Saturday night, I was at home, very uncharacteristically glued to MSNBC's coverage of the George Zimmerman trial. The jury was out for deliberation, and they would be for sixteen or so hours.
The all-female, nearly all white jury of six. One juror was described as either black or hispanic. Four were mothers. One of them, when asked if Zimmerman was wrong to follow Trayvon Martin, replied "Yeah, I guess...."
On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin was walking home from a 7-11 with what would become a very symbolic bag of Skittles and a can of Arizona iced tea. He was staying in a gated community in Sanford, Florida. It was dark and raining. George Zimmerman, a 28 year old, half Peruvian, self-appointed neighborhood watchman, not good enough to be an actual cop despite his efforts, was making rounds of the gated community in his car. When he spied Trayvon walking home in a dark hoodie, "looking suspicious", he called police. We know that in the recording of that call, police tell Zimmerman to leave Trayvon alone. Zimmerman followed, and at one point, got out of the car and approached Trayvon, who was on the phone with his childhood friend, Rachel Jeantel. Zimmerman asked "What are you doing around here?", something to that effect. Whether he identified himself as neighborhood watch to Trayvon, which may have calmed the situation, I'm not sure. A struggle followed. Neighbors heard screams and called the police. Then, gunshots went off.
Let's consider the state of Florida first: This is a Southern state that has voted Republican 6 times in the last 9 elections, in a region that still votes along lines quite similar to those of slavery in a civil-war era map of the South. It is safe to say that Florida is a conservative (take that word to mean what you will) state. Florida, governed by Jeb Bush during 2000, famously or infamously, hosted a recount in that year's election when, many argue, George Bush, Jeb's brother, was "appointed" President of the U. S. by the Supreme Court, rather than elected by the people. Florida is a state where no license is required to purchase a gun, there is no required registration of guns, and there is no rule that a gun-owner must disclose their possession of a firearm to law enforcement. It's been said by comedians that, in Florida, guns are given out with lottery tickets. Sanford, Florida, is a small town whose police force often refer to the black community they are meant to protect as "porch monkeys".
On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin was walking home from a 7-11 with what would become a very symbolic bag of Skittles and a can of Arizona iced tea. He was staying in a gated community in Sanford, Florida. It was dark and raining. George Zimmerman, a 28 year old, half Peruvian, self-appointed neighborhood watchman, not good enough to be an actual cop despite his efforts, was making rounds of the gated community in his car. When he spied Trayvon walking home in a dark hoodie, "looking suspicious", he called police. We know that in the recording of that call, police tell Zimmerman to leave Trayvon alone. Zimmerman followed, and at one point, got out of the car and approached Trayvon, who was on the phone with his childhood friend, Rachel Jeantel. Zimmerman asked "What are you doing around here?", something to that effect. Whether he identified himself as neighborhood watch to Trayvon, which may have calmed the situation, I'm not sure. A struggle followed. Neighbors heard screams and called the police. Then, gunshots went off.
Let's consider the state of Florida first: This is a Southern state that has voted Republican 6 times in the last 9 elections, in a region that still votes along lines quite similar to those of slavery in a civil-war era map of the South. It is safe to say that Florida is a conservative (take that word to mean what you will) state. Florida, governed by Jeb Bush during 2000, famously or infamously, hosted a recount in that year's election when, many argue, George Bush, Jeb's brother, was "appointed" President of the U. S. by the Supreme Court, rather than elected by the people. Florida is a state where no license is required to purchase a gun, there is no required registration of guns, and there is no rule that a gun-owner must disclose their possession of a firearm to law enforcement. It's been said by comedians that, in Florida, guns are given out with lottery tickets. Sanford, Florida, is a small town whose police force often refer to the black community they are meant to protect as "porch monkeys".
Most recently, a Florida jury found Casey Anthony not guilty of killing her child, 2 year old Caylee. A Florida court last week sentenced a woman to 20 years in prison for firing one warning shot to scare off her abusive husband. She allegedly fired in the direction of a room where two children were standing, hence prosecution. It was ruled that she was not "someone in fear for her safety." Florida is famous for their "Stand Your Ground" law, which states that "a person may justifiably use force in self-defense when there is reasonable belief of an unlawful threat, without an obligation to retreat first."
Zimmerman was found not guilty by the jury based on this law and the inability to prove that he acted with ill will, hatred, spite or an evil intent. Here, I recall to you the most famous of Zimmerman's statements to the police as he followed Martin:
"These assholes. They always get away."
To be completely fair, when you read the transcript of that call all the way through, you might understand how Zimmerman would have felt uneasy or scared. According to that transcript, Zimmerman stated that Trayvon did start to approach the car. I would be scared out of my mind in that situation. But I would stop my car, stay in it and wait for the cops. A wannabe cop with something to prove would not, especially when the kid started to run away. And just a note: no, they don't always get away, and that is a whole 'nother story.
