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We were somewhere in Crown Heights when we heard the shouting on Monday night. My friend, a reporter for The New York Times, and I raced toward the gathering on a pair of bicycles. I lived in this neighborhood when I first moved to Brooklyn and am familiar with its streets. It was much quieter then. Happier, too. As June dawned, it was engulfed, as were so many neighborhoods in so many cities across the nation, in protestanother concrete oasis evolved and outfitted for outrage.

The protests were for George Floyd, a black man killed by police in Minneapolis last week after a white officer, Derek Chauvin, held his knee on Floyds neck for nearly nine minutes. I cant breathe, Floyd cried. Millions of people worldwide have since viewed his death via a cellphone video recording taken by Darnella Frazier, a bystander. Four days later, Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison upgraded Chauvins charge to second-degree murder on Wednesday, and charged the three other officers on the scene with aiding and abetting. The protests were also for Breonna Taylor, a black woman killed by police in Louisville in March, after plainclothes officers entered her home in the middle of the night and exchanged gunfire with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Eight bullets struck Taylor; no charges have been filed against the officers who killed her. There have been many more horrors inflicted on black Americans during the previous decade of protest, since massive dissent against police brutality and the extrajudicial killings of black people sprouted robustly following Trayvon Martins slaying in 2012 by George Zimmerman. Its an inexhaustible list of transgressions, too deflating to rehash.

What did brother Huey [Newton] say?! an organizer asked from a megaphone in Crown Heights.

All power to the people! the crowd responded.

We are talking about a system that criminalizes, he said. But theres more of us than there is of them. And where we gotta be?!

In these streets! the crowd cheered.

And we aint goin he said.

Nowhere!

The surrounding streets were quieter. Police vehicles gathered near Myrtle Avenue, where the protestors met, a foreboding presence keeping watch over a peaceful gathering. Not far from the protest, life resumed as normal, or as normal as is expected during the coronavirus pandemic: families walked, rode their bikes, and pushed strollers with what seemed like a trained ambivalence. A borough was preparing for another night of demonstrations, yet here they were in a bubble of their own peace.

As we moved with the protestors, the Brooklyn I remember came back into focus. The sounds of Pop Smoke and Casanova rained down from high-rise windows. People sold homemade T-shirts on Nostrand Avenue with End White Supremacy printed on them. An hour or so later, protestors marched on Marcus Garvey Boulevard, yelling into the evening: No Justice. No Peace. Fuck These Racist-Ass Police.

Thousands had gathered that evening in Brooklyn for demonstrations led by mostly black faces, marching up and down Fulton Avenue, near the murals of black laureates, poets, and rappers on Tompkins Street, in the streets, their streets, our streets. Protestors held signs with George Floyds face and Breonna Taylors name strewn across cardboard while blue-and-red lights flickered behind them. They shouted from the steps of the Applebees on Fulton, a melody in their mouths: Bed-Stuy! Do or die!

When the protests first began in New York after Floyds killing, it felt like the first unpausing of the year. Brooklyns residents, like everyone else, have been confined to their homes because of the coronavirus. The disease has disproportionately ravaged the borough, laying bare a different kind of systemic racism, one that leaves black bodies vulnerable to the worst health outcomes possible. The multiple killings of black citizens by police in recent weeks became a flashpoint for mandatory action. The need to protest injustice was enough to override the urgency of social distancing measures. Fighting racism became the primary concern, the virus be damned.

A lot of people I know have lost their lives to COVID-19, and this is just another rung, Branda Brumaire, a Canarsie resident, told me. Every year, she said, its the same shit. The risk of police is greater than the risk of a pandemic. Id rather support this cause than stay home.

It isnt lost on me that this unpausing serves to refocus the nations energy toward ending Americas original sin. On Monday, officials enacted New York Citys first curfew since 1943; that, too, was in response to civil unrestan uprising in Harlem had broken out after a white officer shot a black soldier. Now, New York is following the example of so many other major cities by forcing its residents off the streets, a controlling attempt to impede peaceful gatherings decrying a system of policing in the United States that was born from slave patrols in the Northeast and can kill black people with impunity. The same city fumbled its attempt to assuage the fears of its citizens in the throes of a pandemic during an unprecedented moment of economic instability. But these protests? This consistent fight to defang the monstrosity of American racism? It has always been here. In some ways, the context of this moment is ironic: We wear masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but maybe black people should have always worn masks to protect ourselves from this national disease that so many people have finally decided is worth fighting.

As the crowd moved toward the Barclays Center in downtown Brooklyn a few miles away, I spoke with a 28-year-old Brooklyn resident who prefers to go by Dottie. He was frazzled as he tried to make sense of the recent spate of police violence. He says hes out here marching because he fears for his son.

