My thoughts on the Zimmerman/Martin trial and verdict
It's been two weeks since the Zimmerman trial verdict. I started this entry about it over a week ago, wrote about half of it, set it aside, and just never felt motivated to finish it. I think part of it was I just was tired of arguing about it to people who don't understand how the system works, and I had spent all my energy arguing about it at other forums. But I figured I'd finish this to explain my position.
To put it simply: I understand and agree with the verdict. Mind you, that does not mean I agree that shooting the teen was right, just that the jury came to a good decision in a very messy case. Let me explain my position.
And while you read this, remember: I've actually gone through the meat grinder of the justice system, so I know how it works. Out of anybody I know far better how it works than many people do.
The murder trial
Let's first look at this in a stripped down way. This was a trial where person A was accused of murdering person B. Murder, in the US, is where someone deliberately kills someone else out of hate or malice. In order to convict someone of that you have to have proof that person A deliberately killed person B. In this case there was no proof the shooting of Trayvon was deliberate or malicious. There is no real concrete evidence of what exactly happened between Zimmerman and Martin, except some altercation happened between them and then Trayvon was shot. No one knows who threw the first punch; if Martin jumped Zimmerman or if Zimmerman jumped Martin. There apparently WAS a scuffle, since it was reported as evidence that Zimmerman was treated for a broken nose. But people seem to think that Zimmerman chased after Martin and shot him in the back because he hates blacks, when there's no evidence to prove that.
Remember, this is a murder trial. The suspect is facing life in prison, or possibly the death penalty. No one should get life or death on questionable evidence. And the evidence in this trial was just too inconclusive to prove the killing of Martin was deliberate and out of hate. Zimmerman claimed self-defense, and the jury didn't have enough evidence to disprove his side of the story, and with "stand your ground" law (which I personally hate because I see them as laws created by NRA junkies so they can protect their right to shoot anyone suspicious...usually minorities) the jury found it hard to convict.
On the whole "questionable evidence" subject, the whole US justice system was designed so that murderers might go free before even one innocent person is convicted. And yet the system is flawed, because plenty of people later found innocent were put into prison, sometimes for life, sometimes on death row, and sometimes possibly even executed. Here a person who might be innocent is set free, but there's no outrage for all the innocents on death row? Really? Where IS the outrage over the innocent who are in prison, often due to racism?
Zimmerman may be guilty as sin, but he also may be innocent. Would you risk putting someone who might be innocent behind bars for life? Would you take the same chance if you were told to execute a possibly innocent man? Would you pull the trigger? I certainly wouldn't, if I felt the guy in front of my gun might be innocent.
I kinda wish this was tried as manslaughter, since manslaughter is unintentional killing, and you need a bit less evidence to convict with it. However, he still may have gotten off.
Was it racial profiling?
There's a huge amount of people who are certain that Martin was killed due to racism. The way some people act, Zimmerman just walked up behind Martin and shot him in the back of the head because he hates black people.
The fact of the matter is, there is no proof that racism had anything to do with the shooting itself. Listening to Zimmerman's phone call to the police, it's the dispatcher who asks the race of the other person, and Zimmerman says "I don't know, black I think?" which means he was uncertain. He also mentioned he saw something in his hands that he couldn't identify either.
It's entirely possible that he was profiled due to wearing a hoodie or walking around erratically or something. So he could have profiled him because of what he wore, or because of how he was acting. Plenty of people get judged by clothing. Imagine a middle-class person spotting a guy with a patched leather jacket, piercings, tattoos, dyed mohawk, and ripped jeans with a skateboard... they would probably think that guy was a punk.
So who knows what Zimmerman was thinking was suspicious. Maybe because he wore a hoodie, maybe because he was black, maybe because of how he acted. Only Zimmerman really knows.
Plus, while profiling is bad, and even if Zimmerman profiled him because he was black, or even if Zimmerman was racist, doesn't mean he shot Martin for racial reasons. Like I said, only he knows his true motive.
I would also mention that Zimmerman has tutored disadvantaged black kids before. That doesn't make him a model person, but makes the idea of him being a black hater a bit hard to prove.
Trayvon a child??
One of the things that pisses me the most off about all this bullshit is people who say "but Trayvon was just a child" as if he was 10 years old or something. Or even worse, the people who claim that Travon was half Zimmerman's size.
People, Trayvon was 17. He was 6 feet tall. He was tall, lanky, and a football player. He was at least somewhat muscular. And he had the body of a grown man. Stop pretending this was a fat Hispanic beating up an elementary school child. The media deliberately showed an image of Trayvon when he was in middle school to garner sympathy for him. Plus, I've seen 13-year old black males with more muscle than me. In a fight with only fists, Martin would probably have the advantage.
Conservatives who take this too far
All of that being said, conservatives have been really driving me nuts with their reactions with this verdict. The gun waving, the hero worship of Zimmerman, the characterization of Martin as a punk and gangster, the claims of racism being a non-issue nowadays. They just need to shut the fuck up. Or not, maybe they can bury themselves in their own hole.
Conclusion
In the end, this was all about a stupid conflict between two grown individuals, one who was just trying to protect his neighborhood and acted too brashly, and another just trying to mind his own business. Words and apparently fists were exchanged, and sadly a person died. Only Zimmerman knows what his true actions were that day.
Supporting links:
A list of people who share my views.
