I'm trying (and failing) to find unbiased information...

[Archae]

About Trayvon Martin.

It's all one extreme or the other, he's either a "thug" or an "angel."

It sounds like he was pretty much a typical teenager, might have had a scrape or two with authorities.
Certainly not the high-on-dope criminal that right-wingers paint him as.

[Just Saying]

1. Not sure where you're looking

But I've never seen anyone claim Trayvon was an angel. Who is? But he doesn't need to be an angel for it to be wrong that the police were called on him, he was followed and subsequently shot and killed when he was just trying to walk home from a store.

Not being an angel while black shouldn't be a death sentence.

[Archae]

3. I agree with you there.

Especially when I read about Zimmermann's neighbor, the guy much of the "news" media went to.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/08/08/the-medias-go-to-george-zimmerman-defender-is-a/195298

[Skittles]

2. what does it MATTER what he was?

he was walking down the street minding his own business when he was targeted, stalked and murdered FOR NO REASON

[Archae]

5. There was a reason.

He was black.

To Zimmermann, that automatically made him a "bad guy."

[Skittles]

8. so why would his personality or character matter?

[delrem]

4. Since you're interested because of his manner of death,

I doubt there are any unbiased views -- because in that final minute it was only between him and Zimmerman.

If you want to learn an "unbiased view of Trayvon Martin's life" you have to learn it feet on the ground, putting in the time, talking with his friends, talking with his antagonists, and so on as any investigative journalist wanting to know "the truth" would do.

[bigapple123]

6. I'm also curious

there were reports that

(a) he had been previously found with burglary tools and jewelry.

(b) the stuff he bought on the night he died may have been ingredients for drugs.


Have you been able to find any unbiased information on these allegations one way or the other?

[Archae]

7. Stuff he bought?

He bought some candy, (Skittles,) and a bottle of iced tea.

As to the "burglary tools," hell, I carry around that all the time, a little jackknife with scissors, file and screwdriver on my keyring.

[Skittles]

9. I have that too

I always take it off my purse when I fly

[FLyellowdog]

11. Here's the smear...

RashManly.com accuses Martin of admitting on his Facebook account as early as June 27, 2011 of being an abuser of a codeine, soft drink and candy beverage popularly known as "Purple Drank" or "Lean."

...sizzurp, Texas Tea and liquid codeine...

http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=news.article&articleID=5562

More at

http://www.examiner.com/article/trayvon-s-skittles-arizona-tea-and-something-called-purple-drank

[FLyellowdog]

10. A lot of that info is on Wikileaks, for whatever that's worth.

My question is this:
Where were Martin and Zimmerman struggling in reference to Zimmerman's vehicle. Zimmerman claimed that Martin circled his vehicle causing him to feel afraid so he rolled up his window. Then Trayvon disappeared and/or was running away. Zimmerman got out of the vehicle to go look for a street sign so he could direct the police to the correct location. (Never mind that if a person was frightened enough to roll up their window what are the chances they would then get out?) He said that then Trayvon came back and attacked him. This appears to be AFTER Zimmerman stopped following Martin (but before he went to check the street sign?). I'd like to see a reconstruction of the crime scene with a timeline. Things just don't seem to add up. To me, Zimmerman clearly was stalking Martin and Martin was the one who feared for his life...he may or may not have made the first move, but he was pushed into the situation by Zimmerman, IMO.

Martin was a teenaged kid who may or may not have made the best choices in his teenage years. He may very well have been purchasing the ingredients for some type of homemade brew, but nothing he bought was illegal and he was not breaking any law. He did not deserve to die.

[bigapple123]

14. Yeah

but just because it's on wikipedia, I dunno if it's true or not?

[pnwmom]

12. You can't make drugs out of Skittles and iced tea.

[millennialmax]

13. I don't think Zimmerman was judging him by the content of his character. eom

[WinkyDink]

15. What is the point of your question, when you turn around and refute it yourself?

[Lee-Lee]

16. You really have to filter it all

I looked a lot, just turn on your bias and BS detector and wade in, only looking for what can be backed with evidence.

He was a bit worse than typical as far as behavior at school, but no hardened criminal thug. He was at his dads place because he was suspended from school for having a baggie they claimed had drug residue.

The burglary tools/ stolen property things appears pretty suspicious. He was found with jewelry and tools associated with burglaries, an refused to say where it came from just that he was "holding it for a friend" who he would not name. Thy is a pretty big red flag to a cop. However the SRO entered them into evidence as "found property" instead of suspected stolen property, so it was never matched up to a report that listed similar property as recently taken. If this was the SRO being lazy or trying to cut Trayvon a break I don't know, but it worked to his advantage because the dots never got connected.

The cell phone pictures show him smoking pot and having at some point a gun, unclear how he got it or if it was so embody else's he was just taking pics of to share in typical teenage boy bravado.

His text messages are typical teenage boy, but did have some mentions of fighting.

Not a thug, not an angel. Not a model student, but had not been expelled. Probably got lucky that the jewelry he had was never linked to the report or that same property having been stolen.

Typical teen boy, maybe a bit to the side of troubled given 3 school suspensions, but not a gangster thug out dealing drugs and doing drive-by shootings.