The Diane Rehm Show

Angry Pancho wrote: There's no way, for example, that law enforcement after a terrorist attack is going to approach someone who looks like a Muslim with the same equanimity they would somebody's kindly Grandpa. It's crazy to ask them to, lives can be at stake.

Angry Pancho speaks well for the NRA/far right wing -- blacks are terrorists and we need to shoot first and then don't ask any questions.

A lot of reasonable responses, surprise surprise! Interesting, as was pointed out the choice of photos used by the media of the two men involved. Black men are by far more likely to commit violent crimes including murder. Easy for the blood thirsty left at this point to use an unresolved issue as they always do to advance their agenda, never let a tragedy go to waste, exploit it!

Mike Larson wrote:

"Very true, but the Sanford police closed the case with no more (in fact, every indication is that they had less) information than we have now. We are now getting some investigation, much to the chagrin of the NRA and Republicans -- they were much more comfortable just sweeping it under the rug."
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Contrary to Al Sharpton and other zealots, the NRA and Republicans have zero to do with this case. Did you notice liberal Geraldo partially attributed the shooting to the kid wearing a hoodie?

MarcusTullius wrote:
Mike Larson wrote:
"Southern Republicans are quick to chime in that whites (and Hispanics and Asians, etc) are justified to shoot blacks on site because we feel threatened by them. "
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Can you post a link that quotes any Sothern Republican making this ridiculous comment? Or is this just something that was generated in your own mind?

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Did you even read the post by greensborocommentor?

http://www.solargeneral.com/library/color-of-crime.pdf

l Blacks commit violent crimes at four to eight times the white rate.
Hispanics commit violent crimes at approximately three times the white rate,
and Asians at one half to three quarters the white rate.
l Blacks are twice as likely as whites to commit hate crimes.
l Hispanics are a hate crime victim category but not a perpetrator category.
Hispanic offenders are classified as whites, which inflates the white
offense rate and gives the impression that Hispanics commit no hate crimes.
l Blacks are as much more dangerous than whites as men are more
dangerous than women.

To Mike Larson -

Nane calling does not strenghten your case.

Yes, tere was a problem. What attempts did the parents first make locally, even statewide?

What did the parents do during those 3 weeks to get redress for their grievances?

Mike Larson is simply trolling here, repeatedly trying to attribute statements, positions, and party affiliations to people that they clearly did not make or take, and, sadly for his need for attention, no one seems to be buying.

But the most ironic if not the silliest thing about this wholly manufactured - that means made up out of thin air, Diane - white-against-black narrative is that George Zimmerman is EXACTLY as Hispanic as President Obama is African-American.

EXACTLY.

If Zimmerman is white, so is President Obama.

If Zimmerman isn't Hispanic, President Obama isn't African-American.

NPR keeps trying and trying to put a Jim Crow South pointy white hood on Zimmerman, and every time it keeps toppling off.

Once again, NPR is ruthlessly and cynically creating a narrative completely out of whole cloth that has absolutely no basis in the facts of the case, simply in order to boost their own public media profile and listenership.

Again, the only word to describe Diane's willing and eager participation in this disgusting fabrication is vile.

A person unaware of the reality of crime statistics, after listening to Diane's program, would be surprised to learn that white people are six times more likely to be the victim of a crime perpetrated by a black person than white on black.

The justice department reports while blacks are 13% of the population they commit 51% of murders in the United States, and blacks are far more likely to be murdered by another black person than by a white person. The "no snitch" rule in the black community is partly responsible for the higher crime rate.

The reason communities form neighborhood watch groups is a response to crime. I believe the neighborhood watchman should be prosecuted, I believe he caused the confrontation. However, while he pulled the trigger the reason he had a gun was a response to crime and the refusal of the black community to confront it. Diane's guests this morning were perfect examples of that. Mr Zimmerman pulled the trigger, the "no snitch" rule and refusal to confront black crime by people like Diane's guests put the gun in his hand.

Yoshi-

Yes, it's about the law.

And...

It's about Zimmerman's actions pursuant to his understanding of the law.

It's about whatever Trayvon might have done or not.

It's about the police department and their understanding of the law.

It's about the city manager.

It's about Trayvon's parents' actions

So it's about a whole lot of things.

Stay off the "racist" thing until you know better. There will be time enough.

