I'm blaming the media for the Zimmerman "race riots" or whatever they are called these days. Normally the media bend over backwards to minimize racial aspects of crime -- especially when it is blacks on the doing end. But, in this case, they went out of their way to emphasize race. The victim was black; the perp was white. Except, he was hispanic; so he morphed into a "white hispanic". Then, they created a story-line, a narrative: innocent-eyed black child (cue the photo as a 12-year-old) buying candy mowed down by white vigilante.
In fact:
* Martin was a 17 year old "child", not 12
* the neighborhood, and Zimmerman himself, had been plagued by burglaries, most if not all perped by black youth (the media downplayed this dimension). Being watchful seems a reasonable response.
* Martin had been caught defacing school property and with a bag of lady's jewelry, and a screwdriver that could be used as a burglary tool, and no good explanation for why he had the jewelry or where he got it from. In other words, he was likely involved in burglaries either as a perp or a fence. This was not reported as crime proceeds because the local police were under a directive to "reduce" crime by black youths (once again the race angle); so it was simply reported as "found items". There is a good chance the guy Zimmerman thought suspicious had, in fact, burglarized at least once.
* According to Martin tweets, the Skittles and the beverage he bought were two out of the three ingredients needed to make a home-made hallucinogenic. A less innocent spin on the Skittles and "iced tea" (it was actually a watermelon concoction) promoted by the media.
* Based on the phone call to his girlfriend, Martin clearly had an "attitude" of racial enmity towards whites -- "crackers".
* There is little doubt that it was Martin on top of Zimmerman, breaking his nose and bashing his head against the concrete sidewalk, and not Zimmerman on top of Martin. This fact didn't fit the media narrative so it was seriously downplayed.
* There is no evidence that Zimmerman initiated the contact/confrontation with Martin, although the media narrative was that he had. He claims he was ambushed. When told by police there was video of the altercation, he reportedly said, "thank God".
* Given the wounds to Zimmerman, it's pretty clear who the guy was screaming "help, help".
* **
It is tragic that the only weapon Zimmerman had was a gun. Martin may well have been a minor perp heading for punkdom, but he didn't deserve to die. Too bad Zimmerman didn't have pepper spray or something. It's also too bad that in shooting Martin, the shot was lethal. Unfortunately, regardless of who started it, if you find yourself on your back getting your nose broken and your head bashed against a concrete sidewalk, at some point you are going to take whatever you have in hand and defend yourself. Unfortunately, it was a gun.
I think "not guilty" was the only verdict open to the jurors based on the evidence at hand and I blame the media for puffing up this black hat/white hat, good guy-bad guy narrative and I lay the blame for the unlawful, violent demonstrations that America in now experiencing at their feet.
I'm open to be corrected. Please keep any comments civil and constructive.
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