Like many, I was shocked and angry to hear that George Zimmerman was acquitted of 2nd Degree Murder and the lesser charge of Manslaughter in the Trayvon Martin case in Sanford, Florida. Since the Department of Justice and the NAACP are investigating the Martin case, and given the protests that erupted across the country from Times Square in New York to the Franklin County Courthouse here in Columbus, Ohio, to the city streets of Oakland, California, much less in Florida, demonstrates that the majority of Americans do not agree with the jury’s verdict.
I, personally, am among those that feel Trayvon’s family has been robbed. It was bad enough their child’s life was stolen at the tender age of 17, but now they’ve also been denied the verdict that would’ve sent Trayvon’s murderer to jail.
I realize I wasn’t a member of the jury, but did the jury not hear the same facts that we, the people, were privy to via the newspapers and news reports on TV? Trayvon was armed with Skittles and a can of Iced Tea, not a knife. Not a gun, not even a paperclip. But he was black, so that makes it different.
Never mind that he was just a kid walking along, wearing a hooded sweatshirt like so many teens (hell so many AMERICANS) wear in February because he wasn’t Caucasian, so he allegedly posed a threat to George Zimmerman who is quite obviously a good bit bigger than the teenager was. Yet Zimmerman’s injuries were described as “insignificant” compared to that of Martin. If Martin was such a threat, why weren’t Zimmerman’s injuries worse? Perhaps, because Zimmerman lied?
According to several news reports, Zimmerman was driving home when he saw Martin and called the police. That’s right. He SAW him. He didn’t observe Martin doing anything illegal or violent. Martin didn’t march up to Zimmerman’s vehicle with a Colt .45. Zimmerman was the only armed member of this violent tango that ended the life of a 17-year-old.
The truth of the matter: Martin was merely walking home. He didn’t say ANYTHING or do ANYTHING until Zimmerman approached him after Zimmerman had described Martin as a “punk” and an “asshole” to the Dispatcher in that chilling non-emergency phone call. If Zimmerman didn’t feel the need to dial 911, did he really feel that his life was threatened? I don’t think so. I think he just wanted to open up a can of pistol whoop ass on someone/anyone because he felt violated by break-ins in the neighborhood.
Is that not evidence of a hate crime to call someone a “punk” and an “asshole” automatically lumping Martin in with the unseen, actual criminals who unlawfully invaded homes in the area when there was no proof to support Zimmerman’s assumptions? Never mind the fact that Trayvon wasn’t one of the perpetrators of the burglaries because Zimmerman had the right to “Stand his Ground” according to a new law in Florida, that will probably inflict much mayhem on the American justice system in the Sunshine State for decades
It was dark outside that night. Zimmerman wasn’t even sure that Trayvon was black at first because Trayvon had his back to him, strolling away from Zimmerman while talking on the phone. It was quite clear from the testimony of Trayvon’s friend whom he spoke to during his confrontation with Martin and the testimony of the police dispatcher that Trayvon was not the aggressor in this situation.
Given the fact that the Dispatcher told Zimmerman to “back off” and wait for the police, in essence – telling him to STAND DOWN, which Zimmerman ignored, leads me to believe that if Zimmerman had not initiated contact with Martin, neither one of them would’ve been injured. But we all know, that’s not what happened. And I guess evidence doesn’t matter in a court of law if you’re black.
But when was the last time men in WHITE HOODS spouting racial slurs and threats of racial violence was incarcerated? I guess that won’t happen until they murder a white person. And we all know that’s probably not going to happen.
Unfortunately, there’s not much more to say or do to reconcile this decimation of justice because regardless of the results of the investigations by the Department of Justice and the NAACP, George Zimmerman cannot be tried again in a court of law for 2nd degree murder a second time because of the law of Double Jeopardy. So, we the people are left with two options:
1) Don’t let your kids leave the house after dark alone, and…
2) God forbid if they do go out at night alone, don’t let them wear hooded sweatshirts because another over-zealous Neighborhood Watcher/wanna be cop might decide to rid the world of one more innocent.
That said, as I see it, this verdict is merely a feather in the cap for Racists and an indictment of vigilantism, and for that, I’m embarrassed to be a white American, and I pray that some good may rise from the flames of this tragedy in the form of appealing the Stand Your Ground law and better legislation to prevent this sort of lawless murder from happening again.
Over and out from f’cked up central…
TenaciousBitch and her band of truth-spouting hippies…
© Tenacious Bitch 2013
