There is a case and a trial, currently in its final stages. It involves a deceased 17 year old teenager and the man charged with second-degree murder in his death. Each one of us who knows anything about this case, and especially if we follow it, have strong emotions about it and what we think happened. This case has spawned demonstrations and peaceful protests all over the US. It has inspired a Change.org petition which over 2,500,000 people signed. This petition was to the Florida Attorney General to charge the defendant in this case with murder in the death of an unarmed teenager that he shot. The defendant, from the very beginning, has claimed self-defense under the "Stand Your Ground" law in the State of Florida. The defendant was the Neighborhood Watch volunteer and the eyes and ears of his neighborhood. One rainy, dark night, a 17 year old boy was walking through this neighborhood, with headphones, Skittles, iced tea and his cell phone. The defendant, who carried a gun and a flashlight, contacted Law Enforcement (LE) about this teenager, got out of his vehicle and, in the course of time, a fight began. It is unclear what happened during this fight. It is clear that the teenager involved is dead and that his killer, who shot him in the heart, is claiming self-defense, as a result of what happened in the course of this fight.
This case would not ever have become a case unless there had been nationwide protests and millions of signatures on a Change.org petition. All of this was a result of anger that the defendant in this case was not even arrested or charged with any crime, because LE believed his story about self-defense. Why is there so much passion surrounding the case of Trayvon Martin, the shooting victim, and George Zimmerman, the shooter? I know that many want to pretend that this case has nothing to do with race, but it would be intellectually dishonest to pretend that. The Judge in this case has omitted racial profiling in putting forth evidence in this case. But of course race is a HUGE part of this debate! This is because, frankly, the shooting victim was Black and the shooter is Hispanic-Caucasian. We know that the criminal justice system, with its many flaws, has failed the Black community. Studies show that Blacks are overrepresented in our prisons and jails, in proportion to their numbers. I may be wrong, but it is unknown that there is one Caucasian defendant who has been sent to Death Row for murdering a Black person. Yet there are quite a few Black people on Death Row. We have to face the fact that had George Zimmerman been Black and Trayvon had been a Caucasian teenager, we would not have this kind of passionate debate on this case. Zimmerman would have been arrested and that without nationwide protests or a petition with millions of signatures on it. The defendant's charges may have even been first-degree, not second-degree murder. Let's face it. We have a Black US President but racism is far from dead. We have made much progress, as we have in so many things, but we have far to go.
Last year, President Obama was heard to with in on Trayvon Martin and ended with, "If I had a son, he would have looked like Trayvon." I have read posts that suggest the President was trying to influence the outcome of this case, or intended to stir up racial unrest. I have no way of knowing what was going on in the President's mind when he made those comments. Because of the racial factor in this case but also because of the gun debate (Stand Your Ground in the State of Florida), this has been a very divisive case. Those who support Trayvon tend to be Black, tend to be child advocates, more likely to have been crime victims, and often have known some form of discrimination or marginalization. Many are simply people of good will. People who tend to support George Zimmerman tend to be Caucasian, may have had bad experiences with the Black community, tend to be Establishment people, often identify with LE, or are advocate for gun rights. Many just think, for their own reasons, that George Zimmerman acted in self-defense and is a victim of an angry teenager who attacked him. This case is unlike the Jodi Arias trial where the public overwhelmingly support Travis Alexander and opposed Jodi and most people have been sure of that defendant's guilt. There was no racial element in that trial, as both the victim and the defendant are Caucasian. However, in this Trayvon/George Zimmerman case, we clearly are split on this case and it may be reflected in the jury's verdict which may likely end up in a mistrial.
I have followed the trial on cable TV and have been struck by the expressions of hate and bullying that I have seen in one comment after another, both on Facebook and on the Internet. What is the cause of so much of this online bullying and hate? I have read many libelous articles. Some Trayvon Martin supporters have posted articles that expose George Zimmerman's past. These articles have included instances where Zimmerman molested a girl for many years and told her that it was "our secret." The Prosecution was denied permission to bring in elements from Zimmerman's past, such as when he assaulted an off-duty police officer and another time when he assaulted an ex-girlfriend (s?) and she got a restraining order against him. I have heard somewhere that Zimmerman had to go to anger management classes. The George Zimmerman supporters have made a big deal of Trayvon's marijuana usage, a past history of fighting and I read an article claiming that Trayvon had a history of burglary. I am not going to go into the name-calling on both sides as many of the names are not fit to be put in print. But I find it very offensive to trash murder victims the way that Trayvon has been trashed, complete with name-calling and libelous articles and comments. I know that victims are often trashed in trials as a part of defending criminal defendants. It was done in the Jodi Arias trial, where the defense brought forth accusations that Travis was abusive and a pedophile who was a sexual deviant. In the Casey Anthony trial, the defense brought forth molestation accusations against Casey's father George Anthony. And so on and on. But the victim trashing seems especially vicious in this George Zimmerman trial because of the very way the defendant is being tried for whether his shooting of Trayvon was justifiable self-defense or second-degree murder (or manslaughter). This of course implies that if you believe that Zimmerman is not guilty, that Trayvon caused his own death.
Emotions are running very high. Much hinges on the outcome of this trial, not only for Trayvon Martin's family and for George Zimmerman and his family, but how the justice system will handle other murder cases where self-defense is the defense. The outcome of this trial may cause racial unrest, if not racially-motivated violence and will certainly affect the public's view of the justice system. I suspect the outcome of this trial will affect the rate at which violent offenders will claim self-defense. The tension of the two sides, the supporters of Trayvon Martin and the supporters of George Zimmerman, is profound. We have two worldviews, one that leans more toward the life of the victim and the other worldview, that which values more the right to defend oneself. As I write this, the Zimmerman jury is now deliberating his guilt (or lack of it).
If we have basic knowledge of this case, we have strong and passionate feelings either for Trayvon or for George Zimmerman. It depends on our worldviews that come from our own values and life experiences. But there are facts in this case with which no person can disagree. One person is dead. His life was cut off at the age of 17. He was a teenager who was Black. He was 5'11 and 158 pounds. He was shot in the heart with a firearm. The defendant is the volunteer co-ordinator of a Neighborhood Watch in his community. He was driving in a vehicle. He had a flashlight and a gun. He is 5'8 and was 204 pounds (at the time). He made a 911 call expressing suspicion of the victim, his conversation laced with profanity. His statements to LE are laden with inconsistencies. He caused the untimely death of an unarmed teenager. He claims lawful self-defense. His life, the lives of his family and the lives of the victim's family are forever scarred by his actions on that rainy and dark night. The jury verdict will have a profound emotional impact on an entire nation.
Whatever the Zimmerman jury decides, my hope is that we will use all this to work together to change hearts, which cause what comes out of our mouths and what we do.
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