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Subscribe to RSSAlthough Chief Bill Lee offered to leave his post, a majority of Sanford's city commissioners rejected his resignation. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
The police chief in charge when unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in Sanford, Fla., offered to leave his post on Monday, but a majority of city commissioners rejected the resignation, with some characterizing it as coming from political pressure.
Chief Bill Lee Jr. came under fire for not making an immediate arrest after the shooting death of Martin, 17, by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman on Feb. 26.
Zimmerman was questioned by police, but not arrested or charged with any crime after following Martin, whom he apparently thought looked suspicious walking through the gated Florida community. Zimmerman said he acted in self-defense.
At a press conference shortly thereafter, Lee told reporters that there was no arrest because they did not have enough evidence at that time.
The case attracted attention beyond Florida and ignited a national debate on race and justice after Martin's parents obtained 911 call recordings from the day their son was killed and which they believe show that Zimmerman was not acting in self-defense.
Lee stepped down "temporarily" in March after a vote of no-confidence by the commission.
Zimmerman later was arrested and is now charged with second-degree murder.
Only City Manager Norton Bonaparte was in a position to fire Lee or ask for his resignation, which he apparently requested after determining that outside assessments by the Department of Justice or other parties would take many months. By resigning, Lee would be eligible for a severance package.
At the commissioners' meeting Monday, the members considered Bonaparte's resolution to accept Lee's resignation.
Some of the commission members said Bonaparte's resolution to accept Lee's resignation was a surprise, and a capitulation to outside pressures on Bonaparte.
"This was resign, or else, folks," said Randy Jones, characterizing the resignation as forced by Bonaparte. "It is not the Sanford residents who created this firestorm. It was brought in from the outside. We all know it."
Lee's supporters on the Sanford City Commission on Monday said they would not accept the resignation of Lee, and characterized it as purely political.
"You are eliminating a man who did nothing wrong," said Commissioner Patty Mahany, who has described Lee as a scapegoat in the furor over the case. "Chief Lee deserves a better than this."
The commission ultimately rejected Bonaparte's resolution to accept the resignation over Lee by 3-2 vote.
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Where's LT. Kojak, when you need him?
Who Loves You, Baby?
I hold a Florida conceal carry permit. The required training course for this permit was excellent. I remember at the end of class, this was the last bit of advice they gave us:
"As we stated in the beginning of class, make sure you contact a lawyer and have all of his/her contact information readily available before you apply for your CCW permit. Please understand that you are 100% responsible for whatever comes out of the barrel of that gun, intentional or not. Make sure you are 100% committed to shooting, 100% certain who you are shooting, and 100% willing to deal with the consequences of your actions. Because once you fire that weapon at another human being, from that point forward, your life will never be the same."
Here is the URL to the real Florida CCW laws, not the trash being posted in this forum:
licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/contacts/faq.html
Nissan........ very, very good post!
Ah just go buy a penis-enlarger pump like the one in Austin Powers and give up the gun before you end up like that idiot Zimmerman.
Nah, keep your gun.
So if you ever have to defend yourself the story may end like this:
http://www.wndu.com/localnews/headlines/37073429.html
Instead of like this:
http://www.sodahead.com/united-states/elderly-couple-in-tulsa-beaten-raped-and-killed-in-home-invasion/question-2552569/?page=11&postId=81025999#post_81025999
With anti-guns laws, only criminals will have guns. Honest citizens will be left defenseless.
Just because a bunch of radicals don't like the way things are going for them doesn't mean everyone else has to follow. Sounds like the fanatic Muslims overseas if no one does what they want, they kill them. Let the cops do their jobs, sounds like they are trying to make absolutely sure that all the evidence is there before they arrest. You are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty and this is one case that seems certain groups want to use the racism word loosely.
If the Florida State Prosecutor told Chief Lee there wasn't enough evidence to arrest, what else could he do?
He could have contacted someone else at the State Attorney's office to confirm there was indeed not enough evidence, silly
There wasnt enough evidence because they didnt do a thorough investigation. They simply accepted Zimmerman's explanation and let him go!
How can you say they didn't do a thorough investigation at the time. The decision to not immediately arrest Zimmerman was made the same night as the incident. It subsequently took a special prosecutor weeks to determine that enough evidence existed to charge Zimmerman and make an arrest. You are not looking for a thorough investigation, you merely want to railroad Zimmerman.
