Draw your own conclusions

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Here is some police surveillance video from Sanford Police Department.

LA Times:

Trayvon Martin’s shooter, George Zimmerman, not bloody in video

Officers marched a handcuffed George Zimmerman into Sanford, Fla., police headquarters the night he shot and killed Trayvon Martin, and video from security cameras picked up no obvious sign of injury to the neighborhood watch volunteer.

[...]

Police say Zimmerman told them he shot Martin on Feb. 26 in self-defense after the 6-foot high school junior punched him, got on top of him and began banging his head into a sidewalk.

[...]

According to the Sanford police report on the night of the shooting, Zimmerman was bleeding from his nose and the back of his head when officers arrived at the scene. But the video, provided to ABC News by the city of Sanford, shows no obvious sign of blood or injury.

Paramedics treated him at the scene and he told them he did not need to go to a hospital, police reported.

The video shows a somber Zimmerman, hands cuffed behind his back, stepping from a patrol car, surrounded by several officers, walking through a door, entering a room and walking away.

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I’m not going to rush to judgment here, but I’m sure some people will. The police report says he was bleeding from the nose and back of his head. It does not describe how serious the injuries were. It also says he received first aid from paramedics but declined hospital attention.

Once his injuries stopped bleeding and were cleaned up, there might not be much to see even under the best of conditions. This is grainy surveillance footage. Sadly, the best opportunity to view the back of his head is obscured by the ABC logo.

I don’t see any blood or injuries in this video, but I don’t think it proves that no injuries existed. If there were no injuries it begs the question – why would the original police report say Zimmerman was injured and bleeding? Why would the cops tell such an obvious lie?

UPDATE:

Here’s some news footage from the night and day after the shooting:

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What does “Hispanic” mean?

George Zimmerman

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Violet Socks:

Attention world: most Hispanic Americans are white

In a country where people think a Mexican restaurant is the same thing as a Spanish restaurant, it’s not surprising that there is confusion about what being Hispanic means. The other day some twit on a newspaper site questioned George Zimmerman’s identification as a white Hispanic. “I’ve never heard of that sub-grouping before,” quoth the twit. I think an entire branch of my family tree just fell into the ocean.

The fact is, the majority of Hispanic Americans identify as white (53% in the 2010 Census). This is not some new thing, nor is it a nefarious trick. Hispanic means you speak Spanish or are from a Spanish-speaking background. People from Spain and the former Spanish colonies are Hispanic. The race of these folks varies, just as the race of people from England and the former English colonies varies. Most people from Spain are white, and a large percentage of people in the former Spanish colonies are white. Some people in the former Spanish colonies are Indian, a great many are mestizo, and some are black. But as long as they are from a Spanish-speaking culture, they’re Hispanic.

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The problem is that the U.S. Census does not treat “Hispanic” as a race. That means that all Hispanics must choose one of the following:

1. American Indian or Alaska Native
2. Asian
3. Black or African American
4. Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
5. White

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Here is how the Census defines “white”:

A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

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I live in the Central Valley of California. We have a large Mexican-American population. In my experience, when given the option most Mexican-Americans will self-identify as “Hispanic,” “Latino” or “Brown” (as in “Brown Pride.”) One of the prominent Hispanic advocacy groups here in the United States is an organization called The National Council of La Raza. “La Raza” means “The Race.”

“Hispanic” is a fairly new term and designates a broad category that includes Spaniards, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Cubans, Columbians, Dominicans and sometimes Portuguese and Brazilians. It all depends on who is doing the grouping. Genetically Hispanics range from pure white/European to Native American to African. Many Hispanics are either biracial or multi-racial.

Culturally they are very diverse as well. Most Hispanics are Catholic and speak Spanish, but they don’t all eat burritos and tacos. They don’t all like each other either. Florida has a large Cuban-American population. New York has a large Puerto Rican community and the Southwest has lots of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.

George Zimmerman self-identified as “Hispanic” on his voter registration card. (He also registered as a Democrat.) His father was white/caucasian and his mother was Peruvian. I’m unaware of any large Peruvian-American communities in the United States.

When the Trayvon Martin killing first became national news the media depicted Zimmerman as “white” without any mention of his ethnicity. But the first picture published of him showed clearly that he has Hispanic heritage. That is when the media began using the new term “White Hispanic.” They did this for a specific reason – to maintain the narrative that Trayvon was the victim of white racism.

Here’s a question: If Hispanics are considered to be white, why is it racist for a white person to oppose illegal immigration?

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