She was impossible not to like, but I expected that. I know her sister, I’ve met her mother and her brother, and she’s lived for years in Canada. So it was clear—she’d be a nice, fun, intelligent woman. And she was.
She was also terrified of setting foot on American soil.
Which was literally about all she had to do—she was flying from Ottawa to Puerto Rico, and had a layover in JFK. But even that freaked her. Would she be safe? Would she be caught in crossfire? Who knew what could happen?
You guys up there? This is how the rest of the world is seeing us.
Consider the fact that the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, has just spoken to the NAACP, and revealed that he has had to sit down with his son—as his father sat down with him—and explain how to behave with the police. The message—yes, the police are racist; yes they will stop you unfairly; no, you can’t trust them.
This from the Attorney General?
Consider the fact that whites who kill blacks in “Stand-your-ground” states are 342% more likely to be exonerated that whites who kill other whites. Check out the chart below, based on 5,000 killings…..
Or what about the black woman who got 20 years for firing a warning shot at her ex-husband, against whom she had a restraining order?
It may be the horrific cold that has fallen upon me, or it may be true, but everything seemed seriously skewed. First of all, who dreamed up Stand-your-ground? OK—I’ve looked it up, and apparently it goes back to the very end of the 19th century. Florida, however, only enacted the stand-your-ground law in 2005. And according to CBS Miami, deaths due to self-defense are up nearly triple since the law was enacted.
OK—and this is how Wikipedia describes the moments before the shooting:
At approximately 7:09 PM,[Note 4] Zimmerman called the Sanford police non-emergency number to report what he considered a suspicious person in the Twin Lakes community.[69] Zimmerman stated, "We've had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there's a real suspicious guy."[32] He described an unknown male "just walking around looking about" in the rain and said, "This guy looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something."[70] Zimmerman reported that the person had his hand in his waistband and was walking around looking at homes.[71] On the recording, Zimmerman is heard saying, "these assholes, they always get away."[72][73]
About two minutes into the call, Zimmerman said, "he's running."[12] The dispatcher asked, "He's running? Which way is he running?"[74] The sound of a car door chime is heard, indicating Zimmerman opened his car door.[75] Zimmerman followed Martin, eventually losing sight of him.[12] The dispatcher asked Zimmerman if he was following him. When Zimmerman answered, "yeah," the dispatcher said, "We don't need you to do that." Zimmerman responded, "Okay."[76] Zimmerman asked that police call him upon their arrival so he could provide his location.[12] Zimmerman ended the call at 7:15 p.m.[12]
After Zimmerman ended his call with police, a violent encounter took place between Martin and Zimmerman, which ended when Zimmerman fatally shot Martin 70 yards (64 m) from the rear door of the townhouse where Martin was staying.
OK, so Martin was running away from Zimmerman. Zimmerman is chasing Martin—how in hell can this be self-defense? In Florida, can you really chase someone down, get into a fight, fear for your life, and kill? If so, nobody is safe.
Which is what the black guy on the documentary said—is it now open season on young black men? What was Martin supposed to do? If he had stopped in his tracks and held his hands up, would that have prevented Zimmerman from attacking him? If he had walked toward Zimmerman, would that have been perceived as “threatening?” Having been branded as an “asshole who always gets away,” there was virtually nothing Martin could do.
Well, into this gloomy picture enters Georg Philipp Telemann, the baroque composer who, at the time, was much more respected than a guy called Johann Sebastian Bach. And who knew that there was such a thing as a chalumeau? Originally a folk instrument, it was popular during the baroque period, but then was replaced by the clarinet. And guess what? I like it much more.
Enjoy, guys. I’m putting this cold to bed.
