I’m going to anxiously await CSGV to condemn this:
The New Black Liberation Militia, a self-styled black survival group, has announced that it plans to make a citizens arrest of Zimmerman next week, the Associated Press reported.
It quoted Najee Muhammad, a group leader, saying, “We’ll find him. We’ve got his mug shot and everything.”
Natalie Jackson, a lawyer for the Martin family, said she does not support the threat, but also cannot control them.
If CSGV is to live up to its own standards, and not be hypocritical tools, it would not only condemn this, but also smear the Martin family. As it is, I think the Martin family is correct in their response, and I agree they can’t control the situation. But what some people would call justice, I would call vigilantism and kidnapping. CSGV is willing to hold all of us responsible for the actions of whack jobs and lunatics, so I don’t see why they would make an exception in this case.
I roundly condemn what the NBL Militia is attempting here, and believe CSGV should as well. The rule of law is the rule of law, and men are entitled to a presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law. If this were the New White Liberation Militia, they would condemn their very existence, and I would join them. They would also smear us with the specter of such a militia, which I would not do. It is as unfair to smear all African-Americans with the specter of the NBLM as it is to smear all Second Amendment supporters with the specter of Tim McVeigh and racist militia groups. But I can promise you CSGV lives by a double standard here. They are fraud, they know they are frauds, which is why all they have left is anger.
If they go looking for the guy, I can promise violence will ensue, they probably wont get him without a fight. and he would be justified in shooting.
A lot of militia groups, the kind CSGV is willing to condemn, do a lot of chest beating. I don’t see any reason that wouldn’t be the case with militia groups CSGV is unwilling to condemn.
It is going to be a hot summer.
So, can Zimmerman shoot these guys if they attempt to “arrest” him?
In any state, with our without castle doctrine, you can use deadly force to prevent a kidnapping.
I’ll put cold hard cash down on the barrel head, and say deadly force would still be unjustified during a kidnapping here in NJ.
If they plan to actually do that, they’d better hurry up while Holder is still AG.
Seriously, I’m with Sebastian – this story is a lame combination of a self-righteous liberal reporter and some Sharptonite jackwagon who says he has a militia and knows the term “citizens arrest”.
AND he’s got a cool uniform!
personally if a group of people came at me with the intentions of kidknapping me, I would feel threatened enough to use deadly force. I’m all for prosecution if they collect the evidence that he commited a crime, and I’d feel the same way if it wasn’t a black vs latino issue.
I’m relatively indifferent to the racial equation in this case, other than as an exercise in people’s irrational fixation on skin color. I’m covering this heavily for the same reason I covered the Gerald Ung case so closely…. it’s happening on the fringes of self-defense law, and those are going to be the most interesting cases. Actually, I think Ung was a pretty clear cut case of self-defense, and it looked that way even from the beginning when they showed the tape. It’s just the the city had an argument to use to go after him.
I think Zimmerman’s case of self-defense looks very tenuous from where I’m standing. He behaved poorly and a teenager died because of it. But it is a difficult case to prove murder. From what I can tell, there were no real witnesses, and the other side of the story died with Martin. This is one of those cases we’ll probably just never know. But in the presence of doubt, the shooter walks. That’s just the way the law is, castle doctrine or not.
Or perhaps wealthy neighborhood. It’s pretty clear the neighborhood has to be a mix considering Martin’s family was black, and Zimmerman is hispanic, all living in the same development. But regardless, it’s hard to see how Martin was objectively suspicious.
Though, I don’t mean to trivialize what I believe is a correct belief that Zimmerman was racist in his perception of Martin. A kid walking down a neighborhood street slowly, in the rain, with a hoodie up, and not keeping his eyes firmly fixated ahead of him suddenly becomes “These assholes” that “always get away.”
Hard to see what the kid was doing to make Zimmerman form that thought, other than being a black kid in a white neighborhood.
So, nobody even criticized you and you felt the need to clarify that you’re not discounting Zimmerman’s possible racial motivations. I see what you’re saying about trying to focus on the self defense law angle, but you cannot get away from the racial angle, because that’s all this case is about for most of the people following it. Also including many if not most of those who will influence the outcome (and as you point out, it is at least somewhat relevant – maybe a lot relevant)
A condemnation of the NBLM by Josh and Ladd? Not gonna happen as they are too invested in the incitement of outrage directed at George Zimmerman.
I have to wonder what they plan on doing with him after they “arrest” him. They can’t turn him over to the police, because he isn’t charged with a crime, and the police are more likely to arrest them for kidnapping. I don’t expect it to be healthy for Zimmerman if they do get hold of him.
If he kills one of them trying to defend himself, I don’t think he’ll survive. And if the police intervene, or heaven forbid actually shoot one of them while trying to protect him, there will be riots.
I think this is a lot of chest beating, personally.
I hope you are right…..
As long as we feel the need to label people by color racism will still be with us. I grew up in South Jersey, where whites were the minority, it was never an issue to me and I still count several of the people I grew up with as friends, some black, some white and some ‘other’. There are also many I never talked to after HS graduation, also of all colors.
Bottom line is we should NOT CARE what Color either person was, just if the shooting was justified or not.
Ladd is actually drumming up emotions for this case, and is even retweeting death threats and Mr. Zimmerman’s Address.
http://www.weerdworld.com/2012/lynch-mob/
He wants an all out race riot.
Hey, anything to get those guns off the street. You need to break a few eggs to make an omelette and all that.
Ladd is just dense. I hope he finds something better to do with his time soon
Tim McVeigh racist militia groups
Errr, which would these be?
Perhaps I’ve forgotten after so long, but I thought McVeigh and company’s only relation to “militia groups” was getting kicked out of one after advocating violence.
Yes, Militia of Michigan told him he was not welcome.
How dare you bring reason into this discussion! McVeigh has ties, ties I tell you! He’s been to militia meetings! What more can you want? And because McVeigh is racist, then those militias must be racist too! Why would a racist attend a militia meeting otherwise?
I can’t believe you seriously question these ties. Next thing you know, you’ll be claiming that Obama actually believed the words of a pastor whose sermons Obama attended for the last twenty years.
Indeed.
But WRT to Obama’s church, there’s the theory that he needed to join it to gain credibility as an at least vaguely authentic African-American. Plus local politics as I recall. There’s no sign he’s seriously religious and it’s been noted he’d attended very few services since becoming President.
Which is not to say that I don’t suspect he and Wright agree on more than a few things.
Consider yourself denounced. Report for re-education, comrade Alpheus.
There was supposed to be an “and” between those two separate things.
“Men are entitled to a presumption of innocence until proven guilty”. It’s a shame this didn’t apply to Martin.
Yes… but I’m speaking more specifically about what is required of the government. Street confrontations don’t get to happen formally, and are judges after the fact. It’s just the nature of things.