The verdict is in.
Moments ago six women in Sanford, FLA found Zimmerman not guilty of the murder of Trayvon Martin.
I’ve come here to write about this and find myself at a complete loss for words. I did not think that six women, most of them mothers, would find this man not guilty. And so when the verdict was read (my husband and I happen to be watching TV and saw it live) it was as if someone punched me in my stomach.
I have tears in my eyes; for Trayvon, for his parents, his family and for the message this sends to people who—like George Zimmerman—feel that justice has been served.
This only proves one thing to me right now: justice IS in this case “blind, and deaf and dumb and idiotic” to quote the columns provided on slave holding documents for oppressors to check off their human inventory.
As I watched Zimmerman’s family celebrate the verdict with smiles and hugs I thought of Emmett Till—the two white men responsible for his brutal death celebrated with their families in the same way.
We have stepped back in time and there is no reason for celebration.
A horrible and predictable turn of events. Shame on the jurists!
Unbelievable!
To have expected anything different would be ignoring the fact that racism is still alive and well in the U. S. Bottom line, we have a jury of Florida crackers. Zimmerman saw him, stalked him and murdered him but they will tell you it wasn’t proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Although I had hoped they were wrong, I was prepared for this because earlier this week all the court room analyst were saying it would happen. We can only hope true justice will happen in civil court.
Just when things start to look up BAM ~ 100 steps backward….I am very enraged and freaked about the direction we are going as a county……I’m in Canada visiting Family and not getting the news with sporatic internet so your blog was my way of learning about this criminal verdict! When I first heard the Defense stating the sidewalk was a weapon I knew we were in trouble…….my heart hurts…
its really a shame . I cannot say a lot but the whole world is crazy .
Thank you for posting this, Anita. While I recognize that our legal system is based on the strength of an argument and judicial precedence rather than justice, I’m still gutted when verdicts like these are made. I am sorry for Trayvon’s loved ones, for all who are left in the wake of violence and tragedy, for all of us having to resist and move beyond cruelty toward our inherent connectedness. Thank you for sharing your heart and rage and despair and the way you continually reinforce connection and compassion.
I think the prosecutors’ consistent denial that race had anything to do with Zimmerman’s actions led to their inability to craft a case that would go to the crux of Zimmerman’s motivation–fear. Race-based fear of the “other”. In this case, the “other” is Black, male, wears a hoodie, and is, therefore, dangerous. In not addressing Zimmerman’s motivating and race-based fear, the prosecutors failed to even try to disassociate the jurors’ connection to Zimmerman: the jurors understood how Zimmerman could be afraid for his life with a Black, hooded teenager, because they are also afraid of a Black, hooded, teenager.
The closing argument scene in the film “A Time to Kill” with Matthew McConaughey as criminal defense lawyer Jack Brigance, offers a good depiction of the type of disassociation that needs to be triggered with an American majority-cultured jury, so that they can see the Black male as ‘human,’ like themselves, and not an automatic threat, as American culture teaches them.
All defense lawyer O’mara had to do was to raise a “reasonable doubt.” Though ludicrous, he was able to raise that doubt by painting Martin as the ‘aggressor,’ Black and hooded, who” used the sidewalk as a weapon,” Thus, the jury identified with Zimmerman’s fear, because, they too, would have been fearful.
Zimmerman felt empowered over his fear because he had a gun. He pursued that boy, started the fight, because he knew he would win: he had a gun.
By the way, the prosecutors in the trial were majority-cultured as well. They likely didn’t make the racism argument, in part, because they couldn’t see it themselves. Unless there is some disruptive, anti-racism education, individuals in American culture will act like the people they are made by our culture to be. And even if they knew, they may not have had the skills to accomplish what I am suggesting (after all, “A Time to Kill” is just a film, and not real life, right?).
The ONLY solution is anti-racism education, or call it diversity education, or intercultural competence training and skills development for all Americans, including Americans of color. In the 21st Century globally connected world, if Americans cannot get beyond the us-them, defense posture when confronted with difference in our own backyards, we certainly will not be successful on the global stage…
Flora
The most racist and guilty party is the state of Florida. They have issued one million concealed weapon permits which just about anybody (especially any white body) can get. They have legalized Stand Your Ground ‘self defense’ laws which have resulted in a 200% increase in ‘justifiable homicide’ killings. The prosecutors in this case knew these murderous laws just as Zimmerman did, and they knew that 2nd Degree Murder would never stick as a result.They proceeded to present their case in a haphazard fashion and only muddled the waters with adding the Voluntary Manslaughter option at the very end. I believe that the State of Florida never really wanted a guilty verdict. contrary to their B.S. pronouncements.
Sitting there in my den hearing the words “Not Guilty” left me speechless. My husband and I set there in disbelief. It is my prayer that God will continue to strengthen Trayvon’s family. Let us not forget Zimmerman will have to face the one and only TRUE JUDGE one day!!
Shame. Shame. Shame. My heart goes out to the family. I thought women / moms could help bring some sense to this violent world, Anita. Now, I’m not so sure. Tragic.
I’m encouraged by all the comments. Thank you all. Let’s keep the conversation going.
I heard someone on NPR this morning discussing white privilege. The woman said that she was recently caught in the rain, and pulled the hood of her hoodie over her head and realized that, as a white woman, her white privilege allowed her to wear a hoodie in public without fear of people seeing her as a criminal or a thug. Peggy McIntosh’s article on White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack is a classic. I have provided a link below:
http://www.amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html