Fwiw.

Charles M. Blow asks:

Miami Herald: "Multiple suspensions paint complicated portrait of Trayvon Martin" < What does this have to do w/shooting?

One crucial point here is this: Zimmerman didn't know anything abt #Trayon's life when he got out w/a gun and started following him.

Another crucial point is that neither of #Trayvon's suspensions were for an act of violence. The crux of the case is who initiated fight.

The thinking goes,
if the child was in an "experimenting" phase, perhaps indeed he was out in the rain walking home from the convenience store, and looked like he was on drugs, as the neighborhood watch reported.

Perhaps he ditched any paraphernalia he had on him before he allegedly confronted the stranger following him. Perhaps, if indeed he had drugs in his system -- the test results are still out -- he got a bit of "false courage", especially if talking on the phone to his girlfriend, who allegedly urged him to just let it go.

Kids shouldn't do drugs, no matter what you might think of libertarian consensual adult use. They are growing, and often cannot handle their chemicals early on. Beer, liquor, pot, or the harder stuff ...

To most,
it doesn't seem credible in this day and age, that an otherwise rational Hispanic man, who had numerous times called police in a "broken windows" type of preventative community policing, would call police on a non-emergency number, stage injuries and a fight for a witness to observe him being bested, and then kill the teenager -- simply because he was a young black man.

If, instead,
the community watch noticed a young man acting strangely out in the rain, as though he were on drugs, and suspected something was up, thus the call to the police -- it makes more sense that the two might fight over ... "ego" ("who are you?" "what's it to you?" etc. ... ) and things might get out of hand.

Often, there's more "fight" in a little guy -- the fight doesn't always go to the heaviest, for obvious reasons -- especially a fit one, who thinks he's being challenged perhaps and gets his "pride" up...

If it turns out something other than race was the reason for the shooting -- and it legitimately could be argued self defense -- I think black and biracial parents should breathe a sigh of relief, from Florida on up.

Parents of children potentially experimenting with drugs might want to keep them closer supervised though. Drugs aren't for kids, period. Like sex: Let them grow up first before taking on such adult choices and consequences...
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Added:
The Miami Herald reports:

In October, a school police investigator said he saw Trayvon on the school surveillance camera in an unauthorized area “hiding and being suspicious.” Then he said he saw Trayvon mark up a door with “W.T.F” — an acronym for “what the f---.” The officer said he found Trayvon the next day and went through his book bag in search of the graffiti marker.

Instead the officer reported he found women’s jewelry and a screwdriver that he described as a “burglary tool,” according to a Miami-Dade Schools Police report obtained by The Miami Herald.

Word of the incident came as the family’s lawyer acknowledged that the boy was suspended in February for getting caught with an empty bag with traces of marijuana, which he called “irrelevant” and an attempt to demonize a victim.

Trayvon’s backpack contained 12 pieces of jewelry, in addition to a watch and a large flathead screwdriver, according to the report, which described silver wedding bands and earrings with diamonds. Trayvon was asked if the jewelry belonged to his family or a girlfriend.

“Martin replied it’s not mine. A friend gave it to me,” he responded, according to the report. Trayvon declined to name the friend.

Trayvon was not disciplined because of the discovery, but was instead suspended for graffiti, according to the report. School police impounded the jewelry and sent photos of the items to detectives at Miami-Dade police for further investigation.
...
That suspension was followed four months later by another one in February, in which Trayvon was caught with an empty plastic bag with traces of marijuana in it. A schools police report obtained by The Miami Herald specifies two items: a bag with marijuana residue and a “marijuana pipe.”