# Will there be race riots if Zimmerman is found not guilty? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201 "2013-06-29T14:00:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/21 "2013-06-29T23:05:08Z")
When Mr Zimmerman is found not guilty their will be some wailing… a couple of the usual local preachers will speak their piece… you’ll have Trayvon’s mother speaking in tears… and then that’ll be that… George Z will move on to an undisclosed location… and Nancy and Jane will find someone else’s tragedy to flog to death… ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/22 "2013-06-29T23:40:25Z")
> [@Chicagojeff](#): > > Are you dumb all the hours in the day.. or is it like a cell phone that charges overnight? What I especially love about your answer is the quiet racism that black people 1) Can’t discern that the police dept.. justice system and govt had absolutely nothing to do with the actions George Zimmerman took.. 2) That we’ll all get that notice on our cell phones that Rev Jackson and Rev Sharpton have all told us to gather at some intersection with our rocks and bottles.. > Just dumb.. in case you haven’t noticed.. when President Obama was elected.. Rev Jackson’s mentions and authority have dropped proceedingly.. and that he might be a little more focused on who’s raising his grandkids while his son and daughter-in law are doing their stretch.. As for Rev Sharpton.. he’s gone legit.. so your hopes of some sort of civil disturbance to peg on them will be for naught.. As far as I can tell most of the riots since the 1960s seemed to have been more of a spontaneous combustion sort of thing. It got started in a neighborhood, spread throughout the city and then to other cities. I don’t know how. The news? Telephone? The collective unconscious? Somehow the word spread and people joined in willingly or hid. I lived through the Sixties riots (much more sympathetically) and know that there were people working underground (a veritable conspiracy just like the joke) to incite them and disrupt the American government. And they were of groups both Black and other. Most of the zeal of those times has dropped away. But to be fair and honest it would be difficult not to notice that there have been individuals, groups and at least one large news agency in this case presenting false or emotionally inciting information to the public at large. A quick read through of various police sites in the area and as far south as Miami indicates that the law is taking the possibility of riots seriously and I would suppose that it’s better to be prepared than not. Because any number of innocent and peaceful people on all sides will pay a price. I remember Al Sharpton threatening to “shut this town down” in the case of the New York police. And I wonder, if he has changed his ways, why he thought he served any purpose but to beg for peace by showing up in Sanford. Did he? I don’t know. If not, his presence may imply a subtle threat to do the same there. People associate him with stirring the pot. I’ve read comments online about Black people threatening to kill a white person if Mr. Zimmerman is acquitted. People say stupid things when maybe they’re just blowing off steam. Yeah? Are any of them serious? I suppose some are. I’ve also read some pretty inflammatory stuff on conservative sites. White people certainly haven’t held up their end in the rioting department in the last hundred years or so, but it sounds like a lot of people, on all sides, are just fed up with the continued friction. So who knows if someone will cast the first stone this time? Nothing surprises me more, knowing the tension level most thinking, feeling people in this country are experiencing than when we _don’t_ have violence after something like this. I think it would be fine if I am surprised once again. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/23 "2013-06-30T00:50:41Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > White people certainly haven’t held up their end in the rioting department in the last hundred years or so, but it sounds like a lot of people, on all sides, are just fed up with the continued friction. So who knows if someone will cast the first stone this time? White people don’t feel the urge to riot, because they aren’t being disenfranchised. They aren’t the subject of institutional racism; they are the recipients of it. White kids aren’t gunned down walking home with skittles because the color of their skin makes them a target. White victims aren’t called thugs who deserved it. White witnesses don’t have their testimony mocked in racist ways all over the national news media. White people have the power. They have the guns. That’s why they don’t riot. ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/24 "2013-06-30T01:10:09Z")
So true, and historically white people did riot when the felt they were being disenfranchised. It’s easy for them to try to make it seem they are above that kind of thing now that every white person has power. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/25 "2013-06-30T01:13:22Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > White people certainly haven’t held up their end in the rioting department in the last hundred years or so… [This](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/university-mississippi-students-riot-obama-election_n_2088176.html) [is](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Vancouver_Stanley_Cup_riot) [freakin’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Summer_%281919%29) [hilarious](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre). [lol](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339503/Hundreds-riot-police-Londons-streets-officers-raid-squat-HQ-G8-protesters.html) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/26 "2013-06-30T01:28:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I heard people predicting widespread rioting if Obama won in 08, _or_ if he lost in 08. Or if he lost in 2012. Or if the cops who shot Sean Bell were acquitted. And I bet I’m forgetting a bunch. Some people are just about obsessed with the idea that black people are always on the verge of a riot. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/27 "2013-06-30T01:41:14Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > White people don’t feel the urge to riot, because they aren’t being disenfranchised. They aren’t the subject of institutional racism; they are the recipients of it. That’s a reasonable viewpoint. But not as reliable, I think as it was once. I’m not sure what you mean by “White people . . .are the recipients of it.” (institutional racism.) But I think I get what you are trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/28 "2013-06-30T01:47:29Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > [This](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/07/university-mississippi-students-riot-obama-election_n_2088176.html) [is](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Vancouver_Stanley_Cup_riot) [freakin’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Summer_%281919%29) [hilarious](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre). [lol](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339503/Hundreds-riot-police-Londons-streets-officers-raid-squat-HQ-G8-protesters.html) So you get my sense of humor can be grim. Who’s got who beat in the violence department? It’s not a list I want longer on my side, that’s for sure. Sigh. ETA: Just the thought of there being “sides” is stomach turning to me. Is that the way people want it? ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/29 "2013-06-30T03:05:56Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Or if he lost in 2012. Or if the cops who shot Sean Bell were acquitted. And I bet I’m forgetting a bunch. Some people are just about obsessed with the idea that black people are always on the verge of a riot. I’m still waiting for Joe Klein to apologize for predicting race riots when Do the Right Thing was released.. he’s on to new lies no picking on atheist.. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/30 "2013-06-30T03:26:54Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > It’s not a list I want longer on my side, that’s for sure. Sigh. Who’s talking about sides? I’m just trying to set the record straight with regards to the history of mob violence in this country. If you had said the past 50 years, I would have shrugged it off. No need to bore everyone with a list of sports riots. But 100 years ago, the country was yet to experience the hell known as [Red Summer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Summer_of_1919). Or the Tulsa or Rosewood race riots. One would have to really break their back to give black people the “win” for rioting if they were truly being fair in their accounting. Rioting isn’t a black or white activity. It’s an angry people activity. You don’t have to be on either “side” to see this. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/31 "2013-06-30T03:32:26Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Rioting isn’t a black or white activity. It’s an angry people activity. Or a “my team won a national title” activity. (Not to change the subject, but WTF is up with that?) ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/32 "2013-06-30T04:09:27Z")
> [@Chicagojeff](#): > > Are you dumb all the hours in the day.. or is it like a cell phone that charges overnight? .. Don’t call other people names in this forum. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/33 "2013-06-30T04:12:24Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Or a “my team won a national title” activity. (Not to change the subject, but WTF is up with that?) Drugs and alcohol, stupidity, ‘everybody else is doing it so it must be OK’-type irresponsibility. I don’t know if there’s much more to it than that. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/34 "2013-06-30T06:51:07Z")
No, because the jurors will be so frightened of a race riot that they will convict Zimmerman. Or, if Zimmerman is found not guilty, the Justice Dept. will be there immediately to arrest Zimmerman for denying Martin his Constitutional rights. ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/35 "2013-06-30T07:20:21Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > No, because the jurors will be so frightened of a race riot that they will convict Zimmerman. Or, if Zimmerman is found not guilty, the Justice Dept. will be there immediately to arrest Zimmerman for denying Martin his Constitutional rights. No! Me also think that am will happen! Bizarro! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/36 "2013-06-30T07:38:53Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > No, because the jurors will be so frightened of a race riot that they will convict Zimmerman. That reminds me of what happened in the Diallo and Bell cases: not this. The police were acquitted and there were no riots. It’s pretty damned sad that there are so many comparable cases to this _and_ that people keep expecting riots. > [@](#): > > Or, if Zimmerman is found not guilty, the Justice Dept. will be there immediately to arrest Zimmerman for denying Martin his Constitutional rights. Just as they didn’t in the Diallo and Bell cases. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/37 "2013-06-30T08:05:55Z")
There were something like 1700 arrests incidental to the demonstrations that followed. And, we have Martin’s look alike dad in the WH, which means that the JD will be paying extra attention to the case. Even a cursory inspection will show substantial differences between Diallo/Bell and the Martin/Zimmerman cases, as well as the racial/ethnic hostilities generated by the case. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/38 "2013-06-30T08:09:29Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Pray, WTF ever heard of the Diallo and Bell case? You must be shitting me. If not, Google them. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/39 "2013-06-30T08:11:24Z")
> **[Killing of Amadou Diallo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadou_Diallo_shooting)** > > In the early hours of February 4, 1999, an unarmed 23-year-old Guinean student named Amadou Diallo (born September 2, 1975) was fired upon with 41 rounds and shot a total of 19 times by four New York City Police Department plainclothes officers: Sean Carroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellon, and Kenneth Boss. Carroll later claimed to have mistaken him for a rape suspect from one year earlier. > The four officers, who were part of the now-defunct Street Crime Unit, were charged with second-degree... ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/40 "2013-06-30T08:19:05Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > … the hell known as [Red Summer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Summer_of_1919). Or the [Tulsa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot) or [Rosewood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre) race riots. …[RIGHT]Added Links = **CMC** [/RIGHT] It’s interesting, when [Black Americans race riot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:African_American_riots_in_the_United_States) it’s, almost, always because of a perceived injustice and the target of the anger is mostly inanimate objects. When [White Americans race riot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:White_American_riots_in_the_United_States) it’s all about killing Blacks and ethnically cleansing their towns and cities. It’s also interesting to note how these race riot’s deaths breakdown. White race riot, lots of Black folks killed at the hands of the rioters. Black race riot, lots of Black folks killed at the hands of the folks trying to suppress the riot. Riots? Maybe, doubt it. Race riots? Actual race riots? No. CMC fnord! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201.md?page=3)