6 OTHER decisions that could have saved Trayvon Martin’s life

from The Gray Area:

An article ran in the Huffington Post on July 15th, The 6 Decisions That Could Have Saved Trayvon Martin’s Life. In it, the author explained 6 decisions that George Zimmerman should could have made that would have saved Trayvon’s life. I found it curious that the author did not think Trayvon could have taken any actions to save his own life. So, here are 6 other decisions that could have saved Trayvon Martin’s life.

1. Trayvon could have stayed home. When visiting a neighborhood where criminal activity, with suspects described to police as black, has been so high as to create a neighborhood watch, if you are black or white, don’t decide to go walk around at night. Going for Skittles is not a good enough reason to put yourself in a position to be mistaken for a thief. I know what the race baiters will say – “Oh, sure, black people have to stay home when crime takes place because they are black and everyone assumes it is the black guy. Racist!” No, it’s common sense. If you may possibly get mistaken at night for a burglar, why would you put yourself in that position. Idiot! If a white guy is raping college women and I am visiting campus, I am not going to walk around campus dorm buildings alone at night in a hoodie. I would be asking for trouble. It’s not about having a right to walk around. It’s about having enough common sense to keep yourself out of trouble.

2. Trayvon should have gone out of his way to not act suspicious. If you decide to go out in this environment, do everything you can to not act suspicious. Don’t go walking around through people’s yards in the dark. Stay on the main streets, in lighted areas as much as possible and don’t hide yourself under that hoodie. If i walk in a bank with a cowboy bandana over my nose or a Lone Ranger mask, you bet i am going to get unwanted attention. Use your head.

3. When Trayvon suspected someone was following him, don’t act guilty. Instead of moving to more lighted areas, stopping to ask what’s up or going straight home, Trayvon tries to lose him. Again, just plain bad judgement. Unfortunately, with fatal consequences.

4. When approached, Trayvon should have explained what you are doing. Say something like “hey man, what’s up? Why do you want to know what I’m doing? Oh, neighborhood watch. Well, I’m visiting friends and family and was just walking home from the store. Follow me to the house if you want to make sure I’m not telling you a lie.”

5. Trayvon should not have been threatening. When you are just trying to be a young man on a walk, talking to your girlfriend on the phone and someone approaches you, don’t establish a violent potential for the confrontation by beginning a threatening line of dialogue and actions.

6. Trayvon should not have started a fight. Unless you like violent confrontation, starting a fight, accompanied with threats, then get the advantage and go to a “ground and pound” is going to take a simple fight into a life threatening situation. And that is what happened.

The Huffington Post article ends with one good point, If you engage the confrontation, even an act of self defense could be used as justification to shoot and kill you. That folks is a basic truth of life, not a racial issue. Everyone needs to be aware of there surroundings and use good judgement to stay out of trouble and potential harm. In this case, both George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin did not exercise the best judgement. Unfortunately, the person who wrote this line in the Huffington Post, doesn’t understand what it means.