Community watch volunteer George Zimmerman—son of a White father and a Peruvian mother—shot a 17-year-old African American male, Trayvon Martin, to death, supposedly in self- defense. Martin died on February 26, 2012, but the story did not receive widespread media attention until several days after the shooting incident.
After the 28-year-old Zimmerman shot the teen, he claimed self-defense. The tragedy occurred in Sanford, Florida, a town of 54,000. Under Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, a person has the right to kill someone if he or she “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or bodily harm to himself or herself or another to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.”
As of April 3, 2012, Zimmerman has not been arrested for the shooting. However, according to the authors of the law, the cops should have arrested Zimmerman. Indeed, according to former Sen. Durell Peaden in the March 21, 2012 issue of The Miami Herald, “He has no protection under my law.” Zimmerman apparently left his vehicle even though the 911 operator told him not to do so. “The guy lost his defense right then,” Peadan said. “When he said ‘I’m following him,’ he lost his defense.”
This raises the question of whether there is evidence of racial bias on the Sanford police force. After all, it is difficult to imagine that, had Zimmerman been Black, and had Martin been a White Latino, the Black shooter would not have been arrested.
Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee temporarily resigned on March 22nd after receiving a vote of “no confidence” from the Sanford City Commission. On the same day, State Attorney Norm Wolfinger resigned from the case that had become too politically and racially charged.
In the April 2, 2012 issue of USA TODAY, Pastor Valarie Houston said that people of various backgrounds in Sanford generally do not clash. However, she added, “The police department is not fair to the African American community.” She said that when African Americans are killed, police investigations are ineffective or do not occur at all. She said that the case of Trayvon Martin is “just one of many.”
Zimmerman told police that he was screaming for help when Martin was allegedly attacking him. However, on April 1, 2012, The Orlando Sentinel reported that two voice identification experts said that the person heard screaming on the recorded 911 call reporting the disturbance that day was not Zimmerman. Martin’s mother told police that it was Trayvon screaming for help.
However, voice expert Tom Owen, who used voice identification software to rule out Zimmerman, did not have a sample of Trayvon’s voice.
There has been a great deal of overreaction to this case. For example, many critics attacked talking head Geraldo Rivera for saying that, partly because Martin wore a hoody the night he was killed, the idea that some identify this garment with thugs contributed largely to Zimmerman’s belief that Martin was, indeed, a thug. (As it turned out, Martin was found with nothing but a bag of candy and a non-alcoholic beverage after Zimmerman killed him.) Rivera said that he advises his children not to dress in such a way as to cause suspicion among cops. (Subsequently, Rivera’s son said that he was ashamed of him, and Rivera apologized publicly.)
There was no reason for Rivera to apologize. He is free to raise his son in this manner.
Moreover, many people do associate various items of clothing with criminality, rightly or wrongly. However, all parents do not have to raise their children as Rivera does. The fact of the matter is that, for decades, gangsters, pimps, and prostitutes have been trendsetters in style, clothing, etc. In the 1920s and 1930s, gangsters such as Al Capone set clothing trends. In the 1940s, gangsters were popularizing zoot suits. In the 1960s and 1970s, gangster hats came back, and young people dressed like pimps, drug dealers and prostitutes. In the 1980s, drug dealers set the trends. In the 1990s up to the present, prison inmates have set the trends with baggy pants and other styles. After all is said and done, young people should have the right to express themselves in any way they see fit. On the other hand, the cops and those harboring prejudices need to be educated against judging people based so much on the way they dress.
Filmmaker Spike Lee also overreacted when he sent out the wrong home address for Zimmerman. As it turned out, Lee sent out a Tweet to his 250,000 plus Twitter followers with the address of an elderly couple, Elaine and David McClain. The couple lived in fear as their lives were temporarily interrupted. Lee and his lawyers agreed to an out-of-court settlement to appease the couple, and Lee apologized to the couple and to his followers on Twitter for the mishap.
This shows how foolish and dangerous it is to rush to judgment. Someone once said that the presumption of innocence now seems like a quaint idea—like the legal equivalent of a potbellied stove. The problem is especially acute with the rise of social media. However, everyone is entitled to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence in a court of law.
It would also be a great idea if angry leaders like Al Sharpton would channel their anger toward Black thugs that kill Black people, and angrily demand that they be arrested. Many protesters are not so much angry that Martin was killed, as they are angry that he was killed by a White Latino. However, there should only be one standard of legal and social justice.
No one knows how all of this will end. However, reason and justice must prevail. It only makes sense that Zimmerman is eventually arrested. Yet, though it does not look good for him, it is still up to a (hopefully fair and unbiased) jury to determine whether he is guilty in a court of law. Patience and objectivity are the keys if justice is to be achieved.