You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
The Zimmerman Verdict.
It reminds us once again that America is a divided nation. While the divide would seem to be about black and white; how to fix that divide is not so black and white.
In case you have been under a rock – Zimmerman follows Martin. There is a confrontation. Zimmerman shoots Martin. Martin dies. Zimmerman is arrested and claims self defense.
The polarization of positions takes place immediately.
The country is fractured. There are million hoodie marches and endless news programming examining the story.
He is convicted and exonerated and all that happens in the first week following the shooting.
After months of speculation and inuendo, there is a trial that is followed intently by millions of Americans.
It is the 2nd coming of the OJ case as far as race relations go.
Late Saturday night the verdict comes down.
BREAKING NEWS: Zimmerman is not guilty.
Some are despondent, others shocked. Still many more who have not taken to the streets to burn the American flag say the system worked.
The issues in this case are complex. They are not only legal, but also magnify the never ending racial wounds in America.
Whether Zimmerman should have been found guilty of 2nd degree murder or manslaughter is very much open to debate.
I haven’t been following this case close enough to really comment, but I am smart enough to know that the case is a lightning rod.
I am watching this week with George Stephanopolous and the conversation is lively, polarizing, almost down black and white lines.
2 black men and 2 white men sit at the table. They are radio talk show hosts and legal analysts and justice correspondents. They are learned and they frame their words eloquently, but their words are formed by the color of their skin and the perspective that color has manifested upon their lives.
Here are a series of sentences uttered in no particular order and in rapid succession.
A court found him innocent of the charges.
This is evidence of contempt for black men.
You may not like the verdict, but justice was served.
Justice was not served. This is an injustice.
Martin Luther King said “I have a dream.” We really haven’t come very far.
Why was Treyvon singled out? Can a black child not walk home with Skittles?
He was singled out because he was black and wore a hoodie.
Something is wrong in this nation when adults racially profile children
Zimmerman never should have been charged.
If he was black, he would never have been charged.
Just sit in the back of a court room in this country and you’ll see how the justice system deals with black men.
Go to any barber shop or beauty salon before the trial and most blacks felt it would have ended this way. We’re not that shocked. The system is broken.
Everyone says the prosecution should have gone for lesser charges. There was no difference, manslaughter or 2nd degree murder, it wouldn’t have made a difference. This was a case about self defense and in that moment, was Zimmerman protecting himself.
There will be a lot of pressure on the Justice Department to re-examine this verdict.
It doesn’t matter. They won’t win.
This proves there is a broad societal wrong in this country.
Societal questions aside. What happened in the court room is different than what happened in society. The courtroom was about guilt and innocence.
What is proves is race is real and your color will get you killed.
I know this. We have a bunch of dead black men.
What will the Justice Department do?
Race is discussed but never put on the table. We have a black president a black Attorney General. I doesn’t matter or change the way black men are viewed.
Every day mothers tell their young black children; when you go into a store, don’t put your hands in your pockets. Be careful what you say. Don’t wear a hoodie.
It is terrible what happened but we can’t try social policy in a single case.
When our kids surrender their life’s choices, our democracy is threatened.
This was a classic self defense case in Florida, it wasn’t about stand your ground.
You can stand your ground in this country, unless you are a black man. George Zimmerman was allowed to stand his ground. Treyvon Martin wasn’t allowed to stand his ground.
In the end…
There is no happy ending. A 17 year old is still dead. Zimmerman will have to wear a bullet proof vest for the rest of days. Many who all ready feel the system is unjust now have a new rallying cry. Others who think the system worked will maintain that this is the best system in the world and the jury has spoken.
It would seem that “I have a dream” is still a dream in the making.
Life’s Crazy™