We need respect. Justice. Its hard. I dont know how I explain this to my son, he told me. He went on: How do I explain how we have to be careful because we wont make it home sometimes? I wish this wasnt needed. But these dicks, he said, referring to police, aint giving us no respect.

Its crushing to think of how rough this year has been, and its only June. Or how rough the week already felt, when it was only Monday. This is the reality of racism for the black American. It cannot be limited only to conscious hate when it has evolved into a complex institution with levers in social and political outcomes perpetuated by generations of white neglect, hate, and supremacy. I wish it was only the visceral malice of individuals that we had to combat. That would be easier. But racism has so many rungs: animosity, privilege, access, apathy, bigotry, a dastardly set activated by countless interactions. It is as present as the air around us: You cant live if you dont breathe it in.

The protestors continued their march to Flatbush Avenue, a major thoroughfare in downtown Brooklyn. Black children raised black power salutes from the back seats of navy blue sedans. Every few blocks, people banged pots and pans as if this flock were anointed, as if these black lives were essential citizens on the front lines fighting an insidious disease, the pandemic within the pandemic, as Brumaire called it. It was as though these folks marching were as important to saving the world as our doctors and nurses.

New York is familiar with these kinds of protests because the citys residents have felt this pain before. Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old Guinean immigrant, was killed by four officers in 1999 who mistook him for a rape suspect with no evidence and fired 41 shots at him in the Bronx until he died. In 2006, plainclothes and undercover officers shot Sean Bell 50 times in Queens on his wedding day. Eric Garner was choked to death by an officer, Daniel Pantaleo, as his colleagues watched. Garner cried as he uttered the same words in 2014 that George Floyd said last week: I cant breathe.

The people here have never forgotten that.

Dont forget what the fuck happens to us right here in New York! a man in the crowd said around 10 p.m., as the crowd chanted the names of victims of police brutality. A few people began weeping. We love yall, he continued. We just want yall to love us back! When he was finished speaking, a woman turned her portable speaker on to play Mercy, Mercy, Me by Marvin Gaye.

Randy Rude Boy Brown, a Jamaican American and a professional MMA welterweight fighter in the UFC, stood nearby, holding a flag that read Stop Racist Killer Cops Fuck The Police. He said he was out here to stand for justice with my brothers and sisters, one of the many black athletes whove turned up at protests to fight racism, including Jaylen Brown and Malcolm Brogdon in Atlanta, and Deshaun Watson in Houston.

We want them to arrest those other cops and charge the other cops and we will disperse after that happens, Randy Brown told me on Monday, referring to the Minneapolis officers who stood by as Chauvin kept his knee on Floyds neck. But until then its fuck their curfew. Nothing has changed. This is just the tipping point. This has to happen for change to happen.

That pain and that rage were palpable at Mondays protests. Yes, for the last week, fires have spread, and the nation has burned as rebellion turned America from a powder keg to a lit explosion, but so many of us have lived in this land, with this weight and these burdens, for our entire lives. Revolution has been an inextricable piece of American history, from plantations to the Boston Tea Party. Protests are raging in American cities because the extrajudicial killings of black people by agents of the state are unbearable. Criticism of how those protests are carried out misses the point: When police officers kill black people and are rarely punished, we must remember that change cannot come without resistance; when justice is not an option, other avenues of discord must become ones.

Mpanja Rwakibale, a 22-year-old Ugandan American living in Bed-Stuy, says police have been a terror in this nation for far too long. I asked her if something shifted in the last week, if these recent police killings actually moved the needle.

It feels like something is changing this time, she said. When Ferguson happened, the people commenting and saying bad things was such a large group. Now when I get on social media I see more people I wouldnt expect to start to care.

Like who, I ask her.

Like white people, she says.

Recent research seems to support that sentiment. This week, Monmouth University released a study that found that 57 percent of Americans believe that police officers in difficult situations are more likely to use excessive force against black people. Its a 23-percentage-point increase from 2016, when registered voters were asked the same question after Alton Sterling was killed in Baton Rouge, and a 24-point increase after a grand jury didnt indict Pantaleo for killing Garner in New York.

