George Zimmerman Granted Bail

Bond Set at $150,000 

A Florida judge has granted bail to George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman facing life in prison for allegedly shooting and killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

The judge set bond at $150,000 and provided a list of requirments by the court to ensure that Zimmerman does not pose a flight risk, including tracking Zimmerman with a GPS device.

Zimmerman was taken into custody as the hearing concluded, and no indication was given of when he would be released.

Click on the following for more information on today's ruling: MSNBC report

From The G-Man and Newsy.com will provide more information on this story as it becomes available.

Image courtesy of  http://www.clker.com

George Zimmerman to be Charged with Second-Degree Murder

Alleged Killer in Police Custody, Attorney Says Client Will Plead Not Guilty

Special prosecutor Angela Corey today announced that George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman that allegedly shot and killed 17-year old Trayvon Martin during an encounter, will be charged with second-degree murder.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. 

Footage from the press conference is available here: MSNBC video of press conference

From The G-Man and Newsy.com will provide more information on the prosecutor's decision as it becomes available.  

A Special Request of President Obama, Black Leaders and Black Media

Join "From The G-Man" and Address the Nation Before the Verdict in Trayvon Martin Case

Editor's Note - 2:26 pm - The following commentary had been posted prior to the announcement that the Trayvon Martin case would not be going to a grand jury. Given the level of tension in the country over whether or not George Zimmerman will be charged, From The G-Man has decided not to remove the commentary. However, it has been edited so that any and all references to the grand jury are no longer present.

At some point, a decision will be announced on whether or not charges will be filed against Trayvon Martin's alleged killer, George Zimmerman. Without question, millions will be waiting with baited breath. If the event is televised, millions will surely have television sets on in homes and offices all across the country. Even O.J. Simpson will be watching. 

In homes all across the United States, people will huddle in prayer. They will ask God to guide and protect every city in America. In ares with a heavy Black and low-income population, churchgoers will be praying even harder. They will be praying for calm in the Black community, especially if no charges are brought against Zimmerman. 

If no charges are filed, many will be outraged. Many will also seek ways to release that rage, which could be to the detriment of communities and innocent people across the country and this great nation. It could be Watts all over again. It could be the Rodney King situation all over again. However, the tension and the level of bloodshed could be much worse because of the fact that people are already incensed over losing their jobs, homes and all sense of hope in the wake of the "the Great Recession". 

From The G-Man is urging President Barack Obama, all leading representatives of the Black community -- including clergy members, politicians and media -- to address the nation and plead for calm before any decision is announced. If there was ever a time for the United States to show unity, with regard to race in America, now is that time! 

Finally, a reminder to Black males and females "in the hood" and in gangs like the Bloods and Crips. If Zimmerman is cleared of any wrongdoing, this news and information site wants all of you -- as well as every young, Black teen and adolescent in poor areas of the U.S. -- to remember one crucial fact.

In the White House, a Black man, a Black woman, and two Black children sit as the symbols of the United States of America. DO NOT shame them or the nation they represent by "wilding out" or engaging in negative behavior. DO NOT give those that loathe the President and his family a reason to say, "You elected Obama! Is this the 'Hope and Change' you expected?" 

We've come too far, Black people, as the following video proves.

This request is from the heart and........from "The G-Man". 

Video uploaded to YouTube by  thunder1road

'Central Florida is Absolutely a Part of the Old South!'

KKK photo was taken in a town called Osteen, which is just over Lake Monroe from Sanford. Sanford, Osteen, and Deltona all blend together, expect that Sanford is over the county line into Seminole.(Click photo to enlarge)

Former Resident and Teacher Says Sanford and Other Areas Are KKK Strongholds

A FROM THE G-MAN EXCLUSIVE

On March 24, From The G-Man published an article entitled "The Trayvon Martin Killing: Has Sanford's KKK Past Come Back to Haunt It?" According to a former Central Florida resident and teacher who posted a comment on the site after reading the story, "the Ku Klux Klan and racial problems have never left."

  

In effort to gain more clarity and detail on the comment, From The G-Man contacted the former resident, Patty Cunningham-Woolf. Woolf now resides in North Carolina and runs a successful real estate office with her husband, Ben.

Woolf did not mince words when describing the racial atmosphere and the tension that permeated the Central Florida region -- an atmosphere that she undoubtedly believes is still present....and is responsible for the killing of Trayvon Martin.

Initially, this news and information site intended to do an in-depth news story based on Woolf's experiences. However, an editorial decision had been made that it would be best to forgo the standard news presentation format and simply allow Woolf an opportunity to address the Martin family, Sanford and Central Florida residents, the mainstream media, the Department of Justice, and those within and outside the borders of the United States that are deeply concerned about the killing.