FRank, the cop at the scene didnt believe Zimmerman's story, and his police report indicated he wanted to charge him with negligent homicide and/or manslaughter. The chief and state prosecutor overruled him within hours of the incident so they could NOT have done a thorough investigation. They just accepted Zimmerman's story, of self defense and SYG, despite the cop at the scene's report. Remember, during the 6 hours between the shooing and Zimmerman's appearance at the police stattion, Zimmerman was on contact with his father, a former magistrate, about hos to get out of this!
It was only weeks later that a special prosecutor was named. The chief and state prosecutor then went on leave. The attempt to coverup this matter goes on as illustrated by the refusal to accpet the chief's resignation and the outrageous attacks in the victim in a shameful campaign at character assassination.
Angela Corey has stated that the investigation by her and her department didn't take weeks. It was a matter of making sure everything was in place before proceeding with the charge.
Frank,
That in itself should prove to you that a thorough investigation wasn't done. It wasn't a decision to not immediately arrest Zimmerman, it was a decision to halt the investigation prior to collecting all the evidence. They did not say we will not charge him now, they said that there is not enough evidence to convict. That does not mean that they are going to continue to investigate, they planned on closing the case. No charges would have been made in the future.
Oh, what BULL-BLEEP!
This is STUPID. If somebody **chooses** not to work, all he has to do is NOT SHOW-UP TO WORK. He'll be FIRED eventually.
Nice going MEDIA; NOW you've got somebody who can't even QUIT HIS JOB because of **YOUR** influence! Ya JACKWAGONS!/
I don't think you understand how that works. He didn't "choose" not to work, he gave his resignation due to social/political pressure. And the people who refused the resignation didn't let the social/political pressure influence them. If he really wanted to quit his job he would.
Anna,
There is often social/political pressure to resign when a coverup is suspected and discovered! The chief clearly didnt intend to take the investigation any further than talking to Zimmerman at the police station 6 hours after the shooting. The cop on the scene didnt believe Zimmerman's story and was prepared to file his report recommending charges. Somewhere along the line, that was overruled. The first in line was the chief, then the state prosecutor, who also recused himself. This refusal to accept the resignation is a purely political moved to try and rescue the City from what was and is going to be some VERY embarassing moments! This isnt the first coverup in a shooting of a black man on Sanford.
Tom, if I am not mistaken, the Chief didn't do anything wrong, the lead detective wanted to charge George Zimmerman for manslaughter, and the DA decided not to.
And sorry but I don't think the refusal to accept his resignation was political at all, they are people who knew Chief Lee has done nothing wrong, on the contrary, they refused to let the social and political pressure influence their decision.
MSN is pure garbage for not even mentioning or showing the picture of Zimmerman's bloody head. MSN has no integrity or credibility as a news agency - it is only a propaganda tool.
A city commission with courage and integrity? Now there's a surprise in this day of caving every time someone plays the race card. Good for them. I thought sure they'd turn over their town to the thugs and crack dealers. Martin was a thug with no respect for his community and Zimmerman volunteered to protect his community from just such trash. He almost got himself killed for being a good citizen, but instead the gang-banging punk got his due. I applaud this city commission. Evidently Zimmerman is not the only one in this town with courage and integrity. Sounds like this town has a chance of staying a decent place to live.
It was my understanding that Martin lived in the same gated community that Zimmerman was protecting. Zimmerman and Martin had to have known each other. And anyway, murder is murder. Ed it sounds like you are taking up for the town. In this article, the author is saying that the police chief wants to step down because he did not act upon what was the best thing for the community as a whole. Someone, and it does not matter who it was, was killed. The community heard the commotion and knew who was patrolling the area. The fact was that Zimmerman did call in to 911, and the person on the phone told him not to follow the suspect. Zimmerman took it upon himseld and continued to follow this man. Now, put yourself in Martin's shoes. Someone was following him. He was scared. You would be scared too. Maybe and it would be most probable that Martin didn't know that it was the Neighborhoood Watch guy. You would still be afraid. Teenagers usually change directions if they are troubled. Not all black and white teenagers go to prison as adults. People change for reason for better.
@Benjoh... Your very first sentence shows you don't know enough about this event to be posting comments that anyone can take seriously. Everyone but you knows Trayvon was visiting his father at his father's girlfriend's house. You also state this "the author is saying that the police chief wants to step down because he did not act upon what was the best thing for the community as a whole" this is a very short article so look again and post the quote. Guess what, it doesn't say anything like that. Zimmerman stopped following when told to and was headed back to his car. Go find the 911 call and listen to it and while you're at it you may want to go read all the other information and do some critical thinking of your own and don't just repeat what you read on these blogs without checking for yourself.
