Section 1: The Social Issue - Shooting of Trayvon Martin
What would someone think about before going to a convenience store? The answer to this would be as simple as remembering the keys, or the list of stuff to buy. It is impossible for anyone to feel threatened of getting shot by simply walking over to the nearby store. However, in Florida, such scenario had recently happened to a 17-year old Trayvon Martin. On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, who was walking home from a 7-11 convenience store with a bag of skittles and iced-tea, was shot dead by George Zimmerman, a Caucasian volunteer neighbourhood watch captain (Somashekhar, 2012).
After spotting Trayvon Martin walking on the street, Zimmerman called 911 to report Martin as a suspicious black male, wearing a hoodie, and possibly on drugs (Alcindor, 2012). Zimmerman assumed Trayvon to be a violent and aggressive teen; he had no proof of Martin being harmful (Alcindor, 2012).
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Pie chart of religions of African Americans
English: Photograph of Rosa Parks with Dr. Martin ...His assumptions of Martin being harmful were merely based on Martin's race and how he was dressed (Alcindor, 2012). Zimmerman followed Trayvon despite of the denial by the operator and moments later Trayvon was killed, which Zimmerman reported as a "self-defence" act (Somashekhar, 2012); however, Trayvon was unarmed and had no marks on his hands from beating Zimmerman (Somashekhar, 2012). Zimmerman had called 911 as many as 46 times in only 8 years to report "suspicious" people based on no logical proofs (Schulten, 2012). Trayvon Martin's girlfriend, with whom he was talking to right before being shot dead, said that Martin was scared when the neighbourhood watch volunteer started following him; hence he began to run in order to get away (Dahl, 2012). Martin's phone was still connected to his girlfriend during the struggle between the two men until the...