As everything changes in this great land, so much stays the same. A year and a half ago, we got the news that Trayvon Martin was yet another young African-American teen murdered after being profiled by a vigilante. The evidence against Zimmerman was so obvious and damning that TGATP rested assure that finally, this time, justice would actually be done. Surely, everyone could see that an innocent kid, on a simple trip to a 7-Eleven for Skittles and iced tea, lost his Life to an overzealous vigilante, who despite being told to stay the hell in his car, got out and started an altercation that ended in the kid’s death. Surely, everyone with a functioning brain could see that this same coward shot this young boy in cold blood, not self defense. Surely everyone with a conscience could see, that it is not self defense, if a grown man STARTS a fight with a teen stranger, who is minding his own business. Surely it is not self defense, if AFTER being told by the police NOT TO FOLLOW a teenager, a man then SHOOTS said teenager after starting an altercation. Surely, it is not self defense if a man unwisely starts a fight then, because he is getting his ass kicked, shoots the other individual.
Hell, this would mean that every idiot, who instigates a fight can, upon rightfully getting his ass beat, murder the other person and claim self defense! (Well maybe not EVERY idiot, this seems to be true only for White idiots, who start fights with Black folks! We all know that had Martin shot Zimmerman, this conversation would not even be being had. And we need only look to the crazy unjust incarceration of Marissa Alexander, an African-American woman given TWENTY-YEARS for firing a WARNING SHOT, to see what happens to Black folks who try to stand their ground!)
Instead I was surprised to see, that while we have made substantial inroads in terms of race in America, judicially nothing has changed. Just like in the case of Emmett Till, where two obviously guilty white men were acquitted by an all white jury in less than an hour for the murder of 14-year old Emmett, 57 years later, a majority White jury acquitted an obviously guilty half White man for the murder of 17-year old Trayvon. More than a half a century later, here we are with another Black mother’s son murdered while off to the store to buy some candy, another victim of the lynching of Black people in these United States.
I am angered, outraged, and saddened by the message that this verdict sends about the sanctity of African-American male Life. I am disappointed and disillusioned that nothing seems to have changed, when it comes to the underlying racism that fuels fear of Black men in this country.
The blame lies far and wide and Trayvon’s blood is on multiple hands. Shame on the following:
Shame on Zimmer-boy for murdering a teenager and then lying about it. Everyone knows that it was poor Trayvon screaming for “help” because a gun-toting nut, who was following him, had started an altercation with him. How does this fool even sleep at night? How does he live with the lies? Why do people think that they can get away with murder? It never happens! At some point, you will be called to account for this.
Shame on his defense team, in particular Mark O’Mara and Channa Lloyd, the African-American woman who aided in this debacle as an intern, and made things much worse for the Martin family by openly celebrating and making ludicrous statements after the verdict.
Shame on Zimmerman’s brother, Robert for further tap dancing on Trayvon’s grave after the unjust verdict.
Shame on the jury for allowing, this obviously guilty perp to walk scot-free, by turning the victim into a defendant. I wanted to jump in my TV and slap the mess out of the idiotic juror, who claimed during her Anderson Copper interview that Trayvon had “played a large part in his own death.” Since when is minding your own business and walking down the street “playing a part in your own death.” Since when is going to a 7-Eleven to purchase some Skittles and iced tea then defending yourself when a stranger follows and accosts you, “playing a part in your own death?” Trayvon was likely scared to death that this hulking stranger was following him. And shame on Maddy, the chicken shit juror, who knew that Zimmerman was guilty and was too lily-livered to stand her ground and do the right thing then had the sheer nerve to claim that she is “as hurt as Trayvon’s mother!” I wanna slap her too! The only person responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death, more aptly described as his MURDER, is George Zimmerman, who you idiotically set free! The case was open and shut. Zimmerman profiled and followed Trayvon and Trayvon ended up dead as a result. PERIOD.
Shame on the prosecutors for losing an easy case. I could have tried the case better with my pre-law degree! Where was the victim? With only two people – the murdered Martin and the murderer Zimmerman present – why would you allow the defense to stage that ridiculous spectacle with the dummies? And how could they stand by and allow the defense to demonize Trayvon. In the words of the late great crime reporter Domminick Dunne, in his article describing the similar travesty of justice that occurred when his daughter’s killer was only given 2 and a half years for first degree murder, “It is the defense premise that the victim is responsible for the crime…it is always the murder victim that is placed on trial.” The prosecutor should’ve anticipated this nasty move by the defense. A special shame on State Attorney Angela Corey, who gave Marissa Alexander the aforementioned 20-years for a WARNING SHOT but couldn’t get a conviction of any sort for Zimmerman. My eyebrow was raised at her seemingly CELEBRATING the verdict despite losing the case! I join calls for her immediate resignation and the equally swift release of Ms. Alexander.
Shame on Debra Nelson, the judge, who idiotically allowed the term “profiling” but not “racial profiling” into the case. Trayvon was RACIALLY PROFILED by an overzealous nut, who ultimately murdered him.
Shame on every right-wing, white sheet wearing Fox commentator, especially Bill O’Reilly, who is using this tragedy to make broad racist generalizations about the entire African-American community. With 40.8% of ALL AMERICAN CHILDREN now born to single moms, it was utterly ridiculous to try to use Trayvon’s murder to wave a finger at single Black mothers. “Teen Mom” is about White teens, not Black ones! While I agree that fathers need to take more responsibility and help constructively raise their kids and while I agree that EVERYONE – Black and White – needs to stop killing each other, to use the murder of Trayvon Martin as a reason to start spouting racist rhetoric was reprehensible. O’Reilly’s comment that Trayvon was murdered because he was “dressed like a thug” is too ignorant to go unaddressed. He further claimed that had Trayvon been dressed in a suit, he would not have been “suspicious” and thus accosted! Well news flash, Billy Bob! Black men have been being murdered in this country for 500 years, irregardless of how they are dressed. Before everyone in America began dressing more casually, hundreds of Black men were murdered and lynched while wearing SUITS. It’s not the clothes, it’s the racist profiling that leads to the murder of these young men!
Shame on the looney lefties and their organizations, who are once again using an African-American tragedy to promote and raise funds for their own agendas. These funds rarely actually aid the actual victims, their families, or their communities and there are rarely people of color in real positions of power in these sham organizations. The money simply lines the coffers of the organizations themselves and the hierarchy that run them.
Shame on those White Americans, who refuse to admit that racism still exists. Just voting for Obama and watching Oprah doesn’t mean that you have rid yourself of the disease of racism. Look around you in your everyday practices. For example, there is rampant racism in my current industry. The same racial bias, that causes PR companies to treat Latinas and other people of color differently at events, is the very same bias, that amplified, led to Trayvon’s death. It is well past time for racism to be dead and buried for good!
And finally, shame on that small percentage of Black Americans that refuse to get their acts together, who racists keep pointing to, to define the entire African-American community. Pull your pants up, you are providing fuel to racist’s fire.
As Obama stated in his eloquent speech on the case and its unjust verdict, Trayvon’s murder should serve as a rallying cry to all Americans to question how our beliefs and actions contributed to this tragedy.
The good news is that I, like the Martin family, have complete Faith that God will use every person of good conscience, to ensure that Zimmerman will not get away with this. In this era of Instant Karma, I am completely certain that no good will come of, or to, Zimmerman.
