthdays. In both cases their killers were not convicted of murder. Our system has brought justice to neither family. I worked in an Illinois prison for over 20 years. The population was over 70% black and predominately young, generally under 30. Young black males don't scare me. They are of no special concern to me when I see them on the street. I feel no need to provoke a confrontation with them any more than they want one with me. It would be easy for them to make assumptions about me. I have lots of tattoos and a shaved head. I look like a biker. They may look and see someone they think has Aryan Brotherhood leanings. I never get that vibe. Maybe because I am not making assumptions about them they aren't making any about me. I just keep looking at these cases and seeing nothing but a couple of idiots creating a situation where they have an excuse to use their gun and figuring a jury of their peers will see it as standing their ground. It isn't and it wasn't. It was racism and prejudice that got two young black men killed for the offense of being black. It is wrong and it must stop. Ask yourself this. If the two victims had been white and the shooters had been black would we being talking about the killers walking free? White boys their age wear hoodies and listen to hip hop music. They wear their pants low and their attitudes can be threatening. What would the verdict be in those cases?