Michael Dunn, Florida Man, Invokes 'Stand Your Ground' Law After Shooting Black Teen

[gejohnston]

117. your image is from stock charactors from movies and TV

the kind of TV shows that would give someone from Idaho or Montana an accent someplace between Palin's faux folksy and stereotyped southern. As someone from that part of the country, Palin doing that annoyed and offended the shit out of me. But I digress.

The Trayvon Martin case gained notoriety because although the lead investigator believed there was probably cause to arrest Zimmerman, he was overruled and Zimmerman wasn't arrested until weeks after the shooting. The use of the word "may" when talking about investigations absolves the local police from any responsibility to conduct a thorough investigation. The Sanford police department was way too willing to accept Zimmerman's version of the case and no serious investigation was launched until the name Trayvon Martin became known nationwide.

could the cop's decision be colored by this?
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/24/justice/florida-teen-shooting/index.html

Sanford is a typical small town...not known for its hospitality to outsiders. People think of FL as Miami, Naples or Palm Beach but most of the state is still very southern, racist, uneducated and intolerant.

So what's with all of the Canadian flags flying over trailer parks? How come all of the racists (or at least open about it) I run into around here seem to have New York accents? I doubt you have never been to Florida and know nothing about it. Most of the population is not from the South. Most moved here from the suburbs in the Northeast and Rust Belt. Yes those suburbs are no less racist than the stereotypical southerner. Where I live, most are either from Long Island or Queens. While their kids might have actually been born here, they are not southern in culture. Whatever their racial attitudes are, they brought with them. That is certainly true of the Orlando metro area, which Sanford is a part. I don't know about your neck of the woods, but where I'm from a population of over 53K is not a small town. It is especially not a small town when it is part of a metropolitan area of over 2 million people making money off of those outsiders.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Orlando

There are racists in the south, many are not. Some researchers believe support for Jim Crow among whites was more of a case of pluralistic ignorance than racism. Racism exists in the north as well. The only difference was that it didn't have the cover of law in the north.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralistic_ignorance

Any law that says it's all right to shoot first and maybe we'll ask questions later is a lousy law. The Texas SYG Law mandates a thorough
investigation of every SYG shooting. That's a good law.

why just shootings?

If I may add one more thing race. If the jury is made up of all white racists, are they going to let a brown guy off?