Racial Profiling: Trayyvon Martins Case - Essay Example

This paper will try to show that the motives behind Zimmerman’s shooting of Martin was racially motivated and that the stand your own ground rule in Florida has been used to defend a racial injustice of the highest order. The death of Martin Trayvon, a seventeen-year-old boy, took place on 26th February, 2012. The boy was shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who was not happy at Trayvon and his friends for being unable to stop the burglaries in their neighborhood. Zimmerman spotted the teen walk past the rain in a grey hooded sweater and alerted the police on 911.

He later followed the teen and according to eyewitnesses, there were some confrontations between the two; Trayvon was shot by Zimmerman and died on the spot. The teen was not armed at all. At that time, the police refused to arrest Zimmerman even though they knew it was him who had shot Trayvon, claiming they had no evidence to disagree with his account that he shot to defend himself. Norm Wolfinger, State attorney who was investigating the case, said that on Tuesday 10th April 2012, the case would go to grand jury which would decide whether to charge Zimmerman or not.

After the shooting incident, Mr. Zimmerman went into hiding and claimed that he shot in self-defense during a confrontation he had with Trayvon in Sanford. Mr. Zimmerman was later questioned by the police but was released with no charges under stand your ground law of Florida. The controversial law states that a killing is justified when one uses excessive force fearing for his/her own life. According to Daryl Parks, attorney for Trayvon’s parents, the CCTV footage that leaked from the police station and the statement given by the new eyewitness were important and would lead to the arrest of Zimmerman.

According to the eyewitness, two men were fighting with one on top of the other. The witness then heard gunshots and saw the bigger man walking away with no blood and he seemed he was not injured but was kind of worried. The other smaller man remained lying on the ground and he could not move, perhaps, he was dead. In critical thinking, this is enough evidence to prosecute George Zimmerman (Mackie, 1977). This essay finds it illogical that the Stand Your Ground rule would apply in the Trayvon case for George Zimmerman.

The reason, as defined in critical thinking that George Zimmerman gives for shooting Martin, gives intermediate conclusions that only contradict the reasons themselves. According to proponents of the Stand Your Ground rule, Zimmerman was acting in self-defense as he approached and confronted Martin. However, this does not make any sense as it has been indicated that Martin was unarmed. Zimmerman had no sound reason that could have led him to a critical conclusion that Martin was a threat to his neighborhood.

According to witnesses and the investigating officers, Martins was unarmed (Munson and Black, 2011). Another critical aspect of this argument that has to be considered at this level is the idea that made Zimmerman decides that Martin is a threat to the security of the neighborhood. Those who have supported Zimmerman’s arrest have cited the issue of race as the cause of his actions. The question many people ask themselves is why did Zimmerman decide to pursue Martin? Was it because of his color or his hood?

If it were a white boy, would Zimmerman have viewed him as a threat