Was Trayvon Martin a thug?

[Joel Miller]

His twitter was '@no_limit_n****' and he allegedly stole the skittles and iced tea from the store. Was he a thug?

[Gent 2]

YES

[sgatlantisrose]

He was a teenager. Whatever trouble he had been in is irrelevant. He will never have a chance to demonstrate what he would have become, whether it is outgrowing such behaviors, or fallen into a "thug life". That is a tragedy, whatever part he played in his own fate. One person's life is over, his family left grieving, while another man's life has been overturned and not for the better.

[Jamlord]

We all know that Zimmerman still is a thug.

[Lucius]

Even if he did steal the tea & skittles, that's not a crime that warrants the death penalty.

[QuiteNewHere]

no

[xpatinasia]

Unlike you, no he wasn't.
"he allegedly stole the skittles and iced tea from the store"
That's not true. Since you're a conservative, you make stuff up.

[Feivel]

He was 17 and trying to find his place in his world. He did not steal the Skittles and Arizona Tea. We know he paid for them because there is a receipt and store surveillance video. He had tangled with the school about writing graffiti on a locker and that appears to have been it. He was not much different than any other teenager, white or black, who grows up in a lower economic urban environment.

Zimmerman actually had a police record for assaulting an officer, assault, domestic violence (charges that he had dropped by going to counseling and anger management for).

Why on earth Zimmerman was allowed to even carry a gun I do not know. I am a conservative and big on 2nd amendment rights but there is a line and Zimmerman should not have had a gun. He was a police wanna-be and Taryvon Martin is now dead because of it.

So to be direct, I would not care if Zimmerman shot and killed Charles Manson (assuming lets say Manson was given parole and was out of prison). If Manson was just walking with this Skittles and tea, Zimmerman would still be guilty of murder in my book. I find it astounding the jury did not convict him.

At 17, a lot of people who go on to be productive law abiding citizens are "wanna be thugs". I met a guy in secular University once who was an 18 year old wanna be covered with tattoos and had holes in his ears, loved hip hop and played around with gang signs. He was a renaissance literature major or something like that. I believe he is in graduate school now working on his masters. Very odd guy but certainly at that point in his life he was a "wanna be thug". I see little difference between him and Martin except skin color and of course, Martin is dead because he dared not stop for Zimmerman who was not wearing any kind of "Neighborhood Patrol" identification. A rainy dark night and Martin was being followed. I would be a nervous and I expect most other people would be too.