*The race of Florida teen Trayvon Martin had less to do with his death than the fact that the neighborhood watch volunteer who killed him was carrying a gun, comedian Bill Cosby told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday.
Martin, 17, was shot and killed in February by self-appointed Neighborhood Watch captain George Zimmerman. He told authorities that he shot the unarmed teen in self-defense. Martin’s family contends Zimmerman racially profiled the teen. Zimmerman was detained last week and charged with second-degree murder.
“It doesn’t make any difference if he’s racist or not racist,” Cosby said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “If he’s scared to death and not a racist, it’s still a confrontational provoking of something” when a person has a gun on them.
Gun violence is personal to Cosby. His and wife Camille’s only son, Ennis, was shot and killed while changing a tire off a Southern California freeway in 1997. Michael Markhasev, a Ukrainian-born immigrant, was convicted the next year of killing Ennis Cosby during an attempted robbery.
Cosby said that he “used to have a gun,” which he bought to “protect my family.” He insists he has nothing against people having firearms in their homes to protect against intruders, but said he believes that being on the streets with a gun changes some people, making them bolder and more dangerous.
“When a person has a gun, sometimes their mind clicks that this thing … will win arguments and straighten people out,” he said.
Cosby did not mention Zimmerman by name during his CNN interview. But he did allude to key facts of the case, like how Zimmerman called 911 to report what he called a “suspicious” person in his neighborhood.
The dispatcher told him police were on their way and not to follow the person, who ended up being Martin. But Zimmerman apparently did pursue him. The pair got into a confrontation and Zimmerman ended up shooting Martin.
“When you tell me that you’re going to protect the neighborhood that I live in, I don’t want you to have a gun,” Cosby said. “I want you to be able to see something, report it and get out of the way.”
Watch below.
Well said Cosby.
I don’t agree with Cosby. If Zimmerman was ‘scared to death’, he should have stayed put in the truck he was in and call police. What ‘scared’ person gets out of a car after a ‘suspsect, if they think that a person seems suspicious? That person could have a gun also. I personally think that there are too many people out there with guns to begin with but in this case, I believe it is both race and guns that contributed to Martin’s death. I got what Cosby is saying but I don’t think his comments pertain to this case.
I thought the same damn thing…but added a WTF behind his commentary.
Thank you. What the heck is Bill talking about. He of all people should be most empathetic to what Trayvon’s parents are going through since his son was shot by a racist who specifically targeted him because he was black.
And, this case CAN be about both racism and guns. Trayvon Martin was racially profiled, pursued, and murdered by George Zimmermann who felt he could claim self-defense based on Florida’s crazy ‘Stand Your Ground’ law.
It’s so much easier to write everything off as racism than to address other issues. Great article Mr Cosby.
No matter how you try to subvert the issue…the racist EVIDENCE is there for all to see!
Melody, she’s too busy ‘yes suhing’ Bill Cosby but can’t tell the difference between a guest interview and an article. Bill Cosby GAVE an interview, he did not write an article.
Buying guns is like buying candy from the ice cream truck. Everyone of us have been impacted by some stupid ass with a gun. My favorite cousin’s daughters’ father shot and killed her with a 9mm, then left her laying in a hallway in front of her 3 kids, then the asshole goes out to his car and gets an assault rifle and shoots up the security guard…I HATE guns…
Steph I am afraid of guns.
Why can’t it be both? I don’t know what he is talking about.
It matters because WE NEED TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT KILLING BLACK CHILDREN BECAUSE THEY ARE BLACK will not be tolerated. Period to be dismissive by saying “What difference does it make” is wrong. I am a full thinking human being. I can be against gun violence & racism at the SAME TIME. I
Cosby has no problem telling black people about some of our short comings ( which I agreed with SOME, not ALL) but can’t find it in himself to utter a word about racism.
In 1997 Ennis Cosby’s killer Markhasev confessed in a letter and wrote, “I shot the nigger”. If that’s how he deals with it fine, I am glad historically we simply did not concentrate on the tool they used to kill us with but WHY they thought they could in the first place. It’s like blaming the rope as the only culprit of a lynching and not acknowledging the reason they were lynched.
@ Olivia,
“Cosby has no problem telling black people about some of our short comings ( which I agreed with SOME, not ALL) but can’t find it in himself to utter a word about racism.”
I totally agree. And this lack of criticism is what emboldens racist leaning non-Blacks like Gayle.
Keep it mind that more blacks are killed by another black but it appears to be worse if it’s by another race. I guess it’s easier to embrace racism as the issue oppose to easy access to gun.
Well uhm, this cant’ isn’t about easy access to a gun since we have indicated nothing that would’ve made it harder for Zimmerman to get a gun in the first.
The “easy to get gun) argument works better for Brad buying a gun off the street to shoot up his school.
@Gayle (the flaming interloper),
Also keep in mind that more whites are killed by whites etc etc but the minute someone non-white put you down the cacophony is never ending. None of you were up in arms over Robert Blake and Phil Spector killing white women but OJ was run into the ground. I haven’t heard of any of you being upset over Blake walking free despite the overwhelming EVIDENCE against him. There are plenty of cases where criminal whites have been completely exonerated but were guilty as sin!
Amen
Thank you Melody!
You do know MOST crime is infra-racial, right? You are making no point at all.
These mofos actually think they’ll being original by constantly parroting the same ol’ same ol’ hope to squelch accusations against them.
MelodyCool you are on point in every post..
Cosby: Guns the Main Issue in Trayvon Case, Not Race
“The race of Florida teen Trayvon Martin had less to do with his death than the fact that the neighborhood watch volunteer who killed him was carrying a gun, comedian Bill Cosby told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday.”
Had the race of the Florida teen been white wearing a hood, the neighborhood watch volunteer -George Zimmerman would not have shot and murdered this individual as described. Old Nigga Charlie (Bill Cosby) attempt to claim that the main issue in Trayvon’s case was guns. Which is bullshit. There is absolutely nothing wrong with guns itself, it’s the damn person that gets a host of a gun to operate, and misuse it for the wrong purpose against someone else.
With all DUE respect to Bill Cosby, I beg to differ. Even the prosecutor said Zimmerman “profiled” Trayvon Martin. George Zimmerman saw a young BLACK male and decided he would “save the day” by pursing this “criminal element.”
Florida still has the death penalty, and they need to USE it.
Grace,
“Florida still has the death penalty, and they need to USE it.”
I wish like he11 GZ was charged with capital murder which he should have been.
Research Robert Durst, the depraved psychopath who killed and dismembered an elderly man in Texas then claimed self-defense and only spent 7 months in jail. It’s widely known that RD killed his first wife and a another female friend in California who was harboring his secret for money. He set out to kill his own brother but security guards stopped his car in the driveway loaded with a treasure trove of weapons, restraints and mapquest directions to the homes of other intended victims as well. It’s interesting whites aren’t up in arms that RD is walking the streets of NYC as a free man today.