Exhausted. Hounded by media. Anyone NOT want to send her all the hugs right now?!

Good. I'm glad that she had an easier time of it today. After reading all of the horrible things people have been saying about here, I've been honestly tempted into just driving up to Seminole county to offer my services as her body guard. (Well... maybe not body guard, but someone who just says "Get the hell away…

I'm Scottish, and I understood her just fine when I listened to a section of her testimony where she was asked endlessly to repeat what she had said (which she did, far more patiently than I would be able to). What she says is perfectly understandable, even to someone like me who has very little experience of hearing…

Not all people born in the US are born into households that speak English daily. Ms. Jeantel's speaks Haitian Creole. English is her third language. It can be rough to master and negotiate register. I've read and graded plenty of college papers written by native English speakers Ms. Jeantel's age doing their…

This poor girl. I can't believe the lines they're throwing at her and the fucking 'tude with which they're throwing 'em. What the fuck?!

Some of my students present themselves to the world in this way. It's an ingrained part of their culture, home life and societal experiences. In no way are my kids (who speak and act "hood") any lazier/hardworking, smarter/dumber, sneaky/truthful or any other adjective than my "good" kids who present in a…

It's like the whole Internet has temporarily morphed into a Stormfront message board and nowhere is safe. I mean, it makes me really physically ill. It's like nothing about her has value because of who she is, and she couldn't possibly have feelings, or underlying intelligence, or capacity or integrity. I'm sorry,…

Wow. Were you born in 1966 like me? Because that's about the exact response I would have had.

If this were me as a teenager:

This isn't just an "American" issue. I'm sick of seeing posts from other countries always being so judgmental, as if American's are the only one's with hateful people. It seems to me that you are pretty hateful yourself. I'm assuming that you don't live in a dictatorship, don't be so arrogant as to think that this…

If I was a teenager (and I was a surly teenager!), my testimony would have been so much more agro!

Americans, what the eff is wrong with you???? I cannot even stand to read your news. When it's 'ok' to shoot a person you don't even know who was minding his own business, and then , during the murderer's trial, attack the dead person's friends because you don't like their hair, or their dialect? You are, in the…

Many African Americans think that if we could only make ourselves conform to White American cultural/appearance/speech norms somehow we'd get racist White folks to stop hating us.

Problem - while I can understand that wish (and I've felt it myself at times) that's not really true at all.

To the George Zimmermans of this…

I'm a little bit drunk, but that brought tears to my eyes. Well said!

I'd already felt sorry for this poor girl, but your post really drove home how awful it must be to be her right now.

Yes, this beautiful girl is precious. She is a precious young woman who is in an impossibly difficult situation. All I can do is send her love and understanding to counter the hate and ignorance. And pray that she has supportive friends and family around her, so that one day she will emerge from this with her spirit…

The assumption that she's dumb just kills me. She speaks three languages - Spanish, Creole, AND English. But oh, her English isn't great, and she's a fat WoC - bring out the hairshirt and force her to wear it!

Because our media are ridiculously fucking racist.