An attorney in Florida
Charles Barkley
Bill Cosby
People at the board I'm active at: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
And I could go on, but I was only on page 5 of nearly 20 and don't feel like it. Oh, and something to note... Term is black.
In any case I just TL;DR'd this all to hell.
To put it simply: I understand and agree with the verdict. Mind you, that does not mean I agree that shooting the teen was right, just that the jury came to a good decision in a very messy case. Let me explain my position.
And while you read this, remember: I've actually gone through the meat grinder of the justice system, so I know how it works. Out of anybody I know far better how it works than many people do.
The murder trial
Let's first look at this in a stripped down way. This was a trial where person A was accused of murdering person B. Murder, in the US, is where someone deliberately kills someone else out of hate or malice. In order to convict someone of that you have to have proof that person A deliberately killed person B. In this case there was no proof the shooting of Trayvon was deliberate or malicious. There is no real concrete evidence of what exactly happened between Zimmerman and Martin, except some altercation happened between them and then Trayvon was shot. No one knows who threw the first punch; if Martin jumped Zimmerman or if Zimmerman jumped Martin. There apparently WAS a scuffle, since it was reported as evidence that Zimmerman was treated for a broken nose. But people seem to think that Zimmerman chased after Martin and shot him in the back because he hates blacks, when there's no evidence to prove that.
Remember, this is a murder trial. The suspect is facing life in prison, or possibly the death penalty. No one should get life or death on questionable evidence. And the evidence in this trial was just too inconclusive to prove the killing of Martin was deliberate and out of hate. Zimmerman claimed self-defense, and the jury didn't have enough evidence to disprove his side of the story, and with "stand your ground" law (which I personally hate because I see them as laws created by NRA junkies so they can protect their right to shoot anyone suspicious...usually minorities) the jury found it hard to convict.
On the whole "questionable evidence" subject, the whole US justice system was designed so that murderers might go free before even one innocent person is convicted. And yet the system is flawed, because plenty of people later found innocent were put into prison, sometimes for life, sometimes on death row, and sometimes possibly even executed. Here a person who might be innocent is set free, but there's no outrage for all the innocents on death row? Really? Where IS the outrage over the innocent who are in prison, often due to racism?
Zimmerman may be guilty as sin, but he also may be innocent. Would you risk putting someone who might be innocent behind bars for life? Would you take the same chance if you were told to execute a possibly innocent man? Would you pull the trigger? I certainly wouldn't, if I felt the guy in front of my gun might be innocent.
I kinda wish this was tried as manslaughter, since manslaughter is unintentional killing, and you need a bit less evidence to convict with it. However, he still may have gotten off.
Was it racial profiling?
There's a huge amount of people who are certain that Martin was killed due to racism. The way some people act, Zimmerman just walked up behind Martin and shot him in the back of the head because he hates black people.
The fact of the matter is, there is no proof that racism had anything to do with the shooting itself. Listening to Zimmerman's phone call to the police, it's the dispatcher who asks the race of the other person, and Zimmerman says "I don't know, black I think?" which means he was uncertain. He also mentioned he saw something in his hands that he couldn't identify either.
It's entirely possible that he was profiled due to wearing a hoodie or walking around erratically or something. So he could have profiled him because of what he wore, or because of how he was acting. Plenty of people get judged by clothing. Imagine a middle-class person spotting a guy with a patched leather jacket, piercings, tattoos, dyed mohawk, and ripped jeans with a skateboard... they would probably think that guy was a punk.
So who knows what Zimmerman was thinking was suspicious. Maybe because he wore a hoodie, maybe because he was black, maybe because of how he acted. Only Zimmerman really knows.
Plus, while profiling is bad, and even if Zimmerman profiled him because he was black, or even if Zimmerman was racist, doesn't mean he shot Martin for racial reasons. Like I said, only he knows his true motive.
I would also mention that Zimmerman has tutored disadvantaged black kids before. That doesn't make him a model person, but makes the idea of him being a black hater a bit hard to prove.
Trayvon a child??
One of the things that pisses me the most off about all this bullshit is people who say "but Trayvon was just a child" as if he was 10 years old or something. Or even worse, the people who claim that Travon was half Zimmerman's size.
People, Trayvon was 17. He was 6 feet tall. He was tall, lanky, and a football player. He was at least somewhat muscular. And he had the body of a grown man. Stop pretending this was a fat Hispanic beating up an elementary school child. The media deliberately showed an image of Trayvon when he was in middle school to garner sympathy for him. Plus, I've seen 13-year old black males with more muscle than me. In a fight with only fists, Martin would probably have the advantage.
Conservatives who take this too far
All of that being said, conservatives have been really driving me nuts with their reactions with this verdict. The gun waving, the hero worship of Zimmerman, the characterization of Martin as a punk and gangster, the claims of racism being a non-issue nowadays. They just need to shut the fuck up. Or not, maybe they can bury themselves in their own hole.
Conclusion
In the end, this was all about a stupid conflict between two grown individuals, one who was just trying to protect his neighborhood and acted too brashly, and another just trying to mind his own business. Words and apparently fists were exchanged, and sadly a person died. Only Zimmerman knows what his true actions were that day.
Supporting links:
A list of people who share my views.
An attorney in Florida
Charles Barkley
Bill Cosby
People at the board I'm active at: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
And I could go on, but I was only on page 5 of nearly 20 and don't feel like it. Oh, and something to note... Term is black.
In any case I just TL;DR'd this all to hell.