Today's Menu:
Michelle Malkin's website Twitchy's racism and Faux Apology
Lynching Trayvon Martin
Killing Trayvon and now killing his reputation
Hoodies and Hijabs Shaima Alawadi murdered for being a Muslim in America
Trayvon murdered for being black in America
Michelle Malkin Twitchy Apology not much of an apology. Twitchy apology is one of those faux apologies the right is often accused of giving in which they claim that whatever they wrote might be true but has upset those who are just too damned sensitive. So showing a photo of a black teenager in baggy pants and giving the camera the finger was at first identified as Trayvon Martin but when Michelle Malkin was called out on this she makes her faux apology.
What she does ,trying to be clever ,is to show the side by side photos and in the text strikes through the statement that this is Trayvon Martin.
But it is all just wink and a nod to her racist prone readers to realize that as far as Michelle Malkin and other conservatives are concerned all black teens look the same and supposedly all want to appear as tough gangsters so in the end these black kids get what they deserve according to the Conservative racist point of view.
In Michelle Malkin's mind and that of her racist conservative friends the kid in the picture no matter what his name could just as easily have been Trayvon martin since they (blacks)are all the same including in their perverse twisted racist mind-set is President Obama. So the kid in the picture can be depicted as being that of Obama's son if he had one.
Why #TeamDueProcess is important for justice; Correction and update: Twitchy issues apology for fake Trayvon Martin photo by twitchy staff, March 25,2012
Recognize these two people? If you don’t, we’ll help you out. The man on the left is George Zimmerman, the man accused of murdering the boy on the right, Trayvon Martin. The mainstream media won’t show you these two photos because they convey a message that no one else wants to take into consideration.
Correction, 8:56 pm ET March 25, 2012: We made a mistake. The photo on the right is not of the Trayvon Martin who was shot by Zimmerman. We apologize to our readers and to the Martin family.
The problem with this non-apology apology is that the damage is already done as the Right wing media in the US goes on the attack against anyone who sees this tragedy as having country wide ramifications. The Conservative movement over the last 40 years has always denied there was a problem with racism . They claim there was only a problem when the federal government got involved of issues of race. They insist their negative portrayal of black Americans is not racist but rather in their view reflects reality.
As has been said before the Conservative movement has never been comfortable with the notion of the federal or state governments defending vigorously the rights of Black Americans or other minorities. They appear to believe that all such issues should be left up to the individual states in which one state could pass measures as they are now doing aimed had making it more difficult for the poor and Blacks and other minorities from voting. In any other country just bringing up such a notion would be a scandal but in the US the very act of voting and the process of being a registered voter has been politicized by both parties at one time or another.
Trayvon Martin Lynching: Lawrence O'Donnell Challenges Orlando Sentinel ...
Uploaded by politicalarticles on Mar 27, 2012 A Coordinated Defense of 'Murderer' George Zimmerman By Republicans & The Corrupt Sanford, Florida Police Begins in Trayvon Martin 'Lynching' Case: http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/2012/03/27/a-coordinated-defense-of-mur...
Plouffe doesn't like Sharpton's race summit idea
Uploaded by toddfein on Mar 25, 2012
How scared is the White House that there's a race controversy going on? Listen to David Plouffe, the inside the WH guy who coordinates policy with David Axelrod at the campaign, run for national defense cover rather than discuss leading a summit on race. 3-25-12
This could be Obama's golden moment as it were for him to take a stand and not hedge his bets fearing upsetting the Republican Party or Conservatives.
Dishonoring Trayvon Martin New details in the case don't undermine the charge that Sanford cops acted irresponsibly -- they underscore it by joan Walsh at Salon.com,March 26,2012
...It’s hard not to notice that the push-back began once President Obama made his remarks Friday. Two consummate race-baiters, Newt Gingrich and Pat Buchanan, blasted the president. Gingrich called his remarks “disgraceful” and suggested Obama’s comments meant he wouldn’t have been concerned about the murder had Martin been white. Buchanan said the president should stop siding with those who are “stirring up racial rage.” An expert on stirring up racial rage, Buchanan is the last person to be giving Obama advice about race.
The fact is, whatever turns out to be true, the president was right: This case looks like too many others where a young black man was gunned down for being a young black man. A 17-year-old was shot to death, and no one was taken to a police station to be questioned about it. It then took police three days to locate the dead boy’s family. Now they’re sliming him with anonymous leaks.
Whether or not Martin was wearing a hoodie, or had ever used marijuana; whether or not he and Zimmerman had an altercation that night: at minimum, the cops botched this investigation, and didn’t do anything like what should have been required in a case when an unarmed 17-year-old shows up dead. That’s the bottom line here. Trayvon Martin didn’t have to be a polo-and-khakis-wearing Boy Scout to have his rights respected. Did some of his family’s defenders go too far in depicting him as a fresh-faced child, as some on the right allege? We don’t know that. We only know that the family and their many supporters have cobbled together a movement to demand justice, and they’ve used the facts they had at their disposal. Had the cops done their job, they wouldn’t have had to.