From The G-Man feared for the couple's safety and offered to conceal their identity. However, it was at the insistence of her husband that their names be published.

"Absolutely use my name; Ben agreed that anonymously it (the commentary) means very little," said Woolf. 

And now, Patty Cunningham-Woolf…in her own words.

It is difficult to make sense of the senseless death of a promising young person. The wanton death of teens in car accidents and natural disasters are painful and yet on some level we understand them to be a hazard of living…that death is at every turn. But, what about the murder of unarmed 17 year old honor student Trayvon Martin? How do his parents, how do we, make some sense of this loss? Maybe through the knowledge that the deep roots of racial hatred that exist in central Florida will be, are being, exposed. Though we don’t know if Zimmerman had racial motives killing Trayvon, it is difficult for anyone to argue that the handling of the case has no racial overtones; it would underscore a communal ignorance about the area’s history, and unfortunately, present.

I grew up in DeLand, Florida. As a crow flies, Sanford is about 22 miles south of DeLand, not really even a detour off I-4 on your way to Orlando. This area is the home of a very active Klan. Some scenes from my childhood are vivid memories and the Christmas Parade in DeLand when I was around seven or eight is one of those. The local Klan marched in the parade bearing the emblem “Peace on Earth Good Will Toward Men”-- in their robes no less! Years later when I taught at Pine Ridge High School in Deltona, a student was disciplined for inciting racial tensions by waving a rebel flag in minorities faces and using racial slurs. His friends rallied round and upped the confrontation over the next couple of days creating a very dangerous situation with a student body made up almost equally of black, Puerto Rican, and white kids. The Klan saw it differently and protested at the school because they said the student’s right to have a rebel flag on campus was violated. What a bizarre arrival to school that morning: a supposed adult man in a shiny purple gown and hood with a few hangers on, including the student, proclaiming himself as a grand wizard. Surreal for sure. Rednecks (a term that’s no longer offensive, darn it) regularly drove pickup trucks with ridiculously oversized tires and rebel flags waving from the truck bed and would honk at random people on the sidewalks with their overly loud “Dixie” playing horns. They were just expressing their southern heritage; no reason to curb this no matter how threatening to kids walking down the street, teen girls riding bikes, African-Americans just being.

Living in North Carolina now, I am often frustrated by people’s reaction when I tell them where I grew up. “Ahh, Disney World, Miami…” an assumption that the whole state of Florida is one long Disney-South Beach-Tampa world of golf courses, beaches, and boutique hotels and a population that is made up of snowbirds, northerners, people of diverse cultures, and the occasional native. That is NOT where I grew up. Central Florida is absolutely a part of the old south and I take offense to the Disney characterization, not because I’m a chest-thumping proponent of southern heritage ala rebel flag, but because people are so incredibly uninformed about the active legacy of this heritage and are content to literally white-wash the area with the broad stroke of a happy tourism paint brush. Sweeping this history out of view scares me to the core because its tradition remains alive and generally goes without notice.

This brings me back to the Trayvon Martin case. The 911 recordings reveal Zimmerman saying he plans to follow Martin and the dispatcher saying that wasn’t necessary. It makes logical sense that by pursuing Martin, Zimmerman cannot claim self-defense. Because of the strong Klan presence and a good ‘ol boy ethos that I witnessed from childhood into adulthood until at least 1999 when I moved from the area, I can’t help but conclude that Zimmerman has not been arrested so far because the victim was Black. I have spoken with many of my friends and contacts who are familiar with the area and they and I agree that had this been a white teenager killed, Zimmerman would have been arrested, especially if Zimmerman had been Black. I am not making any claim that Zimmerman himself was racially motivated. I am making a claim that it is a racially prejudiced reaction to the murder. In Sanford, shooting a Black kid to death just simply doesn’t warrant an arrest if it’s in “self-defense”.

Google “Zimmerman” or “Trayvon” or “Sanford, FL” and you’ll get thousands of results. Look at the international reaction. Watch the Million Hoodie March on Wednesday. All of these and more bring focus onto an area with simmering racial tensions and a past and present informed very strongly by the longest lived terrorist group in the United States. This exposure, if we choose to act on it, can be the sense that is made from Trayvon’s senseless death. And, if we choose not to act, then we allow a young man to fade from existence without the respect his memory is owed. The Martins deserve the former.

Photos courtesy of Patty Cunningham-Woolf

The Trayvon Martin Killing: Has Sanford's KKK Past Come Back to Haunt It?

The KKK pictured in Gainesville, Florida (1922)

SPLC's Potok Confirms Sanford Was Home to the New Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

A FROM THE G-MAN EXCLUSIVE

Several days ago, during a face-to-face conversation with "Mr. V", a New York resident that has family and friends based in the Sanford, Florida area, From The G-Man was informed that many sections of Florida, including Sanford, were "hood" areas.

