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Desnee Flakes

Desnee Flakes
Aiken, South Carolina, US
December 04


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MARCH 26, 2012 10:06PM

The Man Who Wasn't There Bears Witness

Rate: 13 Flag



What kind of journalism is it when a third party named Joe Oliver is interviewed about an incident which he was not present for? Chris Matthews announced that he had a guest on Hardball that would shed light on the Trayvon Martin shooting. What he had was a friend of George Zimmerman appear to tell us what George Zimmerman wants us to believe.

He attempted to shade the incident, and to dispel the notion that George may have used the word coon. He did this by stating that George was not culturally white. If George filled out a Census form he was asked if he is Hispanic white or Hispanic black. He had a third option to claim some other race or SOR. I highly doubt that he chose SOR, and suspect that he self identified as Hispanic white. Even if he didn't I can direct anyone to the series by Dr. Henry Louis Gates titled Black in Latin America. You will see that whatever racism exist here there were actually programs in Latin America to "lighten" the populace. I can also direct you to videos by Latino actors, all black, who discribe the racism that exist within their own family structures and community. We are also being asked to believe though his father is a white American, he is culturally Hispanic. What exactly does that mean?

He states that George Zimmerman was attacked by Trayvon, again this man wasn't present so he is merely repeating what George Zimmerman has told him. By now George has to be aware that even the authors of the bill have stated that from the 911 recording he can't use the Stand Your Ground defense because he was stalking Trayvon. I'm wondering other than Trayvon's color and his choice of outerwear in the rain, what did he do that made him suspicious? And what is Zimmerman's defense if those are the only criteria he used to pursue him? Is that all a citizen or cop needs as a defense to shoot a black man? Meanwhile an actual witness appeared on Rev. Sharpton's Politics Nation, Mary Cutcher stated she heard the boy crying for help. She went further to ask if that was Zimmerman why wasn't he crying right after shooting Trayvon? Good question. In other reports she and her roomate saw Zimmerman straddling Trayvon's body and that he made no effort to help him.  A boy identified only as Austin stated as the other witnesses had that they only heard a boy crying for help prior to the shot.

Trayvon's parents are angry because an authorized source within the police department has leaked information that their evidence bears out Zimmerman's account. However, there is no record of anyone asking George Zimmerman for an account of the incident on the scene. Further Mr. Oliver states that his friend is in hiding fearing for his life, that's ironic because I think Trayvon being followed probably was in fear for his life as well. That might not have been the first time Trayvon was followed by a white man, we will never know, but we do know that in his phone call to his girlfriend he states he won't run, he will walk faster. Was that from a past experience or was that something his parents taught him?

For Trayvon's parents I will say get used to your son's character being attacked. I learned that in my son's murder trial. Not only can they attack your son's character, they don't have to prove a word they say about him. If they have to prove it then the ADA in my case was even worse than I thought.  She couldn't refute anything the defense said: because she hadn't bothered to ask me or my grandmother a single question about who Chace was. Nor did she call a single character witness. Also Zimmerman has several violent incidents for which he has a record, but those cases can't be used at trial as they aren't related to the Martin case. So while they can talk about why Treyvon was suspended from school-- which has no bearing on the case--it is only the defendants past that is out of bounds. The dead victim can only hope that the ADA is truly their advocate.

The longer this investigation goes on the more it appears that Robert Zimmerman's career as a Virginia Magistrate and wife Gladys' career as a court clerk have given their son some advantage with the authorities. From where I sit it appears that the police never saw the shooting as a possible murder and therefore did nothing to preserve any evidence. This seems to be one of the glaring problems with the Stand Your Ground law as it applies here, all one has to do to claim they were defending themselves. The witnesses have stated before that they felt their witness statements had been altered to make it appear they were supporting Zimmerman, when in fact they weren't. Had the Martins felt they had no recourse rather than to use social media to force the hand of justice, these gaping holes might not have been seen till the next Trayvon Martin died. We really owe them a debt of gratitude for not being cowed by a system that at this moment seems skewed towards a man with a history of violence, who is described by some as a "wanna be" cop.

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I hear the interview today and was taken aback by the secondhand excuses. Zimmerman CHOSE to follow Trayvon. He CHOSE to do so with a gun. He began the unholy drama and he ended it with that gun. Sen. Chuck Shumer of NY and others have demanded that this proliferation of "Stand Your Ground" laws be examined since they seem to promote violenct responses in situations that do not warrant such an extreme response. I am with you 100%.
More despicable rubbish! Please notice my friend, not EVEN ONE talks about what this law requires! Imagine that! Way are they not talking about what the law actually requires Zimmerman to prove? You know the answer! To perpetuate, preserve, and exploit ignorance. Remember the Rev. Wright? "You gotta keep the People ignorant!" This 'journalist is a scum bag who never even bothered tread the law he's talking about. Read the law! Fact. Fact. Facts.

AND that comment is correct, Neighborhood Watch and the housing complex not allow patrols to carry a guns. So Zimmerman was, at no time engaged in "lawful conduct" himself. And he disobeyed the 911 police who told him not to give chase. I think that alone might have been a misdemeanor. Two more reasons GZ can 't assert the defense. AND there is more!

I just discovered this: George Zimmerman is a 5 ft 9, 250 pound gorilla ! who (against Neighborhood Watch rules - another fact they don’t tell us) was packing black Kel Tec 9 mm PF9, a semiautomatic hand gun. With 8 rounds ready to slam pow, pow, pow, pow. The semi-automatic locked breech pistol chambered for the 9MM Luger cartridge was developed with maximum concealability in mind. It’s lightest and flattest 9MM ever made

Trayvon Martin was a cream-puff as a so-called football player (an other fact they have failed to tell you!). No linebacker he was 6ft 3 and mere 140lbs on the day. Skin n bone! His nickname was ''Slimm" and he was armed to the teeth with a bag of Scuttles. What a formidable opponent!