The facts, the lies, and the unknowns in the Trayvon Martin case by Ryan Witt at examiner.com, March 25,2012
...there is at least some evidence that race played some role in the shooting.
Zimmerman made 46 calls to 911 in the year before the shooting. Most of those calls involved Zimmerman reporting young, black men. One time Zimmerman called about a 7 to 9 year old black male who “looked suspicious” according to him. When Zimmerman called 911 to report Martin he knew nothing about Martin other than the fact that Martin was walking in his neighborhood and “looking around.” Martin was unarmed at the time, carrying a bag of skittles and a bottle of ice tea.
CNN has closely examined one part of the 911 tape in which Zimmerman allegedly refers to Martin and others as “f*cking coons.”
...What we do know is that Zimmerman himself said he was following Martin first when he called the police dispatcher. We also know that Zimmerman was carrying a 9 mm handgun while, as stated earlier, Martin was unarmed. The 911 dispatcher specifically told Zimmerman to stop following Martin after reporting Martin’s “suspicious behavior.” Zimmerman evidently ignored that directive. At the very least, the entire conflict likely would have been avoided had Zimmerman simply drove past Martin.
Even if Martin first hit Zimmerman it is not a slam dunk case of self-defense. Martin weighed 140 pounds, while Zimmerman weighed over 250 pounds. In order to use deadly force against Martin Zimmermann would have to believe that his own life was in danger from an unarmed boy nearly his half his size. One is not entitled do shoot someone else merely because the other person hit them. Specifically, in order to claim self-defense Zimmerman would have had to reasonably fear for his life at the moment he pulled the trigger. If Martin first hit Zimmerman, and then Zimmerman gained the advantage and was on top of Martin when he shot him this likely would not be a case of self-defense. Multiple witnesses from the scene say that it was Martin, not Zimmerman, who was crying for help moments before the shots were fired.
The crime scene, and specifically the position of both Zimmerman and Martin at the time the shots were fired, would be crucial in determining the validity of Zimmerman’s self-defense claim. At this point those facts are unknown. Some witnesses have testified that Zimmerman was on top at the time of the shooting, and that Martin was found face down after being shot. If these facts are true, it is hard to imagine how Martin posed a serious threat to Zimmerman in this position.
Finally, there is the evidence of past behavior. Martin was never involved in any known incidents of violence before being shot by Zimmerman. Zimmerman, on the other hand, was charged with resisting arrest with violence and battery on an officer in July of 2005. The charges were later dropped based on pretrial errors. Zimmerman's ex-fiance also made allegations of domestic abuse after a pushing match in an apartment.
What Everyone Needs To Know About The Smear Campaign Against Trayvon Martin (1995-2012)
By Judd Legum at Think Progress.org,Mar 26, 2012
Over the last 48 hours, there has been a sustained effort to smear Trayvon Martin, the 17-year old African-American who was shot dead by George Zimmerman a month ago. Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, said, “They killed my son, now they’re trying to kill his reputation.”
Thus far these attacks have fallen into two categories: false and irrelevant. Much of this leaked information seems intended to play into stereotypes about young African-American males. Here’s what everyone should know:
1. Prominent conservative websites published fake photos of Martin. Twitchy, a new website run by prominent conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, promoted a photo — purportedly from Martin’s Facebook page — that shows Martin in saggy pants and flipping the bird. The photo, which spread quickly on conservative websites and Twitter, is intended to paint Martin as a thug. As Twitchy later acknowledged, it is not a photo of Trayvon Martin. [Examiner]
2. The Sanford Police selectively leaked irrelevant, negative information about Martin. The authorities told the Orlando Sentinel this morning that Trayvon was suspended from school for ten days “after being found with an empty marijuana baggie.” There is no evidence that Martin was under the influence of drugs at the time of his death, nor would prior possession of marijuana be a reason for killing him. It’s unclear what the relevance of the leak was, other than to smear Martin. [Orlando Sentinel]
3. On Fox News, Geraldo said that Martin was dressed “like a wannabe gangster.” Bill O’Reilly agreed with him. The sole evidence is that Martin was wearing a hoodie. Geraldo added that “everyone that ever stuck up a convenience store” was wearing a hoodie. [ThinkProgress; The Blaze]
4. Without any evidence, prominent right-wing bloggers suggested that Martin was a drug dealer. Right-wing blogger Dan Riehl advances the theory, also advanced in a widely linked peice on a site called Wagist. There does not appear to be any evidence to support this claim whatsoever. [Riehl World View]
5. Without any evidence, a right-wing columnist alleged that Martin assaulted a bus driver. Unlike Zimmerman, Trayvon has no documented history of violence. This allegation continues to be advanced by a blogger on the Examiner even after the real reason was leaked to the police and confirmed by the family. [Miami Herald; Examiner]
6. Zimmerman’s friend says Martin was to blame because he was disrespectful to Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s friend Joe Oliver said that Martin would not have been shot to death if Trayvon had just said “I’m staying with my parents.” Of course, Zimmerman was not a police officer, and Trayvon had no duty to tell him who he was or where he was going. [NBC News]
The final part of the effort to smear Trayvon Martin is to link him and his supporters to irresponsible fringe groups like the New Black Panthers and marginal provocateurs like Louis Farrakhan. Threats by these groups are serious and should be investigated, but they have nothing to do with Martin or his supporters. The leader of the effort to associate Martin with these groups is Matt Drudge. You can see how he is framing the story today here.
