Responding to Benjamin's thoughts about the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, all of this post-verdict

Apparently I am going to have to "get into it" with my blog partner. Rather than create comments ( like you need to do ) I am going to post my response to Benjamin's "facts."

1. George Zimmerman was not the only eyewitness to the events. Jonathan Good was also an eyewitness.
   RESPONSE: My comment was about events leading up to the tussle. Johathan Good saw what was going on after the tussle began; to suggest he is a witness to how it started is, frankly, disingenuous. Quoting from the material Benjamin himself linked to, 'When he heard more noise, he opened his sliding glass door, took a step outside, and spotted what "seemed like a tussle."' The confrontation had already begun. He has no credibility about events leading to it.
   
2. George Zimmerman is not white.
   RESPONSE: true; he's also not black.
   
3. We don't know that George Zimmerman identified Trayvon Marton as a possible thief because he is racist.
   RESPONSE: I didn't say so, either.
   
4. We do know that Trayvon Marton was a thief.
   RESPONSE: I don't know how Benjamin knows that; I read the story to which he pointed and don't know that. The article includes these words, "No evidence ever surfaced that the jewelry was stolen."
   RESPONSE II: Even if that one incident did involve stolen items, George Zimmerman didn't know about it. To suggest that had anything to do with Zimmerman's following Martin that night is, at best, ludicrous.
   
5. We do know that Trayvon Marton was a racist.
   RESPONSE:I had read the story to which Benjamin pointed before posting my thoughts. I didn't "get" that Trayvon was a racist then. I reread the story now and still fail to find a suggestion, let alone an assertion or proof, of this.
   What I do find is support for my assertion that Zimmerman scared Martin. The article quotes the woman to whom Martin was speaking as saying, ' ... when he became unnerved by someone following him, apparently Zimmerman."He told me the man kept following him," Jeantel said.'
   Finally, were it true, I would ask what the pertinence of it is to any of the questions at hand. Martin was being followed, at night, in the rain, by a big guy, who had an attitude and a loaded weapon.

I stand by my original post.