I am a white woman. As such, I receive a measure of unmerited privilege from the society I reside in that often has real material consequences.

I believe that white people have a moral responsibility to interrogate our responses to the people of color we encounter daily. We must teach ourselves that our thoughts, reactions, instincts are not necessarily trustworthy. This does not make us bad people. Still, we need to acknowledge that we have been socialized by a society that makes qualitative distinctions according to certain identifiers, including perceived race.

I don't believe color-blindness is the answer. People of color have taught me that they are not benefited when I deny that their skin hue affects how people treat them and the opportunities available to them.

Self defense laws such as the one in Florida need to be repealed. Arizona has a similar law. We are Arizona residents, and our son was the victim of a violent brutal attack. He died that same day of a head injury from this attack (he was struck from behind). No one was ever arrested or prosecuted even though the aggressor was well known. The police continually mentioned the impact of Arizona's new self defense law (this was 2007).

By the way, my son was white and his aggressor was african american. I don't believe that race was involved in the Florida case. The self defense laws are just terrible laws that allows someone to kill another without justification. The police and prosecutors use the law as an excuse to do nothing so that they can focus on easier to resolve/win cases that make them look good (they always brag about lower crime rates and their ability to prosecute). My son was wasn't ever even considered a "victim" and thus we were not even assigned victims advocate services. From our perspective, the prosecutor's office victim advocate department was a buffer for the prosecutors more than an advocate for victims. My son's death doesn't even show up as a murder since there was no arrest/prosecution, which results in our city having one less murder on the record.

The press should spend some time investigating the many self defense killings in these state with Florida-like self defense lawas; they will see that very few (if any) ever are prosecuted.

When one person kills another that is man-slaughter! The killer should have been chargedwith this. After that the question of self defense is up to the court. PERIOD!

I have started a discussion on this matter at baptistlife.com/forums FAith and Practice. My Parents were married in Rome, Ga near the Thankful Baptist Church Ms. Wilkerson celebrates in Warmth of Other Suns.
What happened in Sanford is tragic. Still on any given day there are highly charged incidents all across America and the majority of them have a much better solution than Sanford.
What happened there was tragic and I think the Tea Party and the NRA share great deal of the blame. OTOH folks have to start talking to one another in multi race neighborhoods. There are a lot of good folks out there who can tell their neighbors we have a visitor coming in for a few weeks and he is from such and such and will not be a threat to the neighborhood. White Folks should not have to live in anxiety over the possibility of stepping on racially charged politically incorrect dynamite when there are a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood and good reason to suspect they are being committed by youth of color.
Still in no way does that apologize for what happened in Sanford.
It is no secret The Deep South lives for SEC Football and on any given Saturday of 22 odd folks on the field, 15 or more of them are of color.
The Movie the Blind Side was box office success. Friday Night lights was of critical acclaim. The University system of the SEC can go a long way toward deflating these anxieties if they work harder with the communities from which they harvest their multimillion dollar franchises each fall.
Next Panel, Have Tim Tyson of Duke on the program with Isabel Wilkerson and Michelle Norris. And have a separate program with couple Coaches from UGA, Florida and Alabama. Read Howell Raines piece, Goodbye to the Bear. Ms. Wilkerson will like that one for reference.

YOUR SPEAKER FROM THE NEWSPAPER IS IN ERROR REGARDING THE FLA LAWS AND HOW THEY PROTECT ZIMMERMAN. THEY DO NOT.
The stand your ground law is invalidated when you pursue your "threat." and in a vehicle, no less!
The actions of George Zimmerman, by his own account, do not adhere to Florida's version of the right to stand one's ground, therefore he should be arrested. Zimmerman's actions invalidate protection under this law because:
1. He pursued the "threat" - by motor vehicle, and therefore he contributed to the threat. He elevated the potential for harm to himself.
2. He was not pursued by the threat.
3. By law, use of a lethal weapon must fit criteria for justifiable use of force based on the rule that force must equal or only slightly exceed the force of the threat. The force used to fight the threat must proceed from lesser to higher. Least use is presence, then verbal force, then physical force, and finally, use of a lethal weapon. An unarmed 140 lb youth on a street without a weapon, even in the midst of assault, does NOT justify use of a lethal weapon, even when they are rolling on the ground.
I interviewed very conservative weapons' owners for clarification.

PS you have a superb radio show.