I agree with most of your points. In fact if you notice LAX I repped you. But I am using your posts as a starting point.
Walking around: Here is where racism and classism comes in; if you had a kid from in Miami, come out to the burbs this may not be suspicious behavior in the least. Two good examples from where I live. I live off a major east-west surface street in the Greater Toledo area. On the north side it is Toledo past my neighborhood until the streets name changes. On the south side for the last mile or so it is Maumee and then becomes unincorporated Springfield Township. The south side which has less restrictive zoning has apartments and condos. The north side has mostly single family dwellings. The apartments increase as you move west on this road, into larger and larger buildings with more units. Most of these went section 8 when the Bush administration offered welfare to the wealthy. As a result there are lower income people living in these units that had been originally touted as "luxury." No problem. And by the way, the crime rate has not gone up. But what you see is more people walking day and night. Why? They don't have cars; how else are they going to get somewhere? Now when teenagers from my neighborhood go out, they have their own cars, or borrow the family car. When teens from these other areas go out they walk, go out with someone who has a car, or walk to the bus stop. Any of these configurations look unusual to people that have lived in the area for a while, and most seem threatening because they are different, but really are not, (threatening.)
Also, I had a friend invite me down to the Old West End. It was a former area of wealth with renowned Victorian houses of historical significance, now within the core of the inner city. I have a friend that operates one as a concert house for improve and eclectic musical performances. Long story short; I have tested by counts repeatedly. More people walk in ones and two's in that neighborhood at night and late at night, than in my or any suburban neighborhood that has a "safer reputation."
Scenario. Racial bigotry is the first thing that comes up for most people with this case, why? Because the media and others have planted it there. How do you think a 'mind reader' works? All those amazing tricks are suggestion, the illusionist plants the number or image in the mind of the subject so skillfully that the subject doesn't realize it and thinks that the image or number was their own, not planted there by the performer, But it is planted by the performer, because that is the only way they could know it!
This is how our opinions go about anything captured in the media. There was a good HBO show, Newsroom episode on that just recently. I couldn't watch the episode, because I have done everything possible in life to get away from a corporate conference room, so watching the bickering turns my stomach, even if it is a good show! In this show, a character took a look at Nancy Grace's commentary on the Casey Anthony trial.
This character showed that 98% of everything on the Grace show was window-dressing, bull-shiit designed to increase ratings. He made the point that it is the media's job to throw out issues that the viewer may relate to emotionally, and pique their interest, but never make the user feel like he isn't right and doesn't know something. Therefore, you will never learn anything of importance from the pandering media. This is the biggest truth I have seen on television in a long time.
Getting back to it, I did a little research on this case. Remember last Friday when the experts all thought that the defense was bolstered by the testimony of the witnesses? That is bull shiit. They were doing the ratings. Ratings are made in this case by rooting for the poor underdog. The truth is there is a whole lot of the case wrapped up in other testimony about behaviors and personality, and a lot wrapped up in the science of gunshot wounds.
But getting back to it, I am the one who made statement about running into a dark area after someone you thought was suspicious enough to chase, and forgetting at two critical times that you had a fire arm. (GZ delighted in his weapons.) The better the neighborhood, the less likely you are to chase someone that doesn't belong there. It is the cornered dog argument. The more you trap a dog, the more cornered he feels, the more you feel the teeth. There is no way that GZ could have had any inkling whether the hooded figure could have had a gun tucked in his waste band or not. NO EFFIN WAY! You don't chase anyone into the darkness. Here is why.
Two people going into the darkness, the first has all the advantage. He has seconds for his eyes to adjust and he turns and has seconds to conceal himself. The second persons outline is silhouetted by the area of higher light presenting a perfect target, and their eyes have had time to adjust. Think about it. Anyone who would do this is either stupid, lying, dead, or a future statistic..