When asked to explain, Mr. V stated, "Hood, as in Ku Klux Klan! I'm not surprised that this shooting occurred, based on what family and friends have told me in the past." 

From The G-Man launched an investigation into the claim on March 21, and on the same day two sources that were contacted confirmed that the KKK has had -- and continues to have -- a significant presence in the “Sunshine State". 

"According to our archives, there is no listing of an organization known as the New Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, but there have been a number of Klan chapters set up in various sections of the state dating as far back as the 1930s, and many of them could have spread out to areas like Sanford," said Alicia Clarke, Curator of the Sanford Museum. 

"The problem with trying to pinpoint that specific organization is most of the local library's archives no longer use microfilm, as everything has gone digital, and the transformation has caused gaps in our logging and recording of information. I would refer you to Sanford's historian, Jack Benton. He would probably be the best person to tell you about that specific organization and exactly when they were in Sanford."

Benton was contacted and informed of the nature of the calls, but he has not responded. 

Confirmation of the New Knights of the Ku Klux Klan's existence in Sanford came courtesy of an email from Mark Potok, Senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center. 

The email stated the following: 

As far as we know, there once was a Sanford chapter of the New Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, but they were last active in 2000. Their address then was 3665 S Orlando Drive, Suite 416, Sanford, FL  32773. This is in an all business area and was probably a Drop box with UPS or something like that. They claimed to have a Grand Dragon (bkkkb@yahoo.com) and a Great Titan (knightsfl@yahoo.com). They were somehow connected to the Oregon Knights of the KKK and supposedly had a State office at Merritt Island, FL.

A former member contacted us in September 2000 claiming that he quit because the Klan stole from him. This is unverified.

The knightsfl@yahoo.com seems to be no good any longer.

The bkkb@yahoo.com was used in 2001 by: 

New Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Realm of Florida

P.O. Box 542913, Merritt Island, Fl. 32953

That’s really all we have. I hope that’s helpful. 

Best,

Mark Potok

Senior fellow, SPLC 

Potok was also contacted in effort to confirm allegations made by Cole Thornton, the Imperial Wizard of the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. 

In an article that appeared in the Orlando Sentinel on January 8, 2010, Thornton claimed that Florida police officers "belonged to his Klan group because they like its rigid standards and its adherence to strict moral codes." Thornton refused to name the officers. 

"For what it's worth, I don’t believe Cole Thornton at all when he claims he’s got lots of police officer members. I think he wishes he had them, but he doesn’t, said Potok. 

"As a practical matter, we still once in a great while run across a Klan cop, but almost never. It was a big thing, of course, during the civil rights movement, but not in recent years." 

In an email from Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of Color of Change, which cites its goal as strengthening Black America's political voice, Robinson revealed that the killing of Trayvon Martin is not the first racial incident where he believes the Sanford Police Department acted in an inappropriate, questionable and unconscionable manner. 

"Sanford has a history of not prosecuting when the victim is Black. In 2010, the white son of a Sanford police lieutenant was let go by police after assaulting a homeless Black man outside a downtown bar," noted Robinson. 

"And, in 2005, a Black teenager was killed by two white security guards, one the son of a Sanford police officer. The pair was arrested and charged, but a judge later cited lack of evidence and dismissed both cases."

On March 21, From The G-Man contacted Cole Thornton to obtain more information about the claims made in the Orlando Sentinel article. Thornton's comments will be published as they become available.

The Department of Justice is now reviewing the case, and, as this story was being posted, CBS News is reporting that Sanford’s Chief of Police, Bill Lee, has “temporarily” stepped down.

Correction: The article notes that Sanford Museum curator Alicia Clarke referred Jack Benton as a source of information for this story. Mr. Benton was actually referred through another source that spoke to From The G-Man. 

Photo source: Wikipedia
Author: Original uploader was Alabamaboy
Permission: Public Domain

Trayvon Martin and the Fatal History of American Racism

A Special Guest Commentary by Activist and Writer Kevin Powell

"Trayvon Martin and the Fatal History of American Racism"

by Kevin Powell

I am Trayvon Martin.

So are you. And so is any human being who has ever felt cornered, in a dark and desolate alley, between life and death.  Add the grim reality of skin color in America, and you have the disastrous spectacle of 250lb George Zimmerman, 28, pursuing 140lb Trayvon, 17, until that man-child is screaming "Help!" – and then gasping for air after a bullet from Zimmerman's 9mm handgun had punctured his chest. A majority-white, gated community became, on 26 February, the makeshift mortuary for a black boy who will not get a chance to live, to go to college with his exceptional high school grades, to make something of his life. Trayvon's fatal act: a mundane walk to the nearby convenience store to buy a can of iced tea and a bag of Skittles.

