I decided I was going to be positive today. Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd that’s it. I’m done with being positive. It was a solid effort, though.
I have to be honest. This whole Zimmerman thing has bugged me. It has bugged me from the start. I wrote about it clear back in April of 2012. I ended that brilliantly written article with this:
So there is no mistake, I’m not saying George Zimmerman is innocent…He could be guilty as sin. He may have been hoping and waiting for the opportunity to kill someone. I don’t know. That is why we have due process. Not the court of public opinion. Too many people have interjected themselves into this mess. The New Black Panthers put a [ten thousand] dollar bounty on Zimmerman. Spike Lee tweeted what he thought was Zimmerman’s address to his followers, and now Mike Tyson is saying it’s a disgrace Zimmerman hasn’t been shot yet.
Guilty or innocent Zimmerman’s life will never be the same. Either way he deserves his day in court.
So now, over a year later, he has had his day in court. They skipped the grand jury, went for a trial, where a jury of his peers found him not guilty of the charges. I’m half tempted, but I’m not going to, rehash the evidence of the trial for two reasons: 1) I didn’t watch one minute of the trial, and 2) it doesn’t matter.
What really gets my goat (other than goat thieves, obviously) is that this whole trial is the product of manufactured outrage. It’s all fake. Yes, Trayvon was killed. That’s real, I get that, and it’s a tragedy. The outrage is fake. It’s a screaming example of how the media is willing to portray us, as a nation, as a bunch of red-necked Klansmen, and, when there isn’t any real racism, they are more than willing to make some up.
In Chicago, over the 4th of July weekend, there were 72 people similarly killed. I’m willing to bet you don’t know anything about the racial makeup of either the perpetrators or the victims in those killings. I don’t. Why? It’s easy. None of those cases are being held up as the symbolic return to lynch mob justice the way the Zimmerman trial has been.
The real outrage should be that the number one cause of death to black teenagers is homicide, almost exclusively from other black teenagers.
What really bothers me is the public’s reaction to the verdict.
Those who are outraged by the verdict have decided that those who are not outraged are racist. Period. End of discussion.
I have a problem with that.
I believe in the justice system. When I look at this case rationally, dispassionately and legally, I think the jury made the correct decision, based on their understanding of Florida law and the fact they sat through the whole trial and heard all the evidence. That doesn’t make this case any less of a tragedy; it doesn’t elevate George Zimmerman to hero status; and it CERTAINLY doesn’t make me a de facto racist.
Zimmerman made some mistakes and a young man died. He could have stayed in his vehicle, and he could have left his gun at home. He didn’t. This verdict isn’t an example of the triumph of good vs. evil. There shouldn’t be joy here. It just is.
In my little brain this is 100% the media’s fault. Why did they choose to shine a spotlight on this one case out of the thousands they could have? Could it be because they hoped to deepen the racial divide and increase the hate? I think so. They should be held responsible for any negative outcome due to the results of the case.
In my humble opinion, because NBC initially edited the tape of the 9-1-1 call to make Zimmerman sound like a racist, thus starting this whole mess, they (NBC) should, at a minimum, be held liable for any damage to personal or public propriety resulting from any riots or protests, and should probably be prosecuted for incitement.
LIFEZILLA: No, I’m not cynical. I’m even worse. I’m realistic.
I wonder what it must have felt like to be Trayvon…
I’m walking home @ night minding my own business and then I notice that some stranger has singled me out & is now following me… (like out of any Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan or Chuck Norris movie.) My fight or flight response kicks in…. I confront the creep who’s following me. The creepy stranger pulls out a gun and shoots me dead. Oh, and it was a chilly, rainy night and I was wearing a hoodie. I must have been asking for it, right? (Like a rape victim wearing a skirt… you know, asking for it).
Also, I wonder what George Zimmerman meant after he was told not to follow Trayvon on the 911 tape when he replied: “These Fu@kers ( er…um… punks, yeah punks) always get away with it” and began following Trayvon anyway. Which “fu@kers” (punks) exactly was George referring to? (Not racially profiling? Really???)
And exactly how is this guy (George Zimmerman) not choosing to take the law into his own hands. How is George Zimmerman not a vigilante?
PAH-LEASE!!!
The most amusing coverage before the trial was SEAN HANNITY’s exclusive interview w/Mr. Zimmerman & his lawyer. When asked if he would have done anything different, George replied no and that he believed that this was God’s plan for him (to take out Trayvon.)
