Why did the American lib-left jump on the Trayvon Martin bandwagon?

It was a fable for our times:

Once upon a time, a nice young man set off from his dad's fiancée's home before the NBA All-Star game to buy some Skittles and Arizona Tea for his stepbrother. Although the lad was seventeen, he looked like a cute twelve-year-old. Along came a burly ex-con racist vigilante who didn't like the idea of a young African-American male walking around his gated community at night. The cop-wannabe stalked the frightened boy, cornered him, and then shot him. But the racist police didn't arrest the murderer. The conscience of the nation was stirred. Protests erupted from coast to coast. The gunning down of young, unarmed black males by white Rambos -- and the occasional "white Hispanic" -- is an all-too-common occurrence in the US of A.

Now the MSM narrative is unraveling, thanks to Al Gore's nifty invention, the internet. ...

We've learned a little more about Trayvon Martin. Since his record of suspensions and his posts and pictures, with tats and grill, from his Myspace and Twitter accounts surfaced on the web, columnists are less likely to enthuse about him, as a WaPo blogger did on March 18. ...
"So what?" the left responds. The fact that he "experimented" with marijuana at a school with zero tolerance -- and maybe experimented with burglary -- and was intrigued by gangsta argot and gangsta values -- has no bearing on the events of February 26. But of course it does. We are being asked to chose between two stories:

1. that the teen was intercepted by Zimmerman, asked "why are you following me?," and was pushed; or

2. that he came back for Zimmerman; asked, "Do you have a f-ing problem?"; and, when told no, said, "You do now," and leveled Zimmerman.

As for the killing itself, those who are curious know that the only eyewitness who called 911 reported that Martin was on top of Zimmerman, pummeling him. Zimmerman was crying out for help. The witness ran upstairs, heard a shot, and saw the guy who was on top dead on the ground. Zimmerman himself reported that the teenager suddenly confronted him and, after a brief exchange, decked him with one punch.

Martin got on top of Zimmerman and began slamming his head against the concrete. The physical evidence corroborated the stories of the neighborhood watch captain and of "John": Zimmerman's back was wet and had grass stains, and he had a broken nose and lacerations on the back of his head. "I was yelling for help and no one came," he told police. ...

Just as Martin did not go straight home after he first spotted the neighborhood watch captain, so, too, he apparently did not go directly to Brandy Green's apartment from the 7-Eleven. What exactly he was doing between the time he entered the gated community and the moment Zimmerman noticed him will probably never be known. Though there may be some plausible explanation for his behavior, the idea that he was simply returning from a selfless errand when he caught Zimmerman's eye seems less and less likely.

"The guy on the bottom who had a red sweater on was yelling to me: 'help, help…and I told him to stop and I was calling 911," he said.

Trayvon Martin was in a hoodie; Zimmerman was in red.

The witness only wanted to be identified as "John," and didn't not want to be shown on camera.

His statements to police were instrumental, because police backed up Zimmerman's claims, saying those screams on the 911 call are those of Zimmerman.

"When I got upstairs and looked down, the guy who was on top beating up the other guy, was the one laying in the grass, and I believe he was dead at that point," John said.

Zimmerman says the shooting was self defense. According to information released on the Sanford city website, Zimmerman said he was going back to his SUV when he was attacked by the teen.

Sanford police say Zimmerman was bloody in his face and head, and the back of his shirt was wet and had grass stains, indicating a struggle took place before the shooting.

"I saw two men on the ground, one on top of the other. I felt they were scuffling and I heard gunshots which to me were more like pops," he said in an interview broadcast on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, his voice disguised to protect his identity.

"I don't know if was an echo but it definitely made more than one pop.
"After the larger man got off there was a boy, obviously now dead, on the ground facing down.

"It was dark. I can't say I watched him get up, but in a couple of seconds or so he was walking towards where I was watching and I could see him a little bit clearer. It was a Hispanic man. He didn't appear hurt or anything else. He just kind of seemed very worried with his hand up to his forehead."

The man said that before opening his window and looking out, he had heard angry voices outside. "There was a loud, predominant voice. I couldn't hear the words but this is not a regular conversation," he said. "This is someone aggressively yelling at someone."

He said there was a lull but the argument resumed and that was when he decided to see what was going on.

"I'm thinking something horrible is happening. I heard the yell for help and another excruciating kind of a yell, it didn't even sound like a yell, it sounded so painful," he said.

But Daryl Parks, attorney for Trayvon's parents Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, said the story "answers a lot of questions".

