The black kid hung around too long.

[Nevernose]

43. I'm a high school teacher

I work almost exclusively with children 16-19. Hundreds daily, contact with thousands, and decades of working with kids. Before I was a school teacher, I was a juvenile probation officer. I worked with kids Trayvon's age, kids who really were frightening, hundreds of them.

So believe me when I say that a 17 year old high school Junior is, indeed, a child. I will also say that going to the store to get his little brother some skittles makes it sadder.

I would suggest that if 17 is old enough to join the army (it's not, although you can sign the nonbinding paperwork), then the problem is on the Army's end, not the dictionary's or the law's end.

I suspect, but have no actual proof of any sort, that Zimmerman is like many racists and doesn't even know that he's racist. I know that former coworkers allege that he made violent, racist threats against him, and that one branch of his family swears that George's branch is very racist.

For fun, you should read Sanford's log of previous 311/911 calls Zimmerman made. The guy, at best, was a total weirdo.