Some of that essence was tangible when the crowd made its way back to Barclays Center on Monday after curfew hit. They knelt in protest, like Colin Kaepernick. They bawled with the rage that James Baldwin detailed. They chanted and hugged and cried. Together. White hands holding black ones and shielding them from police. Black ones gripping brown ones as they sang the names of the fallen. On this night, the police didnt appear to care as much about the protestors as they did guarding the shopping centers and the basketball arena on each side of the crowd in the middle of Atlantic Avenueeven as black boys bounced through downtown on dirt bikes as the crowds cheered. It was serene. It was a dream, and felt even more like one a night later when police trapped protesters on the Manhattan Bridge. Mondays gathering was a rebuke with a smile, a protest and a declaration of love, a respite from the violent clashes happening nationally in previous and subsequent nights, both in New York and elsewhere. The reality of racism in this country so rarely allows me to think that peace is on the horizon. But, for a few hours, at least there was tranquility in Brooklyn and, perhaps, possibility.

As my friend and I peeled off from the crowd near midnight on an empty Myrtle Avenue, a bus driver stood outside his vehicle. You at the protests tonight? he asked her. I was the guy honking! He beamed as he held up a video on his phone of the march. I like this, he said, smiling down at it. I like this right here.

The crowd continued to march and sing into the darkness, rage and peace collected together like a dancing flame. The police followed them, close. And as I turned my back, fearful over what could happen, I also felt a smile creep across my face. My ears perked up to a wondrous hum sweeping across the Brooklyn night.

The blare of Black Lives Matter! blazed through the air, louder than the whirs of the following helicopters, skids of police tires, and thump of black-issued boots. Magic moved from the streets to the sky. If only for a New York minute, Black Lives mattered more than the police who were sworn to protect them, and have so often failed.

Continue reading here:
A Night of Protest, Pain, and Peace in Brooklyn - The Ringer

Black Lives Matter placards have been commonplace in recent days (Getty Images)

George Floyd a 46-year-old black mandied in Minneapolis when a policeman knelt on his neck for over eight minutes, despite the victims cries of I cant breathe.

Footage of the incident has sparked protests across the United States and the globe, with demonstrators saying that this was another example of black people being targeted by authorities because of their race.

Protestors have stood off with police since the incident on May 25, chanting I cant breathe, dont shoot, and Black Lives Matter.

What is the#BlackLivesMatter movement?

The #BlackLivesMatter movement was founded in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman.

Zimmerman was accused of murdering Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American boy. Zimmerman had called the police telling them that Martin was behaving suspicious before confronting him and shooting him after a struggle. Zimmerman claimed that he was acting in self-defence.

Black Lives Matter campaigns against violence and systemic racism aimed at black people through protests and digital activism.

In their own words the movement was founded with the aim oferadicating white supremacy and buildinglocal power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.

The movement was founded by black community organisers Alicia Garza,Patrisse Cullors, andOpal Tometi, though they have highlighted the need for locally led movements rather than national leadership

#BlackLivesMattergained momentum and support as a movement following the deaths of Eric Garner in New Yorkand Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.

#BlackLivesMatter cites the civil rights movement, the Black Power movement, the 1980s Black feminist movement, Pan-Africanism, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, LGBTQ social movements, and Occupy Wall Street as inspiration for their activism.

What does Black Lives Matter mean?

The term Black Lives Matter can now be used in reference to the movement, the slogan, twitter hashtag and assemblage of groups campaigning for racial equality.

Critics of the slogan have described it as exclusionary, however Columbia Law Professor Kimberle Crenshaw explained that the term Black Lives Matter as aspirational.

Writing for Harpers Bazaar in 2019 Rachel Elizabeth Cargle said that Black Lives Matter isa rallying cry for a shift in statistical numbers that show that people who are black are twice as likely to be killed by a police officer while unarmed, compared to a white individual.

Why saying All Lives Matter is wrong

Opposition of Black Lives Matter have taken to responding by saying All Lives Matter.

Use of All Lives Matter downplays the disproportionate racism and police brutalityexperienced by black people.

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor of Princeton Universitytold the New York Times that the idea that All Lives Matter has always been an assumption.

He adds: The entire point of Black Lives Matter is to illustrate the extent to which black lives have not mattered in this country.

Cargle used an analogy to highlight the issue of saying All Lives Matter.

She wrote: If a patient being rushed to the ER after an accident were to point to their mangled leg and say, This is what matters right now, and the doctor saw the scrapes and bruises of other areas and countered, but all of you matters, wouldnt there be a question as to why he doesn't show urgency in aiding that what is most at risk?

What is the meaning of the clenched fist symbol?

Protestors holding up closed fists has been a regular sight at #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations and protests in recent days.

The clenched fist has a long history, originally used by marginalised groups worldwide experiencing oppression. Its viewed as a rejection of unjust authority and a show of resistance.

When the Black Panther Party was founded in 1966 by Huey P. NewtonandBobby Seale to challenge police brutality against the African American community, the black power fist was repeatedly used as a symbol of black liberation.