Ray - what does it matter if he was visiting or living there? He was not in the commission of any crime at the time. Therefore, shouldn't have been targeted by GZ. Everyone but you and those that choose to believe lies GZ is telling knows, if you listen carefuly to the unedited version of the call, as well as map of the area where GZ parked his car and where the shooting occurred, he was not returning to his car. Considering that it was raining, and according to his testimony at the bond hearing, that he didn't know if Trayvon was 'armed'...he should've run his butt back to his vehicle in the same manner that he got out to chase Trayvon.
Ray, I think that you should listen to the 911 tape again. There is no proof that Zimmerman was heading back to his car. By the way, a hint. Don't stop at the part where he says okay or where they discuss him meeting the police at the mailboxes. Go on, I know you can do it and if you use your critical thinking and don't just repeat what you read on these blogs you might realize that it is not a cut and dry conclusion that Zimmerman was on his way back to his vehicle and that instead he may have still been looking for Martin.
Donna... I looked for different tape than the one I already listened to but no luck. On the only one I can find, after the "okay" and where to meet up he says to have the police call him when they get there then it sounds like the call is over. If there is more that was edited off the end I would really like to hear it.
You said "There is no proof that Zimmerman was heading back to his car." The state has to prove that he wasn't and the lead investigator Gilbreath at the bond hearing stated that they have no evidence that he wasn't headed back. The transcript is on CNN.
Ray I presume you are working from these recordings or are you working off the written transcript?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/16/trayvon-martin-911-audio-_n_1354909.html
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/20/911-calls-paint-picture-of-chaos-after-florida-teen-is-shot/
After the "OK" in response to the mailboxes there is further discussion on where to meet... There is also the discussion of georges address... George COULD be thinking they want to meet there and he would prefer to meet where his truck is parked... It does sound like George goes at least as far as the T in the sidewalk that would lead down the backs of the dwellings.
There is no PROOF of where he is at when the call ends. The next solid location we have is the two of them on the ground where neighbors see them.
So MSN there was a more recent killing in the news and you don't seem to be using the power of the press to ramp up "righteous indignation" for that, WHY? It has all the "elements" on would need to whip up public outrage, but it has come and gone from your radar. Maybe it is because there was no call from the White House, to console the grieving family. Or could it be that no "impromptu" press conference was called, with Obama saying if he had a daughter, she would look like the murder victim. No outrage from the community asking for "swift justice", no celebritiesasking for donations to the New Black Panthers "bounty". No "tweets" from blood thirsty executioners, no politicians and "race baiter" Reverends wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the victims picture. Where is your "righteous indignation" over a young mother, shot seven times during a kidnapping and killed. It can't be true that their is no public outcry simply because the "victims" of this visciouscrime were white, and the perpetrator was a black woman? Did she have a concealed weapons permit? Is her family having their phone numbers "tweeted" out on social media, so death threats can be made? Or maybe the victims family just had their chickens come home to roost.
mr--- perhaps there was no outcry because it didnt take 3 weeks for the story to come out and there's no apparently attempt at coverup.
Tom: Wrong. Have you heard about Daniel Adkins? shot dead at a Taco Bell in Phoenix. Shooter has not been arrested nor charged. So where is the public outcry for Adkins?
MSNBC is a left wing racist organization that caters to these loons. That's why the number of viewers is minimal and growing smaller everyday. Their programing is predictable and headlined by a bunch a losers that find it difficult to hold a job. The most recent line-up in the Martin/Zimmerman case is the classic example. We just witnessed Sharpton, Jackson and Madison giving commentary on this matter which was like watching the Three Stooges in Blackface.
Good deal. This has been a rail road job from the moment Sharpton and Jackson turned on an event that had nothing to do with race, into the racial event that it is now. When Zimmerman is found not guilty, it will vindicate the police chief.
Wow is the ENTIRE TOWN RACIST? Wow. Just, Wow!
In all this the police department was pressured by the public to arrest him when the details of what happened were and still not really known. This was arrest first, ask questions later. Not saying I don't agree with the arrest because I don't know all the details, I'm just questioning the operations of the justice system.
Sanford, Florida is, I believe, in the United States. If it were a white person who just killed someone, there would immediately be a warrant for his arrest. If it was a black person who killed someone, that person to would had a warrant issued on him. What was the difference between these two examples and this American Hispanic? Nothing. The chief said that there was not enough evidence. The man murder a teenager. He had enough probable cause to be arrested then. Zimmerman went into hiding instead of immediately turning himself in for this murder. His wife and parents say he is a good person? Please give me a break!
The chief should had issued the warrant right then for probable cause.
Listening to people like you, you'd think that in all cases of self-defense there is arrests, and charges. Not true. Do some research.
I recall as a child, my father taking my brothers and myself out in the woods to learn about firearms. The danger involved. The responsibility involved. I’m big on being responsible. I’m big on accountability. We all make mistakes, but we are to be held accountable. It’s how we learn from them. With that being said, I’m going to apply “accountability” regarding the Martin/Zimmerman incident. Personally, I don’t think that either one was out that night and up to no good. I believe it was a series of unfortunate circumstances. I believe bad decisions were made by both.
Mr. Martin paid for his bad decisions with his life. I don’t see how anyone can be held more accountable than that. Mr. Zimmerman, on the other hand, has not been held accountable for his actions. The handling of a firearm comes with great responsibility. Had Mr. Zimmerman applied better choices, I don’t believe he would be in the situation he’s in. It is now time for Mr. Zimmerman to be held accountable.
I keep hearing how he is not a violent man, but a peace loving man. I consider myself a peace loving man. It’s my motto. “Peace and happiness” is what I say. Most nights, I sit at home, with my family. I own a gun, but it sits in the bedroom closet and hasn’t been loaded in years. Never have I been inclined to load it and to put myself in the public in an effort to thwart trouble. We have police officers that are paid to do that very thing.
We are all the product of our decisions.
Finally! A voice of reason!
I knew this would happen. The guy caved. He gave in to terrorist. African Americans - the new terrorist.
He has book deals and interviews lined up. Doubt he is doing because he is scared of old Al. Everyone is trying to make out like bandits except for poor little Trayon.
Well after all the media hoopla I do not blame the man for wanting to step out, the news media is so biased that I am considering bouycotting their advertisers. The fact is for years the stinking low life hoodlums ran wild and loose in Florida and in other populated places and people got tired of being robbed, raped, murdered and so they started fightinhg for the right to protect themselves. I can remember when we didn't have to have a law to protect ourselves it was just a given, you know if someone attacked you take the low life down, the end. I would suggest for all you victums that want to be robbed, rapped and mufered just do not do anything to protect yourselves and we won't anything for you either just let the criminals have their way with you dumbed downed nit wits.
TM was not attacking GZ. He was walking down the street. GZ took it upon himself to follow TM and when TM attempted to get away from the person that was following him, GZ got out of his vehicle and chased him. He was not robbing anyone, he was not raping anyone, he was not murdering anyone. What was GZ protecting himself from when he chased an innocent person? TM was the person who should have had the right to protect himself.
If I'm hit once, i'm threatened. I'm not going to chance being beaten to death or wait to almost be dead before shooting. I wonder if this story would have made any impact on the media, or if TM mother would have trade marked her sons name, oh and let's not forget the 5 to 6 year old pictures, if TM would have beat to death GZ? Probably not.
I can see the head lines now.
Local teen beats to death neigbor hood crime watch, in other related news!!!
Joey, exactly my thoughts. The media has intentionally portrayed Martin as a innocent little kid while showing Zimmerman to be a vicious monster. Total bias as far as I'm concerned. I have a feeling he will be found guilty because of the storm the pro Martin community has created. If he's found not guilty, I believe there will be rioting in the streets. It seems like the trial has already been decided. Where is the court going to find a impartial jury? Answer: They won't.
Joey I could live with no headlines at all, and we would have that if Mr Z had acted like a neighborhood wathchman should have act and stayed in his car. The police could have told him later that this kid belong in the area, he was not on drugs and maybe he could have introduced the two, especiallly since Mr Z like tutoring young black boys.
SO WHAT maybe he will get a real job job and have to work for a living, overpayed person
It is still amazing how so many people can take sides in this issue. The only things that for sure we know is what's on the tapes. Basically do not follow, stay in your vehicle. It is interesting to see how humans can respond when its not then or one of the involved in the situation.
THere is one other fact the "stand yoour ground law" as per his creator is not applicable here, you can not follow and provoke someone and then kill him claiming self defense. I will like to know how many of the people still beleiving that Trayvon attacked the guy who was following him will have not done the same.
I cant tell if it was a cover up or not but based on the law a big mistake was made by SPD. They should have known better.