George is also dismayed @ the media’s rush to judgment. (And you weren’t passing judgment, being jury and executioner on Trayvon that night in question, George?) WOW, stand-your-ground & God-endorsed course of action. You go, George! You’re a true legend… in your own mind!!
Newsflash, George: It was your own free agency, not God’s bidding.
It’s also one of the 10 that you chose to ignore: Thou shalt not kill. There’s no glory to be had here. Only disgust & sadness. You’re not a hero, George. You’re a bully, racist & a coward. Hide in shame!!
I love me some Russell! haha
Zimmerman deserved his day in court. Absolutely. As Americans, we are all entitled to such. Our system is one that allows a jury of our peers to hear our case and decide guilt or innocence. Zimmerman was acquitted of any wrong doing. He is a free man. So is OJ. So is Casey Anthony. Whether or not one agrees with the verdict, it stands and it must be respected. We place the burden of proof on the Prosecution because it should be difficult to convict. No system is perfect. The difference between guilty and guilty beyond a reasonable doubt can be minuscule. It should be. It would be better to let a guilty man go free than convict an innocent man unjustly.
Trayvon wasn’t afforded his day in court. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced by one man. He paid with his life. A jury will never hear his case. Why he was not allowed to “stand his ground?” After being followed, and harassed by an unknown assailant, he stands his ground. He is shot dead for it. The injuries both men sustained in the scuffle were hardly life-threatening. It is nonsense to say that Zimmerman, who had trained with a fight coach, for over a year, feared for his life after a broken nose. I think Zimmerman had his bell rung by Trayvon. I believe they fought. I also believe Zimmerman provoked the altercation unnecessarily. You don’t get to be an aggressor and later cry self-defense. Unless you’re in Florida…where, clearly, that is legal.
I also believe the media loved every minute of this trial. It is easy to stir the pot. Ask Glenn Beck. Capitalism reigns supreme. Anything for a dollar, and nice doesn’t sell. Don’t fault the media, fault the public. The media is nothing without an audience. We are the problem, not the media. Holding the media responsible for the actions of others is almost as ridiculous as holding guns responsible for the actions of their owners. Puh-lease!! ( ;
But, let’s not get distracted from the real issue. Race. Notice that is my first mention of it. I am a Liberal. I have taken a lot of heat about the race issue. I don’t believe Zimmerman killed Trayvon because he was black. I think Zimmerman would have followed, harassed, and killed anybody, regardless of race. He wanted to be the hero. He wanted to save Florida from crime This is about Mall Cop playing Dirty Harry. To say race is never an issue is wrong. Of course, race is an issue. It is always an issue. To say it isn’t is just naiveté. It is. Always has been. Always will be. I just don’t think in this particular case that race was the main factor.
Zimmerman made some mistakes. I think that is my favorite part of your article. Haha. Made some mistakes? Got out of his car. Carried a loaded gun. Didn’t identify himself. Pursued a male equally suspicious of him after being told by Police to not do so. Yes, some mistakes…but, oh well, not like anybody died. Get over it, people. We all make mistakes, right. Every single day. But, wait just a minute…that’s right, somebody did die. Oops. Sorry. How was I to know I had too much to drink when I got in my car? Stupid mistake. I surely didn’t know I would kill anybody. Oops.
Lastly, should care that the #1 cause of death among young black males is homicide. We should give every case this kind of thought, this kind of coverage. We don’t. If we did, nobody would watch. We should care that we incarcerate more people than any other country on earth. We should care that guns kill more people in America than in any other civilized nation. We certainly should care. But, we don’t. Because, let’s be honest. That cramps our style. It puts a damper on our BBQS. We don’t like to think about it. So, we don’t. Easy. Peasy. Carry on.
Well said Danny.
This whole thing was just tragic, made worse by the cry of racism. I personally think that the actions made by Zimmerman and the outcome of the incident did warrant a trial, but racism only detracted from the real issues and fanned the flames of hatred and resentment and political divide. I agree with Tisha on this: Zimmerman saw a kid in a hoodie that he had not seen in the neighborhood before, and assumed he was a punk…I don’t think it had anything to do with the color of his skin. I think he was an overzealous crime watcher and enforcement wannabe, trying to be a hero. I resent those who jumped on the “racism” bandwagon, but I also resent those on the other side who jumped to Zimmerman’s defense just because they want to oppose those who were crying racism. Why must politics be a part of this trial? The focus should have been about what Trayvon was doing, what Zimmerman was doing, and how things ended the way they did, and most importantly, how something like this could be prevented in the future.