Trayvon Martin Shooting

George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin

Just over one month ago, a seventeen year old African American teen named Trayvon Martin was shot by a community watchman in his gated community in Sanford, Florida. The watchman said he shot out of self defence, but Trayvon was completely unarmed and did not make any threats or advances toward him. There are 911 and police phone calls that were recorded from the incident, and they prove that the watchmen had no reason to be suspicious of Trayvon, let alone brutally kill him.

Many think that the watchman, George Zimmerman, acted because of racial prejudices. If that is the case, I find this event sickening. Just because the wachman saw a black teenager on the streets gives him absolutely no reason to be suspicious.

Marchers seeking justice for Trayon

There have been some pieces of information brought to the surface to try to defend the watchman's case. They were trying to prove that Trayvon Martin was a delinquent, and could have been seen as a threat in the community. One of the main pieces of evidence they brought up was that Trayvon had been suspended from school for having drug paraphenilia, and experimenting with marijuana. I think that is ridiculous that they could use that against him. Just because someone had experimented with drugs before does not make them a bad person, or threatening in any way.

I am on Trayvon's family's side in this matter. It is completely unfair and discriminatory, and just downright awful that George Zimmerman could do such a thing. This issue needs to be brought to justice.

Racist Videos by Teens

I just read this article from the Globe and Mail about two teenagers from Florida who posted videos on line of them ranting about black students at their school. It was followed by a second video by two other students in Florida also making slurs and racist remarks. In the first video they say, "If you lived here you would... not like these black people." Followed by, "There's black people, they're fine, they're educated, they go to school, they do what they have to do. Then there's n------ who can't talk right, they keep having kids, they can't get jobs. There's a difference."

I find these remarks incredibly racist, stereotypical and hurtful. The article mentions that the girls were suspended from school for posting the video, and I'm glad that they were. This is a truly awful thing to do. Since the video went viral, it has been viewed  over a million times. Posting something like this could really have a negative impact on the girls' futures. Future employers would not want to hire someone who has these ignorant and hurtful opinions.

UCLA student during her racist video

I found these videos reminding me of another one I had seen a while ago about a UCLA student who also made a racist speech about Asian students at her university. It is also full of incredibly racist remarks, and the girl comes across as very ditzy and ignorant.

The two videos can be seen here and here.

I think it's awful that people would have these opinions in the first place, but I think it is completely unacceptable to share them on line for everyone to see. Many people were offended by these videos, and the girls who posted them have all gotten themselves into a lot of trouble by doing so.