The black power salute was famously used byAmerican sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics Gameswho both received medals. Donning black gloves theyraised their fists while the national anthem played during the medal ceremony.

Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela raised a fist in triumph when he was released from prison in 1990.

The clenched fistwas adopted by #BlackLivesMatter following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014.

White police shot the unarmed black teenager dead by, with witnesses alleging that Brown had raised his handsbefore being shot. The black power fist was then used to represent the "hands up, don't shoot" pose.

See more here:
Here's what the Black Lives Matter movement represents - and why it's offensive to say All Lives Matter - News Post Leader

Nearly every year our Instagram and Twitter feeds are filled with crude images of black death from somewhere in the US. Its the same alarming cycle: theres an unarmed black man, the police or their fellow citizen murder them, a video of the incident is found, pressure is needed to bring their killers to justice, theyre acquitted, the news moves on, we all forget. The death of Ahmaud Abrey is yet another tragic tale of American racism that has shocked the world.

This time the world must not look away. We cant let the news cycle move on. We cant let this kind of tragic injustice continue. I'm a 17-year-old black teenager from London. Ive never even been to America. But still the death of Ahmaud Abrey should concern us all. Hes our brother -- he had a mother, father, family and friends. He was human. No one, anywhere, in any country should suffer such a needless, brutal, unjust death. Even when the powerful across the world turn a blind eye we must speak louder and demand better.

In 2012 Trayvon Martin, aged 17, was gunned down by George Zimmerman in Florida. Zimmerman was acquitted. In 2014 Eric Garner was choked to death by an NYPD officer during an arrest, uttering the words I can't breathe. No charges were brought against the officer. In 2015 Walter Scott, who was unarmed, was fatally shot as he ran away from a police officer. In 2016 Alton sterling was shot dead by two police officers at close range. In 2018 the 23-year-old Stephon Clark was on the phone in his grandmother's garden, when he was shot and killed by two police officers. In 2019 Bothham Jean was fatally shot by his neighbour, an off-duty Dallas police officer. And thats just scratching the surface. There are countless other names not included in this list.

On February 23, as Abrey jogged through a small neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, his life was taken by murderous hatred. For being a black man in America he paid the ultimate price. His life was ended by 34-year-old Travis McMicheal and his father George McMicheal, and in doing so, they extinguished the potential of the young 25-year-old. His memories yet to be made, dreams yet to be realised, life yet to be lived. All taken away in the flash of an eye. The sadness, rage and anger we feel at the video has to be transferred into action, demanding justice for Abrey and an end to the racism that allows this to happen.

The video is horrific to watch. Imagine how distressing it must have been for Abrey. To know that you went out for a run, never committed a crime, never hurt anyone, only to be hunted down and killed. Words cant describe the pain, suffering and anguish he must have experienced. He should've never died. He shouldve lived to see his dreams realised. He should be alive. Thankfully, his two killers have now been arrested and charged with his murder. But that isn't proper justice. Justice would be dismantling the racist system that made them feel like they could take his life.

We as humans are far too complacent. We think progress is won far too soon. An entire system exists which allows racist injustice to continue. The racism we thought was confined to the dusty pages of history still haunts us today. The American court system locks up African Americans for non-violent drug offenses for a long period while the killers of people like Trayvon Martin walk free. The police departments often dont properly investigate the deaths of African Americans like Abrey. Police officers shoot unarmed African Americans often with very little consequence.

In his 1963 letter from Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King Jr. famously said: a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We must enter a new day where we are united against all forms of oppression. Where we challenge the powerful, give voice to the voiceless and justice for all. We owe it to Abrey, and those who wrongfully suffered a similar fate, to ensure the brutal crime committed against him never happens again. Progress doesn't fall from the sky, its won by uniting, participating in activism and organising our communities.

Maybe Im too young to understand what the world should be. How the economy should be structured. How we can get better politicians. How to stop so much needless suffering. But it cant be this.

Excerpt from:
The death of Ahmaud Arbery concerns us all - i-D

The writer is professor of sociology at Manchester university

Every Thursday night at home in London, around 7.55pm, its the same. I tell myself not to overthink it. I go to the kitchen cupboard, pull out a saucepan and a wooden spoon, take them to the front door. Then I wait until the clock strikes eight, step out and start whacking the pan. My wife claps beside me. Occasionally the kids join in.

The street comes out; people I havent seen since last week. My daughters piano teacher across the road; the downstairs neighbour. Wewave, chat, clap and cheer for the workers in the National Health Service who are fighting Covid-19 on our behalf. Then we go back inside. And I ask myself: What, precisely, was that about?

Many countries have developed rituals for celebrating their medical workers during this pandemic. But very few of them have nationalised health services. As a nation, the UK ismore proud of the NHS than the monarchy.

