HOUSTON — Dueling marches here Sunday in support of and in opposition to the verdict in the George Zimmerman case led to a massive police deployment, heated face-offs but no violence, police said.
For many, the protests showed that although the controversial court case may be over, the debates it sparked concerning racial profiling and “stand your ground” self-defense laws have only grown, leading to demonstrations this weekend in more than 100 cities in support of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman, 29, a neighborhood watch volunteer, was acquitted this month by a Florida jury in the fatal shooting of Martin on Feb. 26, 2012. A Justice Department inquiry into the case is still underway.
Unlike in other cities, Sunday’s protest here drew several hundred Zimmerman supporters who, though far outnumbered, were outspoken and determined to be seen. They organized after Houston-based New Black Panther activist Quanell X announced plans to march through the wealthy River Oaks neighborhood to protest the verdict in the Zimmerman case. Their opposition group formed first on Facebook, G. Zimmerman River Oaks Stand Your Ground, then gathered at a small park near the site of the demonstration, the River Oaks gateway.
“Everyone here, their belief is this is an issue of the right to keep and bear arms and the right to self-defense,” said Carl Haggard, 65, a Houston lawyer who helped organize the group. A police officer debriefed the demonstrators before they left for the protest, warning them that there would be “an immense police presence” and that both sides were being monitored. Scott Harmon, 50, a project manager from Houston, said he attended because he was dissatisfied with how President Obama has responded to the case, calling his statements in support of Martin “deplorable.” “He’s supposed to be a president who unites us instead of dividing us,” Harmon said.
Some of their homemade signs said, “Zimmerman is as white as Obama” and “Americans against the New Black Panther Party.”
The demonstrators began their protest praying for Zimmerman and Martin. Then the group, which was mostly white, marched to the River Oaks Shopping Center, hoisted their signs near a Starbucks and Barnes & Noble and waited for their opponents to arrive as more than 100 police circled — on bicycles and horseback and in plainclothes.
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TM highlighted the press bias for y'all... I'm certain the Trayvon rallies were mostly black. I just doubt the same race line was said about their rallies.
The bureaucracy: the new fourth branch of government. The bureaucracy is permanent, unaccountable, unelected and choking us like a weed. The bureaucrat exists, generating nothing of value, using perceived problems to justify his existence.
The debate hasn't grown. The media wanted it to grow but they failed.
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." Thomas Jefferson
"If people can’t trust not only the executive branch but also don’t trust Congress, and don’t trust federal judges, to make sure that we’re abiding by the Constitution with due process and rule of law, then we’re going to have some problems here." - Barack Obama, June 7, 2013
Quote: Palinista wrote in post #4The debate hasn't grown. The media wanted it to grow but they failed.
yeah "mostly white" isn't nearly as good as "all white". as more and more black people make it to the middle class they have the exact same needs and wants as their white counterparts. In this case Mr. Zimmerman is a mixture of white, hispanic and black, hardly a poster child for anything but the emerging middle class that wants to protect itself from the ghetto entering its life.
nothing racial about this when properly understood. no thanks to the "duo of shame" who prefers the old descriptors to the emerging new.
here's the same word from one of the protestors at the rally. does it really matter if he is black or white???
obviously not....
Jeffrey Williams, 45, was one of the few black protesters on the Zimmerman side.
“I’m tired of this country being separated by race,” said Williams, a chef and gun owner who wore his National Rifle Assn. hat. “It’s separating the whole country. It’s not about black and white; it’s about wrong and right.”
The bureaucracy: the new fourth branch of government. The bureaucracy is permanent, unaccountable, unelected and choking us like a weed. The bureaucrat exists, generating nothing of value, using perceived problems to justify his existence.
Quote: Cedric wrote in post #3Our side really isn't very good at "takin' it to the streets".
Thank goodness!
White people are even better at it, but try to avoid doing that because when they do get that riled up,people die.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)
Quote: Palinista wrote in post #4The debate hasn't grown. The media wanted it to grow but they failed.
yeah "mostly white" isn't nearly as good as "all white". as more and more black people make it to the middle class they have the exact same needs and wants as their white counterparts.
The fact is that has ALWAYS been the case and it is the very reason the Dim Party worked so hard to get blacks on the Dim Plantation so they would remain poor and dependent,and to make sure that (almost) any black that did reach middle or higher class income levels owed it to AA,quotas,or some other Dim program.
Nothing scares the DNC more than independent blacks.
Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)