User talk:Mhabte5

Zimmerman 2012
Zimmerman 2012 is a campaign that aims to make George Michael Zimmerman famous. Borrowing the tactics used by Invisible Children's "Kony 2012", we aim not to celebrate him but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for domestic justice.

Details of the story
From the Huffington Post:

Trayvon Martin, 17, a high school junior who lived with his mother in Miami, was visiting his father and stepmother at their home in Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, on the weekend of Feb. 26. During halftime of the NBA All-Star Game, Martin’s family said he walked to a nearby convenience store to get some candy for his younger brother. On his way back home, according to reports, he caught the attention of George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old college student and self-appointed captain of The Retreat at Twin Lakes neighborhood watch.

Zimmerman, armed with a 9mm handgun, trailed the boy in his car. At some point, Zimmerman called 911, telling the operator there was a “suspicious person in the area,” according to a police report acquired by HuffPost.

Not long after the call, some sort of altercation ensued between Zimmerman and Martin. Then neighbors said they heard gunfire.

The Sanford Police arrived and found Martin lying face down on a patch of grass about 70 feet from his family’s home, a pack of candy in one pocket and an iced tea in the other.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/family-of-trayvon-martin-_n_1332756.html

Questionable police conduct of the investigation
According to ABC News:

Sanford Police Chief Billy Lee said there is no evidence to dispute self-appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman's assertion that he shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin out of self-defense.

A dispatcher told him to wait for a police cruiser, and not leave his vehicle. But about a minute later, Zimmerman left his car wearing a red sweatshirt and pursued Martin on foot between two rows of townhouses, about 70 yards from where the teen was going. Lee said Zimmerman's pursuit of Martin did not of itself constitute a crime.

But after the shooting, a source inside the police department told ABC News that a narcotics detective and not a homicide detective first approached Zimmerman. The detective peppered Zimmerman with questions, the source said, rather than allow Zimmerman to tell his story. Questions can lead a witness, the source said.

Another officer corrected a witness after she told him that she heard the teen cry for help. The officer told the witness, a long-time teacher, it was Zimmerman who cried for help, said the witness. ABC News has spoken to the teacher and she confirmed that the officer corrected her when she said she heard the teenager shout for help.

The Sanford Police Department refused to release 911 calls by witnesses and neighbors. Several of the calls, ABC News has learned, contain the sound of the single gunshot. Lee publicly admitted that officers accepted Zimmerman's word at the scene that he had no police record.

Two days later during a meeting with Trayvon's father Tracy Martin, an officer told the father that Zimmerman's record was "squeaky clean." Yet public records showed that Zimmerman was charged with battery against an officer and resisting arrest in 2005, a charge which was later expunged.

Neighbors complained about Zimmerman
HuffPost discovered that neighbors complained about Zimmerman's aggressive tactics:

At an emergency homeowner’s association meeting on March 1, “one man was escorted out because he openly expressed his frustration because he had previously contacted the Sanford Police Department about Zimmerman approaching him and even coming to his home,” the resident wrote in an email to HuffPost. “It was also made known that there had been several complaints about George Zimmerman and his tactics" in his neighborhood watch captain role.

Neighborhod Watch rules were broken
The Orlando Sentinel found that Neighborhood Watch rules were broken:

"There is no reason in the world to carry a gun for Neighborhood Watch," said Chris Tutko, a retired police chief who now directs Neighborhood Watch for the sheriffs' association. "It gets people more into trouble than out of it."

A manual published by the association for its "USAonWatch" program makes that very clear.

"It should be emphasized to members that they do not possess police powers and they shall not carry weapons or pursue vehicles," the manual states. "Members should never confront suspicious persons who could be armed and dangerous."

Key Details
- Trayvon Martin had no arrest record or disciplinary action for violence as a student in North Miami's Krop High School.

- Police have yet to arrest Zimmerman and charge him with a crime because the case is still "under investigation."

- They are giving the same reason for their decision not to release the 911 tapes with calls from Zimmerman and neighbors that could provide key evidence in the case.

- As of now, they are seeming to believe his "self-defense" story because when they arrived on the scene he had a bloody nose, was sweating and had grass on his back. Things don't add up when you consider the fact that Zimmerman is a decade older and 100lbs heavier than the 140 pound teenaged Martin.

Join the cause for justice
One can't help but ask, is the Sanford Police Department helping to keep this murderer out of jail and run the risk that he kills again? What does this say about us and how we value black life in America? George Zimmerman should be arrested and face a jury of his peers for his admitted role in the murder of Trayvon Martin. There is no other excuse for why this shouldn’t occur. The suffering of children, internationally or domestically, is unjust and we must do everything we can to stop those who commit acts of violence against them.

Will you retweet, share, and make photos to help #StopZimmerman and help bring his arrest in 2012? Or will Trayvon Martin become one of those "invisible children" that we all just forget about?

-->-->--> Sign this petition to help bring justice to this child's family: http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-17-year-old-trayvon-martin

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