George Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, moved into the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a 260-unit, fully-integrated, townhome community at Sanford, Florida in the summer of 2009. \u00a0In the weeks that followed their arrival, the Zimmermans and others were terrorized on a number of occasions by a vicious free-roaming pit bull.\u00a0 After filing complaints with the dog\u2019s owner and with Seminole County Animal Services\u2026 all to no avail\u2026 the Zimmermans obtained a canister of pepper spray.\u00a0 However, a Seminole County animal control officer advised them otherwise.\u00a0 According to a Zimmerman friend, the animal control officer said, \u201cDon’t use pepper spray.\u00a0 It\u2019ll take two or three seconds for the pepper spray to take effect, but only a quarter of a second for the dog to jump you.\u00a0 Get a gun.\u201d<\/p>\n
With that advice in mind, the Zimmermans purchased a 9mm Kel-Tec PF-9 handgun, attended firearms training classes at a local firing range, and received concealed-carry handgun permits.<\/p>\n
Like most urban communities, Sanford was not without its problems.\u00a0 According to a 2012 U.S. Justice Department report, Sanford had become a hub for the distribution of much-abused pain- killer drugs such as oxycodone<\/a> or hydrocodone<\/a>. \u00a0According to the report, during calendar year 2011, Sanford pharmacies ordered enough painkillers to supply a city eight times its size. \u00a0With \u00a0a population of 53,000, Sanford pharmacists ordered enough oxycodone<\/a> or hydrocodone<\/a> to support a population of 400,000.<\/p>\n And there were other types of crime, as well.\u00a0 Police records indicate that, between January 1, 2011 and February 26, 2012, police were called to The Retreat 402 times.\u00a0 In that one-year period, Sanford police responded to eight burglaries, nine thefts, one shooting, and dozens of attempted break-ins at The Retreat.\u00a0 In July 2011, a black teenager stole a bicycle from the Zimmermans\u2019 front porch.\u00a0 Police were called, but the bicycle was never recovered.<\/p>\n On August 3, 2011, a resident of The Retreat, Olivia Bertalan, was home alone with her infant son when two black men repeatedly rang her doorbell.\u00a0 She did not answer the door, and when they forced their way in through a sliding glass door at the back of the house she ran upstairs, locked herself inside the baby\u2019s nursery, and called police.\u00a0 \u00a0According to a report in Reuters, she asked the police dispatcher, \u201cWhat am I supposed to do? \u00a0I hear them coming up the stairs!\u201d<\/p>\n With a crying baby in her arms, she armed herself with a pair of rusty scissors and waited for the intruders to burst into the nursery.\u00a0 When police arrived the burglars fled out a back door.<\/p>\n Later, a concerned neighbor, George Zimmerman, arrived.\u00a0 He gave her a card containing hisphone number and invited her to call or visit his wife if ever again she felt unsafe. \u00a0He returned later and gave her a stronger lock for the sliding glass door that had been forced open.<\/p>\n A month later, in September 2011, Sanford police volunteer coordinator Wendy Dorival conducted an organizational meeting at The Retreat during which residents voted to create a neighborhood watch program.\u00a0 George Zimmerman was present at that meeting and was selected by neighbors as their n<\/a>eighborhood watch coordinator.<\/p>\n In late February 2012, a 17-year-old black man, Trayvon Martin, was staying temporarily with his father\u2019s fianc\u00e9 in a rented home at The Retreat after having been expelled from his Miami-area high school for his third disciplinary suspension of the school year.<\/p>\n At approximately 7:09 PM on February 26, 2012, a dark rainy night in Sanford, Zimmerman was driving down a street near his home when he noticed an unfamiliar person dressed in a \u201choodie.\u201d\u00a0 The young man he saw was Trayvon Martin, who was returning to his father\u2019s fianc\u00e9\u2019s residence after purchasing some candy and iced tea at a local convenience store.<\/p>\n Zimmerman telephoned Sanford police to report the unknown individual, saying, \u201cWe\u2019ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there\u2019s a real suspicious guy, just walking around looking about.\u201d\u00a0 He continued, \u201cThis guy looks like he is up to no good or he\u2019s on drugs or something\u2026 these assholes, they always get away.\u201d<\/p>\n About two minutes into the call, Zimmerman reported, \u201cHe\u2019s running!\u201d\u00a0 To which the dispatcher responded, \u201cHe\u2019s running?\u00a0 Which way is he running?\u201d\u00a0 Zimmerman then left his vehicle in an attempt to learn the direction in which Martin had fled, but immediately lost sight of him.\u00a0 And when the dispatcher asked Zimmerman if he was following him, and Zimmerman responded, \u201cYeah,\u201d the dispatcher said, \u201cWe don’t need you to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Zimmerman replied, \u201cOkay,\u201d and asked that police call him when they arrived so that he could provide them with his location.\u00a0 However, not knowing the exact street address of his location, Zimmerman proceeded to search for a street name and number.\u00a0 It was then he was confronted by Trayvon Martin.