So when people come out en masse and cheer for the NHS the one issue that vied with Brexit as a priority during last Decembers general election it is, by definition, a political act. Quite what those politics amount to is, of course, deeply contested. The experts keep saying the UK is just a few weeks behind Italy, where there have beensignificant protests over the effects of the lockdown for a month now. If British politics are keeping stride with our pandemic then a backlash is overdue.

I am clapping for the NHS and the people who work in it, as my mother did; for the disproportionately black and brown migrant and low-paid labourers who keep the institution going, have done so since its inception and are nowdisproportionately vulnerable to both the disease and lockdowns challenges. Im clapping with pride that I live in a nation that has created and sustained this, but also with rage that they still do not all have the protective equipment or testing they need, and with hope that one day soon theyll get the pay they deserve and the service the investment it needs. When I see the prime minister, Boris Johnson, or Prince Charles out on the doorstep I think: Well clearly were not all clapping for the same thing. You can evoke national unity but you cannot enforce it.

As public trust in the governments abilityto handle the pandemic plummets and the death toll, particularly of health workers, rises, the Thursday outing feels less like just a consensual display of gratitude than the closest thing you can get to a national demonstration with social distancing.

It feels like an exemplar of the modern social movement par excellence: an inadequate, if popular, gesture that highlights an issue it is not equipped to solve. Born as a callout on the internet, it owes its spread to social media. It has no leader, centre or organisational structure. It emerged from a sentiment that was broadly felt but essentially latent a colourless gas in search of a spark, a meme in pursuit of meaning.

Like #BlackLivesMatter or #MeToo, it may well find that meaning in one moment, only to find its biggest audience in another. The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag was coined in 2013 following the acquittal of George Zimmerman for killing an unarmed black teenager, Trayvon Martin, in Orlando, Florida. But it became globally popular a year later, after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, 1,000 miles away in Ferguson, Missouri.

The MeToo movement was the 2006 MySpace invention of a Bronx-based community organiser seeking to advance empowerment through empathy among women of colour who had been sexually abused. It was not until the revelations of Hollywood producerHarvey Weinsteins serial sexual abuse and rape, more than a decade later, that it became global phenomenon.

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What they lack in form and structure these movements have no meetings or minutes they partly compensate for in scale and flexibility. They can respond quickly; but they can fade fast too. Whatever we would like to believe, clicking, sending, retweeting and liking is not the modern day equivalent of marching, picketing or sitting-in. Activism demands, at the very least, activity.

Still, people can be rallied on an unprecedented scale and with a new speed. Absent a definite target, these movements raise consciousness but not demands. That makes it difficult to gauge what success would look like even as they have impact. No one can claim a causal connection between #MeToo and the historic number of women that were elected to the US Congress a year later. But the contextual relationship between the two is hard to dismiss.

Similarly, Occupy Wall Street did not lead to reforms of the financial industry; but Barack Obamas communications director has said that it had a significant effect on the former US presidents re-election prospects because it gave people permission to openly discuss something that had not really been openly discussed which was the growing inequalities and the unfairness.

So, come Thursday, I will once again try not to overthink it. I will step out and make some noise with the vague hope that, somewhere along the line, it might help make change of some kind.

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Read more from the original source:
Gary Younge: What, precisely, are we making noise for? | Free to read - Financial Times

Interview by Matt Mallory

USA -(AmmoLand.com)- As a self-defense instructor, I teach civilians and law enforcement about situational awareness, use-of-force levels, hands-on tactics, and how to use both lethal and less-lethal tools. If you are in the industry that I am, or simply watch the news, you know the name George Zimmerman.

A man by the name of Trayvon Martin lost his life that cold Sunday night on the 26th of February 2012. The news spread across the nation like a wildfire in California. The news reported that a young black boy was murdered by a white man. As the dust settled, that turned out NOT to be the truth. Adding fuel to the flame, President Obama made the statement that If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon This situation was the spark that set off the Black Lives Matter movement. Just as things started to die down, they flamed back up with the 2014 Michael Brown shooting by office Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, which saw the creation of the slogan Hands Up, Don't Shoot.

My goal was to provide a firsthand account of his life-changing battle to survive a deadly encounter. At the start of 2018 my quest began. I noticed a George Zimmerman on Facebook who had mutual friends, I thought, it couldnt be, but after some research, it was the George Zimmerman. I sent a friend request with no expectations that he would accept it, though he did. Soon after, I sent him a message introducing myself and asking if he would be willing to talk with me. My goal being, to tell his story to better my students understanding on the importance of not being in the fight in the first place. He agreed, and we spent months trying to get our schedules to match up for that phone call. In hindsight, it was a blessing since something better was in store.