Where did you get all that BS from ?
In my opinion, I think Zimmerman should have been arrested. Even if no charges are brought up, it is still a normal procedure for an arrest to be made in something as serious as a incident involving someone getting killed.
He was hand cuffed & taken into custody.
After interrogation he was released due to insufficient evidence !
That is normal procedure !
The investigators present their evidence to the DA office who them okay a warrant or not. Not the police !
Hey why don't they show more picture's of poor ole Trayvon with all that gold in his mouth....how do you think he paid for that working at McDonald's? Pull your head out of your asses he was a punk thug, if I saw him in my neighborhood with his hoody up......I would of shot that punk as bitch too!!!!!!!
I like what you said , some people will not BUT SO WHAT :) after all it's just a comment
MARCO, I agree. The media has portrayed Martin to be a innocent little boy. That's total crap. From what I've heard, Zimmerman was in the right. He defended himself. I think if Martin was shown as he is in the present, there wouldn't be so much media attention on this case. It would have been a open and shut case of self- defence. PERIOD.
The chief's resignation comes a month after he was allowed to temporarily step down from his position as police chief in an effort to aid in restoring calm to the City in the wake of protests surrounding the Trayvon Martin investigation. This being the case Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson should also step down and resign for their part in igniting protests.
What about Spike Lee posting an old couples address as GZs?
Poor old guys had death threats . Lee had to pay a large settlement for his ignorance.
Cops should charge him & the Panthers for incitement .
For igniting a protest ?? There's nothing wrong with a protest. In fact, it's the protest that will allow for due process to occur rather than allow the police to be judge and free someone w/out any legal repercussions for killing someone.
Yes there is something wrong with a protest when you provoke a racial war, by making it a racial issue while it isn't. George Zimmerman is not a racist, I think there has been plenty of evidence of that. What do you expect exactly from those protests? a conviction? Obviously you figure the investigation was not done correctly and you figure Zimmerman is guilty. Some people assume that to the point where they are ready to kill him, how is that not wrong???? A guy, who may not be guilty of anything except self-defense, is being threatened and can't live normally anymore, how is that normal and ok???
This insane manipulation from the advertisement firm, Trayvon Martin's family, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, the medias, and all the others, have created a dangerous situation, there is no question about that. Already many white people have been attacked because of it, eventho they hadn't done a dang thing, do you care about them? Are you going to protest against the ones who have hurt them?
Personally I think the advertisement firm that Trayvon Martin's family hired, Jesse Jackson & co, and all the people who helped make it a racial issue should be held responsible.
I don't care if Matthew Owens said something wrong, there is no excuse for the way this bunch of nut jobs attacked him. If someone insults me I may yell at them back but I don't jump on them.
They have been dishonest right from the beginning, when they started showing pictures of Martin at 12-13 year old and pictures of Zimmerman when he was taking to the police station at 21 or so. And they still haven't shown the recent pictures of Trayvon Martin, maybe if they had done that to start with, instead of manipulating people's feeling by making them believe that a hardened criminal had killed a poor defenseless angel child (whom from the pictures looked like he was 12-13 year old), things wouldn't have been near as bad as they are now. People have been duped, plain and simple.
There is a difference between sedition and protest and nothing has been said which would violate the constitution and cause insurrection against authority. Any racial war u perceive is all in your head and your own paranoia. Racism is alive and well whether u want to dip your head in the sand or not. It's not going away.
I don't know if zimmerman is racist or not and neither do u. What evidence shows otherwise. I can probably refute it. Who do u ? There could be people out there who may want to kill zimmerman but u name me one person know who has threaten his life. The same can be said of any famous or infamous person.
Many white people attack because of it ??? Do u really think someone needs this story to have a reason to attack another human being. If not this one, it would be another story. Same can be said for any white individual in which injustice was done. As for asking if i care about them ask yourself if u care about any of the blks this happened to.
Showing photos of someone younger is dishonest ? Possibly manipulative but dishonest ? How ? Why are u so concern with his appearance. Perhaps the same concern u have is the same reason those photos were used. Think about it.
U really believe the photos is the catalyst of all this anger, bigotry, and tension.
rkb5555
First of all, the protest itself was or has become an insurrection against authority (to where the Sandford PD had to shut down the headquarters), and as you surely know there has been quite a few crimes committed supposedly in the name of Trayvon Martin, among other things, the ransacking of a Walmart (it looks a lot like insurrection/rebellion to me, or at least it was the excuse, they supposedly did it to support Trayvon Martin's family). And yes obviously racism is alive, on both sides (i.e. there is whites, blacks, and any other race/color people who are racists). And Martin's parents (and their lawyer, etc) clearly said that Zimmerman profiled Martin because he was black, and that justice was not done because Martin was black, they made it (and are convinced that it is) a racial issue.
