I think there will be. Race has been made such a part of this case, by almost all parties involved, and emotions regarding the death of Martin have run very high. It may be similar to the LA riots of '92 after the acquittal the LAPD officers in the Rodney King beating trial.
Chris Hayes made an interesting point last night on his show: The very thing George Zimmerman was prejudging Travon Martin for, is the exact same thing the Florida Sheriff’s department is doing towards the black folks of that community.*
*Local law enforcement agencies have a plan ready in case shit goes south if the verdict goes in GZ’s favor.
It’s such a racist question: there will be no rioting. Interestingly, Omar Little, Storm front dot org also made a thread on this exact topic. You might want to participate over there as well. Click here for the link. I’m sure you’ll fit right into the discussion.
Creating contingency plans for forseeable, even if unlikely, events is just sensible law-enforcement policy. Unless the plan is enacted before there’s any cause to do so (such as a pre-emptive curfew), it’s not prejudice, it’s doing their job.
By way of analogy: law enforcement in a town with a chemical plant most likely has a plan established in the event of a disaster at the plant. That doesn’t mean the police consider the plant to be poorly maintained and dangerous.
Threadshitting aside, I disagree. That thought would have never entered my brain pre OJ trial. That shit was a sight to see and burned an image in my head.
Still though, lessons were learned and I don’t think it will happen again. But I wouldn’t flat out call some one a racist for thinking it might.
It’s the second SDMB thread asking this question in the last month. And we also had at least one other thread asking this around the time Zimmerman was charged.
My apologies to not seeing the original thread…but this one contains a poll.
Hardly a racist question. The substantial amount of twitter activity of people threatening Zimmerman’s life throughout the trial if there is an acquittal, compounded with the past examples of rioting when verdicts are perceived be unfair makes this a credible question.
I doubt anyone thinks Zimmerman’s actions were justified. He initiated a confrintation that resulted in a pointless death. I do think most people would now agree he didn’t murder the kid, which is enough.
I haven’t followed the case closely, but I would be very surprised if there is rioting. The outrage before was due the the fact that he wasn’t even charged. Now that he’s been brought to trial, I don’t see anyone having a riot-inducing problem if the trial comes out in a way different than they would like. Do people really care that much how this trial turns out?
Well, black people in Central Florida do. However, as I pointed out in the prior thread (and I live in Seminole County), there was no rioting when the state was refusing to charge him so it there’s virtually zero chance of any now.
I can’t speak for people outside the area, of course.