Fast forward to the fall and I was booked to work as pro staff for Laser Ammos booth at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference. I sent George a text asking if he wanted to have dinner with me while I was in Florida. He accepted, and we picked a mutual night to meet up in person. At that time, I didnt know he had only done a few public interviews to include Sean Hannity. The same day he did the exclusive interview with Hannity he turned down Barbra Walters for an interview. Ill save that story for another time.

Though he agreed to meet me, I still wasnt sure if it would happen. I mean, he doesnt know me from Adam. If it didnt happen, I couldnt blame him, as he has been targeted by everyone from a sitting President all the way down to average citizens. George has had death threats and was shot at in 2015 by a deranged person, by the name of Matthew Apperson, who was sentenced to 35 years (20 and 15 running concurrently). Come to find out, George vetted me through our mutual friend, Andrew Branca, and the meeting came to fruition.

George was celebrating his birthday the night prior to our meeting so I was tasked with picking our meeting location. He suggested Longhorn, Olive Garden, or Buffalo Wild Wings. I chose Olive Garden for a quiet location for us to talk. I had a list of questions that I wrote down, thentyped out, and wrote down again, in preparation for our phone call those many months prior. I considered bringing a video camera to capture the meeting but thought that was too much for a dinner setting. I then planned to record the audio from my phone, but little did I know that my plans would change once again.

I arrived at the restaurant and was quickly seated by the hostess. I texted George letting him know I had arrived. I was not sure of what to expect from George. I only knew how the media portrayed him. He had been nothing but a Southern gentleman to me in all our correspondence leading up to this night and he truly had no need or reason to meet with me. Shortly after texting him, he replied stating he was walking into the restaurant. I then went to meet him at the door. As I shook his hand, my first impression was that he seemed to be a polite and soft-spoken person.

That impression carried on through the next two-and-a-half hours that we spent together. I never did see an evil killer that the media portrayed. Could it have been a front? Sure, it was possible, but time would tell.

I truly wanted to get-to-know the real George Zimmerman. As we sat down, I, in normal fashion, handed him one of my PS&Ed (www.psanded.com) business cards along with our company Velcro patch. I then thanked him for agreeing to meet with me. I let him know that I was planning to record our conversation but at that second, I felt led to not record it and for us to just talk. I conveyed this to him along with my desire to have him come on my YouTube Channel Meet The Pressers as a guest to tell his story, in person. He agreed, and I suggested we do it around the time the movie comes out. Oh, I guess this is a good time to tell you that George flew to California last year to be a subject matter expert for a movie that is being made about that night back in 2012. It is scheduled to be released in the end of July.

The waitress kept returning to our table to take our order, but our short time together was much like two lifelong friends catching up and not looking at the menu. We finally ordered our meals and when they arrived, I prayed over our meeting and the food before we dug in.

Life Before

As we began to eat, I hit George with my first question. What was your life like prior to that February night in 2012? He began to tell me how he was raised Catholic and that his grandmother lived with his family as is a tradition for many Hispanic families. He was married, had a home, a good job making a handsome hourly wage, and was enrolled in college setting his sights on getting a degree all while mentoring inner-city youth in Apopka, Florida. This stood out to me as something a good person would do to make their community better.

Leading up to that terrible night, George said that there were many burglaries in their community. His wife wanted to move but due to work and schooling that wasn't financially feasible. She urged him to do something. There were neighborhood watch signs throughout the neighborhood, so he decided to join the local watch. Come to find out, there was no formal neighborhood watch. So, what does any citizen concerned about their neighborhood do? Gather the masses to form a neighborhood watch of course. I could relate because I did the same thing when we lived in the City of Syracuse, NY.

The Night of the Deadly Encounter

I asked George to walk me through that night that changed his life forever. He began to do so in epic fashion.

It was a cold and rainy Sunday night. Like all other Sunday's he would go out to the store to buy chicken and other food for the diet, he was on. He continued then stopped short and asked me for a piece of paper. I flipped to a blank piece of paper in my notepad that contained all the questions I had for him. I then slid it along with my pen across the table to him. He began to sketch out while explaining that the gated community he lived in wasn't fully gated all the way around. He said that a bordering swampy area would dry up throughout the year allowing people to come and go undetected.

George continued his story on how he was driving out of the gated community and the light from another vehicle lit up the alleyway behind a house. He noticed someone standing in the shadows. He thought that was odd due to the cold rainy weather. The suspicious behavior made him concerned for his neighborhood, so he called it in to authorities.