In Trayvon's defense, if I was being followed by a strange man in a strange car, I would start to run like hell, as Trayvon eventually did, also according to the transcript of the police call. It was after Trayvon started to run that Zimmerman got out of his car.
That's when, allegedly, Zimmerman caught up with Trayvon. That's when the struggle happened.
The screaming, according to Zimmerman's mom, was her son's. His uncle also claimed it was George's voice, saying that he "felt it in his heart" (give me a break). Trayvon's mom said it was her son. So did his father. A neighbor who made a call to 911 argued it was Zimmerman, another that it was Trayvon.
I'll tell you something: while watching the coverage and waiting for the verdict, I drifted off, and what woke me were Trayvon's screams for help as the tape of a neighbor's call to 911 was played in court.
The prosecution was unable to prove that Zimmerman's shooting Trayvon indicated an indifference to human life. I'm sure Zimmerman values human life very much. Namely, his own, his family's, etc. Did he value Trayvon's life, or any black person's life? The answer is unequivocally, without a doubt, NO. As the prosecutor said in his closing argument, Zimmerman had hate in his heart and in his mouth. He acted recklessly even though, as he has admitted, he didn't know about the Stand Your Ground law at the time (no wonder he was rejected by the police) and therefore that he could eventually be protected by it.
The prosecution was unable to prove that Zimmerman's shooting Trayvon indicated an indifference to human life. I'm sure Zimmerman values human life very much. Namely, his own, his family's, etc. Did he value Trayvon's life, or any black person's life? The answer is unequivocally, without a doubt, NO. As the prosecutor said in his closing argument, Zimmerman had hate in his heart and in his mouth. He acted recklessly even though, as he has admitted, he didn't know about the Stand Your Ground law at the time (no wonder he was rejected by the police) and therefore that he could eventually be protected by it.
The jury agreed that Zimmerman did not act with an indifference to human life, because they do not know what it is to be judged - to have the validity of your life judged - by the color of your skin, but more than that, by the criminality, proven or not, of the rest of your people.
Trayvon's "crime" was being black in a gated community where black men had robbed a few houses in recent months. That's a fact.
Even if a black man or woman does not follow a path of criminality, he/she is already branded from the time they leave the womb. He/she doesn't stand a chance. It is very difficult to take yourself out of that, and being half-white, half-Latina, I can't accurately tell you how hard. But I do know this: black men are, in the minds of most non-blacks, threatening, intimidating, uneducated, GUILTY. To get themselves away from those pervasive stereotypes, black men (and Latinos) have to work that much harder to "speak so well" and otherwise prove themselves to get even the smallest amount of respect that the rest of us get without discussion. That's a fact.
The woman who fired a warning shot to scare off her husband? She had no right to Stand her Ground.
Trayvon had no right to Stand His Ground.
I do not believe for a minute that Trayvon, as Zimmerman insists, reached for Zimmerman's gun, which to my mind, he couldn't have even seen in the dark, in its black holster, stuck down the back of Zimmerman's pants, covered by Zimmerman's jacket. Zimmerman had the right to carry a concealed weapon. Trayvon did not. He had only the pavement, as the defense pointed out.
I can't and don't want to address the rest of the inconsistencies in Zimmerman's story, such as the alleged 40 seconds of his head being continually bashed against that pavement with nothing but two cuts. I think those holes in the story were definitely glossed over by the defense, and to be fair, it is their job to do that, to minimize inconsistencies to prove their side of the story. Those inconsistencies, it seemed to me, were also glossed over by the prosecution, and despite what they likely consider their best efforts, and they were pretty good, they also did Trayvon and his family a disservice.
I was not surprised to hear Zimmerman found not guilty of second degree murder. But I was very surprised that Zimmerman was not put away, was not even given a slap on the wrist, for manslaughter. Because a black man would have gotten life, no questions asked.
And that's a fact.
Over the past two days, I've heard this a lot:
"A system cannot fail those it was never built to protect."
The American justice system was not established to protect black people. But as black folks were freed from slavery, the justice system has very sadly and very clearly not been updated to reflect their humanity. I add that the justice system was not built to protect women, girls or children of any race either, and it has not been fully updated in that respect, either. Citizens, instead of merely pointing this out, should move by electing more people of color and more women to more accurately represent this country's population in courts of law.
Another thing that happened this weekend, which received little to no coverage (UPDATE: It is now, on twitter and beyond), was this: http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/202098/teenagers-temar-boggs-and-chris-garcia-rescue-5-year-old-girl-from-kidnapping/. Temar Boggs is two years younger than Trayvon was when he died.
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