\u00a0 According to Zimmerman\u2019s account, Martin approached him out of the darkness, demanding to know, \u201cYou got a f_ _ _ing problem, homie?\u201d\u00a0 To which Zimmerman replied, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n Martin replied, \u201cWell, you do now,\u201d and punched Zimmerman, knocking him to the ground.<\/p>\n Contrary to the fiction pushed by mainstream media reporters and black race-hustlers such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, the conflict that resulted in the death of Trayvon Martin did not begin when Zimmerman left his truck to see in which direction Martin had fled.\u00a0 Zimmerman had every right to report the presence of a suspicious person in his neighborhood, and he had every right to be on the sidewalk where the confrontation occurred.\u00a0 Likewise, Trayvon Martin had every right to make a trip to the local convenience store and to walk home in the rain.\u00a0 The incident that resulted in Trayvon Martin\u2019s death began at precisely the instant when Martin approached Zimmerman, asked if he had a \u201cproblem,\u201d and received a negative response.<\/p>\n If at that point Martin had said, \u201cOkay, fine,\u201d turned on his heel and walked away, he would almost certainly be alive today and there would have been no politically-motivated, nationally-televised show trial with George Zimmerman\u2019s life on the line.\u00a0 What Trayvon Martin did not have is the right to put his fist against George Zimmerman\u2019s face.<\/p>\n In the instant that Trayvon Martin struck George Zimmereman with his fist, breaking his nose and knocking him to the ground, he was guilty of assault.\u00a0 And when he sat astride Zimmerman\u2019s prostrate form, punching him with repeated blows to the face and pounding his head against the concrete sidewalk, all the while shouting, \u201cShut the f_ _ k up.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to die tonight motherf_ _ _ er!\u201d he was guilty of a second crime: attempted murder.<\/p>\n Putting ourselves in Zimmerman\u2019s shoes, it is easy to understand that the only thought running through his mind was that he was about to suffer grievous bodily injury, or death.\u00a0 Accordingly, he was totally justified in taking his 9mm pistol from its holster and using it to subdue Trayvon Martin.\u00a0 Being in fear for his life he had every right to use whatever deadly force he had at his disposal, and that is exactly what he did.<\/p>\n Within the black community, nationwide, there is a euphemism for a race-related phenomenon called \u201cdriving while black,\u201d or DWB, describing a situation in which black male drivers are the target of traffic stops far more frequently than their white or Asian counterparts.\u00a0 However, the Trayvon Martin episode is indicative of yet another race-related phenomenon within the black community, a phenomenon that might be referred to as \u201cwalking with chip on shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, black unemployment in the United States is at least twice that of the overall population.\u00a0 And yes, unemployment among black teens is well over 40%, six times the rate for all U.S. workers, so it is understandable that young blacks might feel as if they are being denied access to economic opportunities.\u00a0 To fully explore why this is the case would require volumes.<\/p>\n However, it is safe to say that, since the dawn of the civil rights era in the 1950s and \u201860s, much has been done to level the playing field for minorities.\u00a0 Trillions of dollars have been spent on economic support programs such as AFDC and housing, while affirmative action programs have given minorities a decided advantage in access to employment opportunities and higher education.\u00a0 The opportunities are there for anyone who wishes to take advantage of them.<\/p>\n However, recalling the old adage that \u201cyou can lead a horse to water, but you can\u2019t make him drink,\u201d it is clear that far too many young blacks fail to take advantage of the many opportunities available to those who are willing to study hard, work hard, and behave themselves.\u00a0 What it all comes down to is a matter of good parenting versus bad parenting.\u00a0 Instead, they blame others for their lack of success while they walk around with a huge chip on their shoulders.<\/p>\n When Trayvon Martin attacked George Zimmerman on that sidewalk in Sanford, Florida, on the evening of February 26, 2012, it was not a well-behaved, academically superior, optimistic, and enthusiastic young teen who asked George Zimmerman, \u201cYou got a\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 f_ _ _ing problem, homie?\u201d\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t Trayvon Martin speaking.\u00a0 Those words came directly from the huge chip Trayvon carried on his shoulder.\u00a0 It is a major tragedy for the Martins, for the Zimmermans, and for every caring person who continues to believe that America is still the greatest nation on Earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" George Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, moved into the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a 260-unit, fully-integrated, townhome community at Sanford, Florida in the summer of 2009. \u00a0In the weeks that followed their arrival, the Zimmermans and others were terrorized on … Continue reading