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A comparison of Two cases: Trayvon martin and Emmett Till

Let's establish the innaccuracies/stupidities of that article:

1. The boundary Martin crossed that got him into trouble wasn't geographic, it was legal. The minute you cross from legal action to illegal action, there will be trouble. The second he went from pedestrian to assaulter he was in trouble.

2. The implicit comparison of the dead bodies of Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin are astounding in their contrast. Emmett Till was beaten and tortured before he was killed and his corpse probably looked like holy hell. Trayvon Martin, outside of the single small bullet wound, had nary a scratch on his body.

3. The problem with saying that neither Emmett nor Trayvon accepted their "assigned social place" is that there is really no definition to what "assigned social place" Trayvon failed to accept. Did he not accept his assigned social place as a law-abiding citizen or his assigned role as a responsible student (getting him suspended and sent to Florida in the first place). In any case, there is little comparison to be made regarding the general acceptance of the roles assigned to Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin. Most notably, the assigned place for Emmett was irrational and unreasonably forced upon only a subset of the population. The social assignment Trayvon Martin failed (to be a good student/law abiding citizen) are socially rational and reasonably applied to pretty much everyone at that age.

here is a question i have about this debate. Why are we only focusing on such a narrow period of time, the point of time of the actual fight, and the last minutes of trayvon martins life. what about the events leading up to the fight, when Trayvon first enters the neighborhood and when he is first spotted by Zimmerman? does including what happened before the confrontation add context to the debate?
 
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here is a question i have about this debate. Why are we only focusing on such a narrow period of time, the point of time of the actual fight, and the last minutes of trayvon martins life. what about the events leading up to the fight, don't they give any context to the debate?

I'm applying reasoning to only that context which is related to the article you provided. The ultimate cause of Emmett Till's death was that he was one date with a white girl. The ultimate cause of Trayvon Martin's death was a bullet fired in self-defense of an assault. Expanding beyond that context requires the addition of several assumptions, many likely untrue, which in my opinion poisons the debate.

If you would like to broaden the context of the debate, may I suggest another comparison: Jackie Robinson. I watched "42" the other day and I was struck at the contrast between the situations. Jackie Robinson clearly was provoked on multiple occasions throughout his career to engage in fights or altercations due entirely and unequivocally because he was black. His character was defined by his ability to rise above such provocation and become something greater than the situation in which he was placed. If you would like to continue the comparison, I would encourage it. Personally, I don't think it shines a good light on the current movement surrounding Trayvon.
 
A comparison between Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin.......:doh

Emmett Till was actively pursued by people because he committed the "crime" of sweet talking a white woman. He was beaten, tortured, shot in the head and tossed in the river with a big chunk of metal chained around his neck. There was no question about the racial animus involved and that animus was itself considered to be justification by the jury.

To compare that with Trayvon Martin where there was ample evidence that the victim actively and wantonly assaulted his killer and absolutely no evidence of racial animus is more than a stretch. Hell, it's more than a moon shot. It's simply race baiting.

I find a closer comparison of the Emmett Till incident to the Christian/Newsom murder case. The only exception is that the Progressive Left refused to call that a Racist Hate Crime. A young white college student couple abducted, raped, tortured and mutilated for days while alive, then killed.
 
I find a closer comparison of the Emmett Till incident to the Christian/Newsom murder case. The only exception is that the Progressive Left refused to call that a Racist Hate Crime. A young white college student couple abducted, raped, tortured and mutilated for days while alive, then killed.

It's definitely closer and the brutality in that case was actually worse but the racial aspect wasn't as well defined as it was in the Till murder. It is, however, quite telling that without the direct racial aspect the case got nothing close to the scrutiny that the Zimmerman/Martin case got.
 
It's definitely closer and the brutality in that case was actually worse but the racial aspect wasn't as well defined as it was in the Till murder. It is, however, quite telling that without the direct racial aspect the case got nothing close to the scrutiny that the Zimmerman/Martin case got.

I do have to agree with you up to a point. Here's what I've read about it, "We have no evidence to support the notion that this was a race-based crime," said Knoxville police chief Sterling Owen, "we see this as a cold-blooded murder." Those believer were echoed by Knox County DA Randy Nichols: "It was a terrible crime, a horrendous crime, but race was not a motive. We know from our investigation that the people charged in this case were friends with white people, socialized with white people, dated white people... there is no evidence of any racial animus, there's evidence to the contrary."
In comparison:

The media and majority of blacks want you to believe that George Zimmerman is a racist. This is far from the truth, George Zimmerman is not a racist. The Telegraph (London, England) is reporting the following.
•George Zimmerman voted and campaigned for Obama.
• George Zimmerman and his black friend opened an insurance company in Florida.
• George Zimmerman has black family members. Some of George's black family members lived with him, at some point.
• George Zimmerman launched a campaign to help a homeless black man who was beaten up by a white kid.
• George dated and took a black girl to the prom.
• George Zimmerman also mentored young black males.​
You will never hear the media mention any of this.
Source:
back fence chat: George Zimmerman Voted For Obama & Dated A Black Girl

So how can those race hating individuals claim that George Zimmerman committed a hateful race crime?
 
that topic involves finding a solution to poverty, and that is also a very complicated issue with no easy answer.
The poor will always be with us. There is no solution to what you allude to. Financial poverty has little to do with social and spiritual poverty. The latter two are much more significant, and are solvable.
 
These two cases are so utterly different that comparing them is like comparing apples and supernovae.

It's beyond idiotic....it's deliberately misleading.
 
I remember posting a prediction sometime during the case and before the verdict, that if zimmerman was not convicted, some people in the African American community or with a prior knowledge of the civil rights movement would compare this case to another infamous case: the Murder of Emmett till.

well it turns out i just found out a article that mentions both cases

A Longer Look at the Emmett Till-Trayvon Martin Comparison | Nicolaus Mills

This is interesting and makes me curious. What is your take on it? What do you consider to be legitimate parallels?

It's difficult when you use such an extreme example because there are components of it that are similar to another more current issue. People tend to react with anger because they do not understand the limited similarities, they tend to accuse one of claiming they are completely alike. I applaud you for posting it.

I think the point the writer is trying to make is that these cases are similar only to the extent that both did follow the rules or respect the limitations set on them by white society. THAT similarity I can see.
 
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