Attorney Mark O’Mara says if George Zimmerman were Black ‘He never would’ve been charged with a crime’

During the post-trial press conference, Zimmerman’s defense attorney, Mark O’Mara, remarked that if his client were black, “he never would’ve been charged with a crime.”

And in what alternate universe would that be?

via Mark O’Mara: If George Zimmerman Were Black ‘He Never Would’ve Been Charged With A Crime’.

We already talk about race

John McWhorter, the linguist and “cranky liberal Democrat” complains in the NY Daily News that prominent African-Americans keep insisting that “Nobody talks about race.” McWhorter says everybody talks about race. Sometimes they even talk about racism, but even that isn’t the point. What African-Americans want is to convince white America that African-Americans are still living with racism every day — and that we need to fix the problem.

McWhorter concludes that the conversation has begun, but the world won’t change overnight: “We are, because of Trayvon’s tragedy, engaged in another chapter in America’s ongoing conversation about race. Some are learning a little, but we’ll have no mysterious revolutions in thought. For all those waiting for a conversion, that’s the bad — but honest — news. We’re stuck with imperfect conversation.”

Conservative Congressman Allen West says Trayvon Martin case ‘is an outrage’

Rep. Allen West (R-FL), a high-profile conservative and one of two African-American Republicans currently serving in Congress has issued a statement lambasting Florida authorities for their handling of the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

West says in part: “From my reading, it seems this young man was pursued and there was no probable cause to engage him, certainly not pursue and shoot him.”

I’m no expert in Florida law, but “stand your ground” surely doesn’t mean “pursue and shoot.”

Allen West On Trayvon Martin Case: ‘This Is An Outrage’ | TPM Livewire.

If Trayvon Martin had a gun he might be alive today

It’s time to get past all this liberal gun-control shit and look at the facts: the rednecks, backed by the NRA, are arming themselves in record numbers. But law-abiding African-Americans are largely unarmed and have no way to defend themselves because they haven’t availed themselves of their Second Amendment right to carry weapons for self-defense.

Since 2005, Florida, where Trayvon was shot, has had a “Stand your ground” law. Wikipedia describes “Stand your ground” as follows:

A stand-your-ground law states that a person may use deadly force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of a threat, without an obligation to retreat first. In some cases, a person may use deadly force in public areas without a duty to retreat. Under these legal concepts, a person is justified in using deadly force in certain situations and the “stand your ground” law would be a defense to criminal charges.

It’s clear that Trayvon could have defended himself against George Zimmerman, who he thought was stalking him, and been justified under Florida law.

Like the Freedom Riders of an earlier day who promoted voter registration, now is the time for brave Civil Rights activists to take buses into the south and sign up young African-Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights!