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WORLD & NATION
Trayvon Martin: beyond the speculation & towards the truth
By Kate Gibson
Staff Writer
Senators and Representatives donning
hooded sweatshirts. Student protestors
rattling bags of Skittles in unison. Social
networks and blogospheres erupting with
demands for action.
"We want arrests ... shot in the chest,"
chanted thousands of protestors on March
31 in Sanford, Fla., reported Reuters.
This group, along with countless others
across the nation, cried out for justice in
the name of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old
boy who was shot in the chest and killed
by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood
watch captain, on Feb. 26 in Sanford.
The facts may easily lead to
sensationalism — Martin was unarmed
and black; Zimmerman is Hispanic and
had previously faced assault and domestic
abuse charges. In addition, the killing took
place in Sanford, which has had a history
of racial animosity. However, the criminal
justice system does not allow room for
speculation.
"The public will react first and then
think when it comes to this case," said
senior Casey Mann, a criminal studies and
psychology double major. "The public
wants to think what they want and ignore
how the justice system works. You have to
account for all of the facts of this case."
We may never know what happened
on Feb. 26, but we can reveal the way that
the law should have worked given the
situation.
"It concerns me that the people of the
public are hollering for (Zimmerman's)
arrest," said Jerry Joplin, professor of justice
and policy studies. "That's just nonsense.
Let's holler for an investigation."
The integrity of the initial investigation
has come under fire. ABC News reported
that an officer at the scene "corrected" an
eye witness and that a narcotics detective.
no evidence of blood on Zimmerman's face
or shirt.
Additionally, recordings of a neighbor's
911 call captured cries for help moments
before the gunshot that took Martin's life.
Zimmerman asserted that he was the one
screaming; however, two independent
forensic experts determined with
Within the justice and Policy studies office, frustration with the Trayvon Martin case was shown in a
productive fashion by calling out for justice.The justice skittles have remained on display for days.
not a homicide detective, first interviewed
Zimmerman.
ABC News also released surveillance
footage of Zimmerman exiting a squad
car and entering the police station. Police
reports and Zimmerman's testimony state
that Zimmerman sustained a bloody or
broken nose in addition to scrapes on the
back of his head. On the footage, there is
"reasonable scientific certainty" that the
voice on the tapes is not Zimmerman's,
according to the Orlando Sentinel.
"The problem is that the police and the
prosecutor have not been forthcoming,"
said Joplin. "They could solve this thing
in a heartbeat — they could step in there
and say, 'We have investigated this and
this is our finding' ... but the police messed
around so long that the FBI is moving in
now."
Another problem made evident by this
incident is the role of the Neighborhood
Watch and similar types of "privatized
police."
"A neighborhood watch program should
be vetted by the police department, and
then the police department should make
it very clear: you do not carry weapons,"
said Joplin. He added that currerrtly, "we
don't know how to regulate those private
organizations to make sure they would
maintain standards of law enforcement that
we would like to see in the public sector."
Even though the Neighborhood Watch
does tell its members not to carry firearms,
Zimmerman has a concealed carry permit
and had his firearm when he spotted
Martin.
"And the big thing that private police can
do is that they can profile," added Sanjay
Marwah, assistant professor of justice and
policy studies. "And they assume that
profiling is acceptable and legitimate, and
that's the problem."
The federal government now leads the
investigation, and a grand jury will convene
on April 10 to determine if there is enough
evidence to arrest Zimmerman. But, the
outcome may not be the swift justice that
the public demands.
"(With) the nature of the publicity that's
being given to this case, it's going to be
very difficult to see any outcome as being
satisfactory," said Marwah. "It's going to
be incomplete justice for most parties, if
not all."
Endangered island nations call for global action on climate change
By Linda Catoe
Staff Writer
On Wednesday, recently-ousted Maldives President
Mohamed Nasheed appeared on CBS's "Late Show
with David Letterman" to promote his film, "The Island
President," and to send an important message to Americans.
"If carbon emissions were to stop today, the planet would
not see a difference for 60 to 70 years," Nasheed said. "If
carbon emissions continue at the rate they are climbing
today, my country will be underwater in seven years."
Nasheed is an outspoken advocate in combating global
warming and was the first democratically-elected president
of Maldives. On the Late Show, Nasheed told Letterman
that because his nation, located in the Indian Ocean, is a
mere six and a half feet above sea level, speculative talks are
underway to move the residents out of harm's way."
"The science is very sorted. If we are unable to do
something during the next seven years, we will be in serious
trouble," Nasheed said.
Nasheed's appearance on the late night show came on the
heels of the BBC's report that temperatures could rise up to
3C/5.4Fby 2050.
According to the BBC, a study of 10,000 climate simulations
projected the rise in planet temperatures.
The Climateprediction.net study, part of the BBC's
Climate Change Experiment, used a complex atmosphere-
ocean model'to run simulations. The projected rise in the
planet temperature is significantly higher than those from
other models.
To reflect uncertainties about the climate system, physical
parameters were varied between runs of the model, with
the forecast range coming from models "that accurately
reproduced observed temperature changes over the last 50
years," the BBC said.
The University of Oxford's School of Geography and
Environment and Department of Physics Professor and
Climateprediction.net's chief investigator Myles Allen said
that the study was needed because other climate modeling
studies did not explore the full range of uncertainty.
Other climate researchers weighed in saying the results
were very promising.
"Better constrained climate projections are needed to
help plan a wide range of adaptation measures, from
sea defenses to water storage capacity and biodiversity
conservation areas," said Professor Corinne Le Quere,
director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
at the University of East Anglia.
"If carbon emissions continue at the rote
they ore climbing today, my country will
be underwater in seven years."
Mohamed Nasheed, former Maldives President
"I have reservations about relying on a model that
combines land temperatures — which are clearly rising —
with sea temperatures which can be subject to big decadal
fluctuations," said Julian Hunt, emeritus professor of climate
modeling at University College London.
According to the BBC, Hunt did agree that the higher end
of the temperature predictions looked increasingly likely,
though he cited different specific causes. The causes he
pointed to specified methane released from the seabed and
land, "massive changes" in reflection of light at some places
on the Earth's surface, and reduced air pollution in Asia that
will reflect less solar energy back into space.
But what can people do to save the planet? There are
many groups dedicated to bringing people together in this
fight to protect the environment.
"This year Earth Hour has launched 'I Will If You Will'
on YouTube to showcase how everyone has the power to
change the world we live in, bringing together the world's
biggest social video platform with the 'world's largest action
for the environment,"' said World Wildlife Fund's Earth
Hour on its website. "The task is simple, head to YouTube
to tell us what you are willing to do to save the planet or
accept one of the challenges we've already received from
our supporters."
In other climate change initiatives, the Telegraph recently
reported that Anote Tong, President of the Republic of
Kiribati, was in negotiations to buy land in Fiji for Kiribati's
113,000 inhabitants. Kiribati — located in the South Pacific
— is also expected to soon be submerged in water as a result
of climate change.
"We don't want 100,000 people from Kiribati coming
to Fiji in one go," he told the state-run Fiji One television
channel.
"They need to find employment, not as refugees but as
immigrant people with skills to offer, people who have a
place in the community, people who will not be seen as
second-class citizens.
"What we need is the international community to come up
with an urgent funding package to deal with that ambition,
and the needs of countries like Kiribati," said Tong.
Mohamed Nasheed concluded his appearance on
Letterman with a cautionary remark to Americans.
"What happens to the Maldives today is going to happen
to everyone else tomorrow," he said. "Manhattan is an
island and I don't think that island is much different."
"I'm afraid the American people are not telling their
leaders enough on what to do with climate change,"
Nasheed added.