by Ned Braden Mon Jul 15, 2013 11:12 am
I am going to type out my frustrations so sorry in advance for this tldr rant
Breaking down this racist murder debacle: a cerebral analysis:
Facts to consider:
* Trayvon Martin in 2012 was not the same as Trayvon Martin from the 2007 picture everybody is showing on the news. He was a big, tough dude. It is very likely that he could and did beat the shit out of George Zimmerman, although to say Zimmerman “feared for his life” is a stretch that I’m not buying.
* George Zimmerman had no reason to suspect Trayvon Martin of committing a crime. He was a black kid with a hoody, and Zimmerman did not like the look of this.
* George Zimmerman, in calling the police, took an intelligent and reasonable course of action seeing as how he suspected Martin of malicious intent. However, when the police told him not to interfere and to wait in his car, he refused to follow this advice. If he was indeed acting in official capacity as a “neighbourhood watch officer,” this should be seen as a disobeyment of a direct order.
* There is a severe lack of credible witnesses, and what they claim to have witnessed is not enough to make a determination of who was the aggressor in the situation. This sucks, but it’s the unfortunate truth.
* There was a fistfight, and Zimmerman appears to have lost (broken nose, etc). It is difficult to determine who started the fight, but my bet is on Zimmerman - the man who falsely accused the other of a crime based on what seem like obviously racist assumptions and then angrily confronted him about it. If you define “initiated” to mean the man who threw the first punch, you will likely disagree with me. Martin appeared not to have taken any notable punches (though, to be fair, this may just be because Zimmerman isn’t good at fighting).
My interpretation of the situation, and initial conclusion:
* Two guys had a fight. One falsely accused the other of a crime, and a physical confrontation occurred. Upon falling to a physical disadvantage, one man fatally shot the other.
* Is “self defense” a potential excuse for this shooting? Perhaps, if you believe Zimmerman legitmately "feared for his life, which again, I personally ain't buying. But even so, if we consider this excuse sufficient to absolve the man of any wrongdoing, we set a dangerous precedent. Essentially, this says that as far as Florida law is concerned, every (non black) man has the right to start fights with his neighbours, and if the fight doesn’t go the way they want, they have the right to use deadly force against them.
Charges?
* The law’s definition of second-degree murder is pretty fucking insane, from what I’ve read, but it’s still a pretty close call imo.
* At the least, I’d give Zimmerman max years for manslaughter, a charge that was supposedly on the table for the jury, who admitted they “didn’t understand” it (citation needed… read this somewhere in a haze of fury).
Shit's fucked up, so who fucked up?
* The cops that arrived on the initial scene. Not arresting Zimmerman transformed what was bound to be a case with racial undertones into a case of HOLY SHIT RACISM overtones that drowned out other important issues.
* George Zimmerman. When the police officer told him to cool his jets and in stay in the car, he damn well should’ve done that. Instead, he carried with him his anger and penchant for vigilante justice, and he started a fight that never should’ve happened. Then, he fucking killed a guy. That he was able to do this without facing any punishment is an unforgivable fucking shame, and it makes America look like a collective of racist, gun supporting assholes.
* The prosecution. They brought a shit case to trial, and then they overplayed their hand by pushing for a murder charge they probably weren’t gonna get.
* The media. They were very very VERY justified for turning up the volume on this shit, because it is an unforgivable tragedy. Cramming a Trayvon from 5 years ago eating skittles and playing little league down everybody’s throats, was a blatant falsity which severely undermined their credibility and which provided right wing savages with ammo for… you know, being assholes about it.
In Conclusion
Fuck life.