He continued to use the sketch to show me how that night's events continued to play out. He showed me where he pulled up to the clubhouse and shortly after, a hooded man, later found to be Trayvon Martin, circled his vehicle a couple of times, all while reaching in-and-out of his pockets as if trying to intimidate George. Trayvon then went out of sight behind a building. To help provide police with the location of Trayvon, George got out of his vehicle to get a better vantage point. He informed the dispatcher of this and the dispatcher stated that they didn't need him to do that. However, by now George was out of his vehicle and moving to a better position. George saw lights in the distance and thought the police had arrived. He later realized that was not the case.

Headed in the direction that the lights came from coming around the side of one of the townhouses to the T in the sidewalks he was, without notice, punched in the face by Trayvon, instantly breaking his nose. Trayvon then grabbed George and tried to throw him to the ground multiple times. George held his own for a little bit but eventually was thrown to the ground. Once again George referred to the sketch showing me where they were by this time, which was a little further up the sidewalk from the initial attack. He said that the ground sloped down on one side of the sidewalk and his legs were down the hill while his head was on the sidewalk. Trayvon was now on top of George punching him repeatedly in the face, MMA style, as George described. Every time George tried to sit up Trayvon would slam him back down to the ground and in-turn his head would bounce off the sidewalk, causing him excruciating pain.

To get away from the pain being inflicted on his head, George tried sliding down the hill out from underneath Trayvon. This caused Georges red windbreaker to slide up revealing his Kel- Tec PF-9 9mm handgun holstered on his hip.

Without any prior experience of drawing and shooting from the holster, George knew it was either now or never. He unholstered the firearm and fired one shot at the man who he felt was trying to take his life. The response from Trayvon was like that of an old Western movie. He said, Ya got me! At that second George thought his shot missed. To him, it seemed as if Trayvon was making a statement to concede defeat and not that he actually was hit by the bullet.

In that instance George wasn't worried about his safety or that somebody was trying to kill him, he was more concerned that he missed Trayvon and might have hurt somebody else in a nearby house. To me, this was one of many enlightening times in our meeting. More concerned for the life of his neighbors than his own life.

George was now able to get out from underneath his attacker. Trayvon collapsed onto the ground clutching his chest while mumbling illegible words. A neighbor came out asking what was going on and shortly after a police officer showed up. George said the officer was calm and asked him what had happened. He informed the officer that his firearm was holstered on his side. The officer later retained the gun. Emergency teams worked on Martin. Medical attention was given to George on the scene before he was taken to the police station, for over 5 hours of questioning. Though his head felt as if it was going to explode, he endured the questioning. He was able to clean up in the bathroom at the police station, though after the fact, his attorneys were not happy with Georges decision to do so since it disposed of crucial evidence that could help his case. Little did anyone know that this nights events would become such a national case.

Life After that Terrible Night

Being that Florida is a stand-your-ground state meaning that you do not have a duty to retreat when posed with danger if you are legally allowed to be there and all the evidence showed that George was defending himself, no charges were brought against him that night. It wasn't until later when then President Obama called governor Rick Scott and demanded that he find somebody in the state of Florida that would prosecute George. After consulting multiple district attorneys, the Governor found one in Jacksonville that would take the case. This began the 3.5- million-dollar battle for George to stay out of prison. George fought off death that night but never fathomed the war to save his life was just beginning.

While awaiting trial, George spent his time in solitary confinement. His confinement was more solitary than other inmates due to threats made on his life and his high-profile case. He spent much of his time reading the Bible and Phil Robertson's book Happy, Happy, Happy. Being locked up with minimal interaction with others day-after-day is sure to beat down the morale of anyone. It tends to make people depressed or harden them from emotion. George admitted having a bad boy phase after being acquitted which gave him many run-ins with the law.

When he was finally acquitted of all charges, and released from prison.

Shortly after that his cousin drove in from California and they watched a Duck Dynasty marathon. His cousin knew he needed to laugh again with everything he had been through. Phil Robertson was just the medicine he needed. He made him laugh so much that he wanted to meet him and the family in person. On a whim, he just up and drove to West Monroe, Louisiana in search of the family that helped him be happy again. Little did he know the Robertsons had been praying for him during the whole ordeal. The trip had many positive outcomes. He broke bread with the Robertson family, was born again and found a truly remarkable family who is now lifelong friends.

Through his ordeal he has met other big names in the self-defense industry, to include Andrew Branca and Massad Ayoob. George said that though this incident changed his life in a prolific way, there are great people he has met because of it and that has been positive.