He said: "It is very clear this witness saw what happened and clearly indicated the person that he saw that did the shooting. The other part that really strikes out for me is that he seems to have not seen the apparent injuries from this altercation that Mr Zimmerman claims that he suffered.

Deank wrote:who cares? dont stalk people, dont kill people

Hollywood wrote:

Deank wrote:who cares? dont stalk people, dont kill people

There's no evidence of "stalking". Martin assaulted Zimmerman and was then shot.

USApegger wrote:

Hollywood wrote:

Deank wrote:who cares? dont stalk people, dont kill people

There's no evidence of "stalking". Martin assaulted Zimmerman and was then shot.

You are kidding?? He followed the kid, called 911 was told to not follow him he still did and now the kid is dead.

George Zimmerman leaves his truck at 2:14 and reaches Retreat View Circle just over thirty seconds later at 2:45.

He agrees to stop pursuit at the dispatcher’s request. After the 911
call is complete, Zimmerman begins to head back to his truck to meet the
police. At this point, he claims he was confronted by Trayvon, and
walks a few steps down the sidewalk south to respond to him.

As we can see, it appears unlikely that Zimmerman ever “chased down”
Martin. Zimmerman only pursued long enough to maintain visual contact
to see what direction Trayvon was going.

Zimmerman traveled his entire route in around 30 seconds, he only
went a very short distance and did so specifically to tell the 911
dispatcher where Trayvon had gone.

It wasn’t until several minutes later that their altercation took
place, when Martin apparently doubled back to confront Zimmerman.

Hollywood wrote:

USApegger wrote:

Hollywood wrote:

Deank wrote:who cares? dont stalk people, dont kill people

There's no evidence of "stalking". Martin assaulted Zimmerman and was then shot.

You are kidding?? He followed the kid, called 911 was told to not follow him he still did and now the kid is dead.

This is the spin applied by the Martin attorneys but it is not supported by the facts cited throughout the links in this thread. Here is the synopsis:

George Zimmerman leaves his truck at 2:14 and reaches Retreat View Circle just over thirty seconds later at 2:45.

He agrees to stop pursuit at the dispatcher’s request. After the 911
call is complete, Zimmerman begins to head back to his truck to meet the
police. At this point, he claims he was confronted by Trayvon, and
walks a few steps down the sidewalk south to respond to him.

As we can see, it appears unlikely that Zimmerman ever “chased down”
Martin. Zimmerman only pursued long enough to maintain visual contact
to see what direction Trayvon was going.

Zimmerman traveled his entire route in around 30 seconds, he only
went a very short distance and did so specifically to tell the 911
dispatcher where Trayvon had gone.

It wasn’t until several minutes later that their altercation took
place, when Martin apparently doubled back to confront Zimmerman.

USApegger wrote:...

So who provided the synopsis?

Timeline of events

February 26, 2012
7:09 pm – Zimmerman's call to Sanford police begins[83]
7:12 pm – Trayvon's girlfriend calls him[206]
7:13 pm – Zimmerman's call to Sanford police ends[206]
7:16 pm – Trayvon call to girlfriend goes dead;[206] 9-1-1 calls from the neighors begin
7:17 pm – First officer arrives on scene[12]
7:30 pm – Martin pronounced dead at the scene by paramedic[12]
7:52 pm – Zimmerman arrival at police station recorded on video
Roughly 10:00 pm – Zimmerman released (duration described as "about two hours")

Facts about Trayvon Martin:

Trayvon Martin was not the baby-faced 11 year old we are seeing in pictures. He was a 6′ 3″ 17 year old football player.
Trayvon Martin was just given a ten day suspension from his high school for possession of marijuana and a pipe the week of the shooting.
This was Trayvon Martin’s third suspension, with others for skipping school and graffiti in the months leading up to the shooting.
Trayvon Martin was apprehended at school with 12 pieces of women’s jewelry and a flathead screwdriver (often used to break locks). Martin had no explanation for the jewelry and said “a friend gave it to him”. He was not suspended for this violation.
Martin’s Twitter handle (name) is @NO_LIMIT_NIGGA. Some examples of his “average teenager” tweets:
“f*** a b****. any b****. who you want? take yo pick but you gone take yo time.”
“I’ll slap a girl if she said suck my toes wtf, she must be giving some great dome for some sh** like that”
From Trayvon’s cousin: “‘Yu ain’t tell me yu swung on a bus driver