Zimmerman Witnesses Flip Flop - Outside Coercion?

reply to post by ownbestenemy


I see a lot of ATS comments talking about the potential for riots, but I think most of them are unfounded. When was the last time anyone rioted on the East Coast because of a race related incident? The 1960's?

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Originally posted by MaryStillToe
reply to post by ownbestenemy

 

I see a lot of ATS comments talking about the potential for riots, but I think most of them are unfounded. When was the last time anyone rioted on the East Coast because of a race related incident? The 1960's?

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Not to say you are not wrong here -- and trust me, I hope you are and that such worries are unfounded; but when was the last time the East Coast had a immensely racially charged case to handle that has drawn months of nation-wide coverage?

Sure the Duke case was slightly racially motivated -- but that was a clear case in which the accuser was shown to be a liar.

Here we have something completely different and if you don't think that this case isn't sitting on a powder-keg, waiting for anything to ignite it, than I am not sure what would be. Given the rash of instances in which both sides have invoked this while perpetuating crimes, it can only be assumed that there will be a large outcry one way or another....

reply to post by freakjive


I think the eye witness are doing the same thing all of us, well most of us are doing, they are replaying that nights events and making sense of what makes sense in their mind based on what they seen.

Example. One witness said she seen 2 people chasing one another in first interview. In second interview she said she just saw someone running. Now looking at the case in its entirety and knowing that GZ is saying he Stood his Ground, this witness has to think 'well that can't be true, because if I only seen one person running and TM is found dead in the middle of the backyard, then how could GZ be standing his ground? His ground would have never been that piece of grass to stand. Why was he there?'

So this witness at first thinks she see 2 people but after thinking about it, just isn't sure if it was 1 or 2 people, but what she does know is SOMEONE was running and you can't SYG when either party is on the move.

I don't think any of the witness have been intimidated or coerced. I think they just have analyzed what they remember seeing, and, just like us they are putting it in context of what makes sense compared to what GZ has said. I don't see anything wrong or deceiving going on.

I also think its a mix of what a previous poster said about how witness said one thing to police, and police 'corrected' them, and then wrote down what 'corrected' information. I think once the witnesses get on the stand and say as much that it will then just come down to a jury to decide how credible that witness is against the SPD and the rest of the evidence presented.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


In an attempt to keep this somewhat on topic, I don't think the witnessses would feel intimidated to change their statements due to fear of potential riots for a few reasons.

When I think about history and current events, it seems to me that black people and black communities usually prefer to work with or within the system, not against it. Riotous behavior or anarchy is generally not their first choice for dealing with perceived injustices or inequalities. Typical to most people in the world, in order for an entire community to be motivated to rebel, the negative condition or perceived threat has to affect a majority of the population to a boiling point of frustration and helplessness. The Trayvon/Zimmerman case does not meet that criteria. There would need to be high profile and similar incidents happening all around the country for the average black person to feel motivated to rebel.

George Zimmerman is one man who acted alone and is not a police officer. He didn't represent the system or have any authority to abuse, he's just a regular citizen who killed someone. If he is allowed to walk on a self defense claim or technicality, then it will suck, but those are the unfortunate rules of the game. It's more likely and possible that he would end up being attacked or killed by some vigilante, as opposed to random groups of people simply rioting. Exactly who would they be rioting against?

Originally posted by MaryStillToe
In an attempt to keep this somewhat on topic, I don't think the witnessses would feel intimidated to change their statements due to fear of potential riots for a few reasons.

I think it pertains to the topic and is good to discuss the whole of the situation.

Riotous behavior or anarchy is generally not their first choice for dealing with perceived injustices or inequalities.

I only focus here because of the communities we are discussing. I have to ask, what was their first choice when the police officers in the Rodney King case were acquitted? It was all out mayhem and the first thought was to burn the city. Sadly, many groups were involved and many groups were targeted. Untold mainly by the media, many in Los Angeles who participated aimed their anger towards the sizable Koren population.

I am not saying we would see the same thing here in this case, but given the perceived missteps by the police, by the State and now that there is a possibility that the police didn't act in an objective manner in the incident (all speculation based on this thread and information slowly leaking out) it creates immense tension.

Typical to most people in the world, in order for an entire community to be motivated to rebel, the negative condition or perceived threat has to affect a majority of the population to a boiling point of frustration and helplessness. The Trayvon/Zimmerman case does not meet that criteria. There would need to be high profile and similar incidents happening all around the country for the average black person to feel motivated to rebel.

Typically the types of rioting we have seen in the past 20-30 years having nothing to do with the overall community. This will be a small subset that would engage in it. I am not saying the whole State of Florida or even the whole nation would erupt, but given there have been calls for Zimmerman's head, it leads to the possibility of a situation that could get out of hand.

Exactly who would they be rioting against?

A perceived failed State action starting from the moment he was taken into custody to the more recent revelation that the police possibly corrected witnesses. Right now, all eyes are on the system and it is seen that it has failed.