By the way you reply to your own statement "any racial war u perceive is all in your head and your own paranoia" and then you proceed to say "racism is alive and well".
If they thought they had been wronged, instead of hiring an advertisement firm, and ask Jesse Jackson & co for support (who are known for supporting black people and rarely, if ever, white people), maybe they should have just hired a lawyer and protested the conclusion of the Sanford PD in an orderly manner, but instead they chose to hire that advertisement firm, and ask Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, etc, for support, to manipulate the public opinion, therefore causing protests and tensions between black and white people (by saying that Zimmerman profiled Martin because he was black, and that the Sanford PD didn't do their job again because Martin was black, and by depicting Martin as a defenseless child, and Zimmerman as a racist and hardened criminal).
You are absolutely right to say that neither of us actually knows that Zimmerman is not racist, because neither of us knows him - nor Trayvon Martin (by the way, I don't know if he was racist either) - personally but if you are asking me for reasons as to why I tend to believe that he is not, here they are: The fact that he has friends who are black; just that would be proof enough for me, but lets see hmmm ... maybe the fact that he campaigned for a black man against a white man? still not enough for you? ... or maybe the (black) children he helped in Orlando? still not enough for you? ... ok then I don't know what else to say that could be enough for you not to consider him a racist. Either way, you are already prejudiced, your statement "I can probably refute it" makes it obvious enough.
You are asking me to name one person who who has treatened his life? well for starters, the Black Panthers (whoever they may be nowadays) offering a reward for his arrest (there was something about alive or dead too ...), which is pretty much threatening his life (not to mention the fact that it is exactly the same thing they are accusing and condemning George Zimmerman for - i.e. trying to arrest and/or confront Trayvon Martin). And here are a few "tweets" about him that were on Twitter (not mentioning names, its not my job):
"Ima kill Zimmerman myself *loads semi* where he at"
"I think imma personally kill George Zimmerman…anyone’s welcome to join (: …Leggggoooo !"
"I WOULD KILL DA SHYT OUTTA DAT ZIMMERMAN DUDE IF I SAW HIS A** BOAAAA"
"Someone pass me a gun, imma go follow zimmerman, shoot and kill him and say #imstandingmyground"
"Lets kill #zimmerman"
"They let Zimmerman free lets kill that MF"
"George Zimmerman Released From Jail 150,000 Bail! WTF! Ni**a You Are About To Die, Start Writing Your Will!…"
"Once u been convicted of a crime & let out on bail u can’t be charged 2x for the same thing so that means sum1 gonna have to kill Zimmerman"
If they don't attack whites because of it maybe they should quit mentioning that it is "justice for Trayvon" then uh? what do you think? And as far as attacks by blacks on whites (and by whites on blacks), yes of course it happened before and it will still happen after, and I noticed that you admit that yourself. However meanwhile there is attacks on whites that are indeed due to the much higher tensions then usual caused by all the people I mentioned, YOU want to put your head in the sand? go ahead.
No, not just the pictures, they were also dishonest about his personality and Zimmerman generally, depicting him as some kind of hardened criminal. And you just answered your own question. "Possibly manipulative" (that equals dishonest, right there). And instead of asking why I am concerned with his appeareance (which I already explained - and the only reason why I even mention it is because they were dishonest about it, and dishonest about Trayvon Martin's personality as well), maybe you should ask yourself why the advertisement firm (and all the other ones I mentioned) were/are so concerned with his appearance that they felt the need to show only pictures of him at 12-13 year old insted of his recent pictures ... you know very well why; yes it is the same reason those photos were used, to make Trayvon Martin look like a defenseless 12 year old child, therefore turning everyone against Zimmerman right from the beginning. Ask yourself also why the parents took his Twitter and Facebook accounts down, if there was nothing wrong with them they could have used them to show how innocent their child was.
rkb5555, I have to add this, I just learned something else, concerning George Zimmerman supposed racism.
Quoting: "George Zimmerman was raised in a racially integrated household and himself has black roots through an Afro-Peruvian great-grandfather, the father of the maternal grandmother who helped raise him."
Now if that doesn't convince you that he is not racist, I just don't know what would. Have a good day.