flgirl543 wrote:
http://newamericamedia.org/2012/04/what ... martin.phpIn light of what we know now, nothing could be farther from the truth than that article. It infuriates me that experts look to the outside the black community to blame for the statistics and never look within.
From the link:
"
Martin, an African American, shared the experience of many young black students in American public schools, who are given suspensions and expulsions at a disproportionate rate to other groups. That fact isn’t news. But for decades, the disparity has grown exponentially, as some teachers and other education professionals still believe that casting away minority students keeps others safe, and teaches the offending student a lesson."
Also:
“In cases where white kids get suspended, it’s either you had the drugs, or you didn’t,” Dianis said. “Either you had the knife, or you didn’t.”
The color of a student’s skin, Dianis added, makes subordination and wearing baseball caps in school suspension worthy offenses. There is no restorative process. They are sent on "vacations" from school, which are frequently unsupervised.
In Trayvon’s case, his father Tracy Martin and mother Sybrina Fulton wanted him in Sanford, away from his friends back in Miami, a close family friend told CNN. Martin’s suspension was supervised.
Dianis said students who are put out on the street, thanks to swift suspension from school, are at-risk for more of the same trouble that got them the suspension in the first place.
It’s been reported that Trayvon had aspirations in the field of aviation. An e-mail account belonging to the teen, which was apparently hacked by an anarchist group, showed Trayvon was looking for colleges to attend and was preparing to take the SATs.
Although Martin family lawyers have not confirmed the breach, it’s clear there was more to Trayvon, the student, than occasional mischief and a few suspensions."
BBM
I did some bolding too!
The fact remains that for that weekend, he wasn't supervised in any substantial manner. His father was at his convention, along with his girlfriend Sat night. They spent 30 or so minutes at Chad's FB game. I think his coach even took him to the game and Stephen drove them home. She came home Sunday morning at some point then left again mostly to join Tracy back at the convention that had wrapped up. Neither one them was around when Trayvon got bored and went to 7-Eleven.
It says a lot that Tracy took him to Sanford to get him away from his friends. Where they cutting class too? How much trouble could he get into by himself up until 3:30 or so and 5:30ish when his mother got home.
Trayvon failed his FCAT. He wasn't going to graduate on time. He was always late and bragged about it on Twitter. He was thirteen, a freshman at CCHS, when he made the decision to get involved with aviation.
IMO, his life took a turn when his father hooked up with Brandy Green. He watched his father's marriage get shredded and that was one of a security net for him. I believe that Alice genuinely loved him. She said they separated a few weeks before the shooting. Yet Brandy Green said that she had been with Tracy in a relationship for approx. 2 years and that Trayvon had been to Sanford 7-8 times. Was Trayvon keeping secrets from Alice at his father's request?
By all accounts he wasn't a bad kid up until the time he was forced to leave Carol City. And I still want to know what happened at CCHS that caused his mother to pull him out, sometime in the spring year, and before the end of the school year. Without a transfer where the custodial parent is moving, out of the district, it has always been off to me.
So yes, I believe he was acting out due to his home situation. Writing "WTF" on lockers is an act of hostility. Smoking weed is just another way to escape.
With both of these individuals being suspicious of one another everything that they did confirmed their own suspicions.
He was a rebel without a clue when he decided to take his aggressions out on a short Hispanic man he thought he could handle. Turned out the guy was armed.