Ultimately, whether Martin was a perfect person is irrelevant to whether Zimmerman’s conduct that night was justified. Clearly, there are two different versions of the events that transpired on February 26, the night Trayvon was killed. There are conflicting statements by witnesses and conflicting evidence as to who was the aggressor. Zimmerman has the right to tell his side of the story. But his opportunity to do this will come in a court of law after he is charged and arrested. In the meantime, Zimmerman’s supporters should stop trying to smear the reputation of a dead, 17-year-old boy.
Hijabs and Hoodies
and there has been another tragic race /religion based murder in this case the murder of an Iraqi-American Shaima Alwadi who is a Muslim. In effect she was killed because her assailants noted that she wore an Hijab Muslim head scarf.
So we have people being judged by something they wear in the case of Trayvon some think he deserved to be killed because he was wearing a Hoodie whereas Shaima Alwadi was murdered because she wore the Hijab.
Those who have been trying to get more attention by the media about this tragedy are questioning why the media has spent so little time on this murder of an American Muslim. We know if this could have been spun as an honor killing the right wing and the Islamophobes would be all over this story but not when the story reflects badly on Non-Muslim Americans.
Iraqi Woman’s Death Sparks Online Movement at mashable, March 26,2012
With national attention on the Trayvon Martin case, another racially-charged case is moving into the spotlight. Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old Iraqi immigrant and mother of five, died on Saturday near San Diego. Her death comes three days after her daughter found her severely beaten on Wednesday in her home of El Cajon, Calif., next to a note saying “go back to your country.”
Immediately after the AP reported her death, the story became the #1 worldwide trending topic on Twitter. Users quickly compared #RIPShaima and the hijab she was wearing — a mark of her Muslim faith — to the #RIPTrayvon hashtag and the hoodie he was wearing when he was shot and killed by a neighborhood watchman. Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera had claimed that Martin’s hoodie was the cause of his death, a comment which sparked an online wave of hoodie-wearing in protest.
In the same way that the hoodie has become emblematic of support for Trayvon Martin, the Facebook page “One Million Hijabs for Shaima Alawadi” has become an online destination for advocates of Alawadi. On the Facebook page, users are sharing photos of themselves wearing a headscarf, posting articles and videos relevant to the case and planning community events to raise awareness. A status update posted on Sunday, along with a photo of Alawadi, states the reason for the cause and urges citizens to take a stand:
This is #ShaimaAlwadi. Now look at her smile. She could be your daughter, your sister, your friend. We cannot let the children in this country grow up in a world so full of hatred that a woman wearing a head scarf is afraid for her life, that a black kid wearing a hoodie is afraid for his life, a world where the victim of sexual violence gets the blame for the actions of the perpetrator because of what she was wearing. Enough. The color of your skin, your gender or your outfit cannot be used an excuse or an invitation for violence. We are all Shaima. We need a Million Hijab March.
Though Shaima Alawadi’s case was quick to gain worldwide traction upon her death, it took weeks for Trayvon Martin’s case to receive national attention. As both the New York Times and On the Media reported, the diversity — or lack thereof — in newsrooms may have something to do with this. Most of the notable media figures who first reported on Trayvon Martin’s case and pushed for further investigation are black men. Likewise, looking at the Twitter stream of #RIPShaima, many of the top tweets about her death are coming from those who identify with her or have close ties to the Arab world:
Tasneem Raja@tasneemraja
I don't wear a hijab, but nearly every other woman in my family covers. Shaima could have been my mother, aunt, cousin, sister... #RipShaima
25 Mar 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Butheina HK بثينة@butheina
Hoodie or hijab - this needs to stop #RIPShaima #RIPTrayvon facebook.com/pages/One-Mill…
25 Mar 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Imran@RKSTNI
When a hate crime happens in this country it happens to ALL of us. We cannot afford to sit idly by. #RIPShaima #RIPTrayvon
25 Mar 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Paul Rieckhoff@PaulRieckhoff
As an Iraq vet, and as an American, I am beyond outraged by Shaima's death. This could have been so many of my friends. #RIPShaima #IAVA
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