This is what racism, the American version of it, means to black boys like Trayvon, to black men like me. That we often don't stand a chance when it has been determined, oftentimes by a single individual acting as judge and jury, that we are criminals to be pursued, confronted, tackled, and, yes, subdued. To be shocked and awed into submission.

The police authorities in Sanford,  Florida, where the shooting occurred, are apparently so mired in racial prejudice and denial that George Zimmerman, at this writing, still has not been arrested nearly a month after Trayvon was killed – in spite of Zimmerman being told, on 911 police dispatch audio, not to follow Trayvon Martin.

In spite of Zimmerman being charged in 2005 with resisting arrest with violence and battery on a police officer. In spite of Zimmerman calling the police 46 times since January 2011. In spite of Zimmerman, according to neighbors, being fixated on bracketing young black males with criminality. In spite of Zimmerman being the subject of complaints from neighbors in his gated community due to his aggressive tactics. In spite of the officer in charge of the crime scene also receiving criticism in 2010 when he initially failed to arrest a lieutenant's son who was videotaped attacking a homeless black man. In spite of Zimmerman violating major principles of the Neighborhood Watch manual (the manual states: "It should be emphasized to members that they do not possess police powers. And they shall not carry weapons or pursue vehicles.")

In spite of Zimmerman not being a member of a registered group, which police were not aware of at the time of the incident. And in spite of the Sanford, Florida police failing to test Zimmerman for drugs or alcohol. (A law enforcement expert told ABC that Zimmerman sounds intoxicated on the 911 tapes, and that drug and alcohol testing is "standard procedure in most homicide investigations".)

Finally, what was a man like George Zimmerman doing with a gun in the first place? And will Florida's very "stand your ground" self-defense law prevent Zimmerman from ever being prosecuted, especially as he and his lawyers are claiming he was protecting himself from harm?

Finally, does any of the above truly matter, if the shooter has white skin and the victim's is brown?

We've heard, since President Obama came into office, that we suddenly, miraculously, live in a "post-racial" America, that there now is such a thing as "post-blackness". Try telling that to the families of Trayvon Martin, or Ramarley Graham, or Sean Bell, or Oscar Grant, or Amadou Diallo, or Emmett Till, or the Scottsboro Boys, and countless others in modern US history.

Racism remains the greatest cancer of American society, and has been since the founding of this nation – by men who owned slaves. You cannot slaughter and push from the land Native Americans, enslave black people, harass and marginalize Asians, Latinos and Jews, and scapegoat immigrant white ethnics and Arabs through your long and tumultuous history, then wonder how the killing of Trayvon Martin could happen in the first place? The former is the context for the latter.

We, most of us, have been socialized to fear and demonize difference, the other. Trayvon's murder is of a piece with hysterical and overzealous anti-immigration policies and new voter ID laws  that recall the days of segregation and harsh American racial apartheid. Left unchecked, as George Zimmerman has been left unchecked, and you perpetuate this ugly national tragedy.

American racism is not merely a distortion of human psychology that teaches the George Zimmermans of our nation to see Trayvon Martin as nothing more than a criminal; it is also the debilitating disease that allows us, on the one hand, to denounce the alleged atrocities of Kony in faraway Africa we've seen in that ubiquitous viral video, and on the other, to overlook the Trayvon Martins, just as we ignore the routine stop-and-frisk harassment of legions of black and Latino young males.

We are trapped in the stereotyping that saw my friend's son being told by his teacher in Fairfax County, Virginia recently, as he recited a Langston Hughes poem, that he needed to read it "Blacker". The stereotyping that allows us to cheer loudly for the majority-black college basketball teams during March Madness, yet won't permit us to pay attention to Trayvon Martin's parents, clearly shattered, pleading for some shred of justice.

The Justice Department's intervention is welcome, if belated. But it is American racism that constrains our leaders, like President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, from speaking forcibly and publicly about this destructive cancer for fear of alienating "regular" folks. If the president could call on Sandra Fluke considering the insult she'd received from Rush Limbaugh, we should be able to expect him to offer his condolences to Martin's parents for the grievous injury they have received.

For the sake of Trayvon Martin, and the Trayvon Martins who never had this sort of mass outcry, something must be done. But if we choose to turn our ears and hearts away from his parents and his community, then Trayvon Martin's blood will be on the hands of this entire nation. Will we ignore that call for help, as Trayvon's went unheeded?

Detailed information on Kevin Powell is available here: http://www.kevinpowell.net/

Photo courtesy of http://newblackman.blogspot.com