George's life drastically changed that desolate night. Most places won't hire him because of bad publicity. Businesses that have given him a chance, eventually end up letting him go. When people harass your employees while at work, well that is not good for business. To pay his bills, he was reduced to selling the firearm that was used to save his life. A winning bid brought him $250,000. Though this seems like a lot, in comparison to what he has lost and the expense of the trial, it is a drop in the bucket. To keep afloat, he has used his artistic ability to paint and sells his works of art whenever possible.

My last question of the night for George was If anything, what would you have done differently that night? Without hesitation, his response was I would have never left the house! His answer struck me deep. I thought he would say, I would have just called 911 at the time I saw the suspicious silhouette lurking next to the building, in the rain. Or possibly, I would have stayed in my vehicle after the person circled it in an intimidating manner. For him to wish he had never left his home was a statement for sure. Your life can change in an instant based on decisions that you make.

After multiple refills of our drinks and getting close to being kicked out of the restaurant, because they were closing soon, we thought this was a good spot to call it a night and agreed to reconnect soon. We left the restaurant together and took a final photo together before parting ways.

My Final Thoughts

Some thoughts I had during our dinner meeting. First, a dispatchers advice though in this case, good advice is not a lawful order. Second, George did not seek out Trayvon with a gun in-his- hand. That is, to me, he did not have the intention to hunt-him-down. He only drew the firearm as a last resort to defend himself from the grave bodily harm being imposed and his death that was impending.

In the months since our dinner, George and I have kept in touch, talking on and off as topics come up in the news and in life.

In a phone call with George earlier this year, he said to me Ifeel like that's your duty. Once you make a call and you ask for assistance, you ask for police response. I feel like its your duty as a civilian, or as a concerned citizen, to be able to relay that information to them so that they can respond rapidly and accurately to your call for help.

To this day, George feels he did everything correctly and did nothing wrong that night. However, he agrees with me in that, if you don't want your life turned upside down like his was, it's better to not be in the fight in the first place. As well, the decisions you make can put you in harm's way in more ways than one and the situation may not turn out the way you think.

If this case was tried in my home state of New York I would have no doubt that he would be in prison. I train many thousands of students annually, all over the country, and my advice is to have a higher level of thinking. Taking the higher road, if you will. The old saying, I would rather be tried by 12 than carried by six, is foolish in this day and age!

I agree with George in that those who carry a handgun for self-defense should know how to use it and practice doing so but they should also investigate insurance like the USCCA membership or CCW Safe. This coverage will help cover legal fees but there is still no guarantee that you will be acquitted. Hence, staying out of the fight in the first place is the best advice. Even if you have a great legal defense team, your attorney does not pick the jurors for your trial. The attorneys only deselect some that are the worst for their case. Ultimately, the pick comes from a jury pool of your peers. Don't count on your jury being made up of gun-toting, hardworking Americans that are a USCCA or NRA member! The hand you are dealt in court can be much like playing Russian roulette. I would prefer to not be caught with the Dead Mans Hand!

Right after his life was turned upside down, never to be the same again, he risked his own life to save the life of a family in an overturned SUV. Only a selfless person would do something like that. This in a day and age where people would rather pull a cell phone out to record people dying rather than lend a hand to those in need. I came out of my dinner meeting with George feeling that I met a man that tried to do the right thing but got a raw deal in the end. I pray that no one goes through what George did and that is why I bring his story to you.

I have been telling my students for years that it's better to not be in the fight in the first place! You will survive 100% of the fights that you are not in. These days, to be judged by anyone, even 12 jurors can be almost as bad as being carried by six pallbearers. To put everything in context, in a moral of the story kind of way, I would say: You could do everything for the right reason, do nothing illegal, and still be prosecuted or persecuted by a jury of public opinion for the decisions that you make.

Shoot straight and stay safe.

About Matt Mallory

Founder and Lead Instructor of Public Safety and Education (a.k.a. PS&Ed), Matthew J. Mallory is a U.S. Army veteran, former adjunct college professor, and a highly experienced firearms instructor whose passion for weapons and self-defense began at a very young age. Currently, Matt works as a sworn New York State Law Enforcement Officer, firearms instructor (USCCA, NRA, UTM, Utah, and New York), self-defense instructor (NY, TASER, ASP, Safariland, and Sabre Red), and gun store owner. He teaches more than 60 different firearms and self-defense courses, over 200 times each year, to many thousands of students all over the country. He co-hosts a YouTube show called Meet The Pressers and also travels the county working as a brand ambassador and pro staff for many companies (USCCA, Laser Ammo, Shooters Technology Group, Mantis, and Angel Armor). His over 35 years of vast experience and passion for teaching ensures that his courses are educational and highly entertaining. You can learn more about Matt atwww.PSandEd.com.

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Seven Years Later, George Zimmerman Speaks with Someone He ...