wheeze flan: Game Calls Trayvon Martin Death Proof 'Stupidity Still Exists'

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Game Calls Trayvon Martin Death Proof 'Stupidity Still Exists'

'We as a people have always been targeted,' Compton MC tells MTV News of teen's racially charged shooting death.
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Felicia Morris

The Game
Photo: MTV News

The tragic killing of Trayvon Martin has had Americans across the country rallying for justice. But rapper Game believes, as others do, that the 17-year-old's death is part of a deeply rooted racial issue.

"I think that from the beginning of mankind, we as a people have always been targeted," the Compton MC told MTV News on March 22.

On February 26, Martin was shot dead by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman as he walked back to the home of a family friend in a gated Sanford, Florida, community. Zimmerman told police that he believed Martin — who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt — looked suspicious. After a call to 911, the dispatcher advised him not to pursue Martin. But Zimmerman reportedly ignored those instructions and pursued Martin anyway.

When police arrived on the scene, the teen was dead. Although Zimmerman admitted to the shooting, police declined to arrest him citing the state's Stand Your Ground law, which allows a person to kill in cases of self-defense. Trayvon's parents, community leaders and protestors were outraged and have been crying for justice ever since.

"For some, reason people don't think that they need any excuse to kill us, beat us, hit us, run us over, disrespect us or anything like that," Game said of the country's history of racial tension and violence.

"I'm far from racist," he continued. "I'm very educated and intellectual and I understand how life works and how people of all colors exist under the sun, but it just seems like more than not black people are, I don't know, there's always some negative occurrence that goes on in our existence. This is just another reminder that stupidity still exists."

On Monday, the Orlando Sentinel reported that unidentified investigators in the case told them that Zimmerman had a different take on the events of February 26. The 28-year-old told law enforcement that Martin struck him and bashed his head on the ground before he shot the teenager in the chest, killing him.

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