But I’m sure it was that plastic bottle of iced tea that really struck terror in the heart of the 250 lb Zimmerman who ‘stood his ground’ and chased him down and shot him when Travon tried to defend himself.

This is not a question of bad law as much as bad law enforcement. An injustice you are all too familiar with.

Zimmerman is toast. This ‘defense’ is his admission. This one will NOT slip through the cracks. I predict this jury will be instructed that they cannot even entertain this defense. A "directed verdict"

Zimmerman. stripped of the defense will be left with Florida common law self-defense but not this statutes. This defense is Trayvon's silver bullet.
Thank God I don't watch cable news. Sometimes we get carried away with our own paranoid and prideful thoughts and the result is tragedy when we act out on someone. It sounds like this is what happened here. When cable news gets ahold of a story like this, the result is always more confusion and misinformation rather than clarity.
[r] well said, Desnee. The accumulated injustices such as yours and the rippling of your fight and the fights of way too many others as well as the fight of these devoted parents is what made the tipping point of national outrage happen to such a degree now. And yet a national coming together, well, that is what was tried behind Obama, the audacity of hope for REAL change, and that didn't turn out so hot (profound understatement from me) and it is amazing how "talk to the hand" surreal it can stay from the ferocity of self- and crony-protectiveness of those in power. And the shabby gamesmanship of the well-heeled as in heel legal mouthpieces for the privileged who enjoy their own hyper rigged game, and the media that cravenly does commentary obsessed with gamesmanship, obtuse to morality, and presumes to declare the winner. I wish I had Francoise's confidence justice will prevail. best, libby
@beauty, Francoise, Patrick, and Libby just heard that the chief investigating homocide detective wanted to arrest George Zimmerman because he didn't believe him, but was overruled. Also the police determined that Mary Cutcher wasn't credible therefore they didn't want to take her statement. Gil Scott-Heron called it Just-Us it appears it still is.
Matthews is a bad joke.
Sadly, one has to really witness these systems up close to truly understand. In my case, the public defender refused to cross examine the witnesses. If she had perjury and obstruction of justice charges would have to be forthcoming and the trial would have to last much longer. She openly admitted to me at some point. " I work for the city." Oddly, she works for the county so she was admitting that she worked for the adversary, in my case. Later on, I'd learn, how bad her representation really was.
I just read a blog where a public defender talks about her experiences and she says that there is no justice in that system only "interests." This struck me as so apt. Ambition, blind or otherwise rule the legal system. I constantly felt this overbearing self interest from every player in my legal saga. Justice or truth seemed inconsequential.
If the media is there then the players are being watched and justice may result, but without the media's glare, base self interest rules that world. I have the utmost disdain for all those that live in that legal system. Even the non evil ones witness and don't report. The clerks and bailiffs treated me like gold cause they knew the score.

The ADA in your case sounds typical. Destroying peoples reputations, without a shred of evidence, is par for the course for lawyers. Working out of principle or conviction is too time consuming and doesn't make them rich, or elected to the positions they've set thier sights on. I don't consider myself a harsh critic when it comes to people, and I offer benefit of doubts, like crazy, but these conclusions are inescapable.
I hope you keep writing about your experiences . TV and the news potray the police, judges, and prosecutors in a light that misleads the public.
Desnee, it's a sham. I cannot imagine what you are going through or what Trayvon's parents are going through, but the character assassination is cruel and unjust especially in light of his death. Keep writing.
Keep the reports coming, Desnee. The Oliver interviews were a travesty. Laurence O'Donnell and Charles Blow ripped him apart on Last Word. They guy had no business being on TV. Knew nothing and was simply there to promote himself and muddy the waters. Just shows how easy misinformation will be in this environment.
My hands are shaking after reading your post. Tainted journalism. And people heard Trayvon cry for help... this so blatantly smells like a cover up. I watched the video of Zimmerman being taken into custody for questioning the night of the shooting last night. His nose wasn't bleeding and his head looked fine too. The kid was crying for help and walking fast to get away him, and Zimmerman says it was self defense on his part - a 250 pound man pursuing a kid with a loaded gun.

I'm sorry for the pain you have been through. Please keep writing, Des, for kids like your beloved Chace, and Trayvon, who can't speak for themselves and deserve justice.
As a white person, I always thought that non-whites should all stick together in solidarity against the power of the unfriendly majority. Alas I have found that the various minority peoples don't think that way.

Hell, even within minority groups you can't count on cohesion - as per this Joe Oliver guy (and some other notable cases...I'm looking at you, Mr. Goldfish-and-bunny killer). Fortunately, no total cohesion within the whites either, of course.
Very sad state of affairs and this has ALWAYS sounded like a cover-up to me. It seems like the police department has very slanted views! That is putting it lightly. It is almost as though the person at the helm of this department is an extreme racist and the employees are going along with this. Don't people realize in these situations only Hell fire awaits them for their sins against humanity? I have never seen a severe, blatant cover-up as this has been in my whole life. Who the hell are they trying to please? Who can be on the side of a killer of a child, who was on 911 tapes, saying exactly how he felt and then taking the law into his own, 4 sure Wanna-be hands? I don't care what law they are talking about..he musrdered this kid and he should pay.

This is the inside perspective that I've been seeking. Thank-you for sharing your views and for sharing details of your life. I can't imagine how difficult seeing this ordeal play out in the media must be - bringing back memories for you and your family. Thank-you for helping me understand this situation even better....