Tag Archives: Trayvon

Things I Never Knew

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Hopefully this will be the last thing I ever post about Trayvon Martin. In surfing the internet today, I found that part of my education was severely lacking in terms of understanding this case.

In June 2012, the American Thinker posted a timeline of the events the night Trayvon Martin was killed. In listening to the news, we all heard that Trayvon was an innocent young man going to the store for iced tea and skittles. Nothing to see here, move along, folks. Well, my ignorance is showing.

The article at the American Thinker explains the significance of tea and skittles:

Trayvon, with his hoodie up, grabs two items from the shelves of 7-11.  One is the Skittles.  The other is Arizona Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail.  The media avoid the name of the real drink — possibly because of the racial implications of the word “watermelon,” but possibly to avoid probing the real reason for Trayon’s trip.

Trayvon, in fact, had become a devotee of the druggy concoction known as “Lean,” also known in southern hip-hop culture as “Sizzurp” and “Purple Drank.”  Lean consists of three basic ingredients — codeine, a soft drink, and candy.  If his Facebook postings are to be believed, Trayvon had been using Lean since at least June 2011.  

On June 27, 2011, Trayvon asks a friend online, “unow a connect for codien?”  He tells the friend that “robitussin and soda” could make “some fire ass lean.”  He says, “I had it before” and that he wants “to make some more.”  On the night of February 26, if Brandy had some Robitussin at home, Trayvon had just bought the mixings for one “fire ass lean” cocktail.

I stumbled on this information accidentally through a friend on Facebook. Where was the media on this? We have been sold a bill of goods on this trial and everything connected with it. The media has again destroyed its own credibility.

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How Americans Are Misled By The Dominant Media

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The American Thinker posted an article today detailing how the dominant media manipulated the American public in its reporting of the killing of Trayvon Martin. The article gives a very specific and detailed account of the techniques used–I strongly suggest that you follow the link and read the entire article, although I will try to sum it up here.

The article cites the basic narrative:

The Trayvon narrative can be summarized as follows: a black child was walking innocently through a gated community after buying some candy at a store, when a white racist stalked and murdered him for no reason but his color.  The police, who are also racists, let the white man go free.

This narrative is similar to those used in previous racial disinformation campaigns:

  • 1987 – White racists have raped a young black girl and left her in a trash bag.
  • 1996 – White racists are burning down black churches across the South.
  • 2005 – White racists at Duke University have raped a black woman.

Like the Trayvon narrative, the earlier narratives were untrue.  However, they remain widely believed as a result of the massive media coverage used to bring them to national attention.

The article also points out that in the news coverage of the events in Florida Trayvon Martin was referred to as Trayvon and George Zimmerman was referred to simply as Zimmerman. The article also points out that when the media reported that Trayvon Martin was killed in a gated community, readers (and listeners) were left with the impression that it was an upper class white neighborhood, when in truth it was a mixed-race middle class community. The words you use to describe something as basic as a neighborhood can add a whole other dimension to a story. That is what was done here.

Creating unnecessary racial tension is not smart. People who are neighbors are quite capable of living in peace if allowed to do so. The kind of reporting we have seen in the death of Trayvon Martin is not helpful to anyone.

 

 

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