The Shootings!

In the news there have been quite a few shootings that have garnered much attention in the news.  This blog is my opportunity to express my thoughts, mostly on gay issues but anything that I feel strongly about.

I have been thinking about these shootings by police officers, and what appears to be excessive use of force.  Also of shootings by citizens I hear about on the news. I am not going to get into the details of specific cases in this post.  I just want to say here in my opinion, the killings, wounding's, are part of a deeper issue that runs across our society and the world.  It has always been  there under the surface, but in the past decade or two it has become more prevalent. It has a multitude of causations,  race, general prejudices, gang violence, crime in general are talked about in the news, but not any one of these issues is the root of it all.

In my opinion the root cause is a devaluation of human life.  it runs all through our society all the way through our justice system.  To the point that someone kills another human being over a place in line and the charges are dropped, To a person who follows a young man who has done nothing wrong,  and gets into a fight with him kills him in the name of stand your ground, and is acquitted. 

It goes on. So we will continue to see this call it a racial issue, blame gangs, drugs, police overstepping authority... the root is the devaluation of life. 

 

My thoughts on the Aquittal

For a week now, I have held back sharing my thoughts on the Zimmerman acquittal.  No particular reason, other than not appearing to give a knee jerk reaction.  I have to say, I was disappointed that he was not found guilty of at least Manslaughter. 

Here are my reasons, first he was told when he called the police NOT to follow this young man. There was no evidence or indication Martin had committed a crime.  Zimmerman provoked the confrontation by following and most likely following too closely.  In my opinion, shared by others I have talked with, Zimmerman most likely was looking for trouble, a confrontation because he was carrying a weapon. He took authority he did not have.

I don't care if he was neighborhood watch, had a permit to carry a weapon, he should NOT have been carrying a deadly weapon on watch.  Neighborhood watch is that...WATCH and REPORT not intervene. Again there was no crime in progress where intervention was needed. When he called police he fulfilled his responsibility.  This was completely preventable!  His not guilty verdict, does not hold him accountable for his negligence in this senseless death.  What a waste!

In my opinion, Stand your ground laws should be re-evaluated, and either repealed, reworked to be more specific and put emphasis on prevention rather than justification. This is or should be a miss use of such a law. Not used to justify deadly force when you are the one provoking the confrontation by your action.  Zimmerman provoked confrontation, and he is not held accountable.

What if the victim was gay? Could this had been considered a hate crime?  Or a stand your ground justification?.