The State of Florida v George Zimmerman: What is this case REALLY about?
The idea of George Zimmerman v. Trayvon Martin is a microcosm into major injustices in the American system, and some can even go as far as to say this is a global issue. This is a global issue of class, privilege, race, resources, justice and an array of many other things ranging from the fear of black men, gun control, the prison industrial complex as well as the media industrial complex.
It is a major problem when a grown man can shoot and kill a child and not get arrested for 45 days. I cannot imagine someone killing someone (whether it was accidental or intentional) be questioned by the police, and be sent home to go to bed in the same night without a thorough investigation or toxicology test. Instead the teenager who lost his life was tested… Really? Why? Is this justice? Not many of us can imagine someone we know in a realistic scenario that would even similarly render those circumstances.
The national attention this case received is because of those circumstances. Race was always a factor. However, because the circumstances was just that, there would have been an outcry just the same if a grown black man shot and killed a white teenager in the dark in Florida and got questioned and sent home by the police in the same night.
But that scenario is practically impossible to fathom.
Over those 45 days while 17year old Trayvon Martin’s family and loved ones had buried him and mourned the outcry grew louder. It was over those 45 days the intensity grew and passions got stronger and then we realized the issues of privilege and class were going to be put up against one another. Over those 45 days Zimmerman was able to do interviews with Sean Hannity on Fox News and raise enough money to help out with his legal fees and more. In fact he was able to raise more than the Martin family, the family that actually lost their son. According to HLNtv.com as of August 2012 Zimmerman had raised more than $250,000. In May 2012, according to metro.us the Martin family had only raised half that amount through charities and the Trayvon Martin Foundation. The Martin family has since settled in a wrongful death suit filed against the homeowners association of the sub division where Martin was killed, according to the Huffington Post.
This case is unique and actually negates to show the dominate part of the American legal system where typically, a case does not reach trial. Actually more people plead to a charge and only go to a court room to hear their penalties. According to Danny Well truth-org Nov 2012, “More than 90 percent of ALL criminal charges are resolved through plea bargains.” This is where issues of privilege and resources come in to play. Had this circumstances been reversed with a black man on trial, (or anyone not in the upper class of the status quo) more than likely he wouldn’t have been able to raise the funds necessary for a substantially expensive legal team.
Now that the case has reached trial the focus has shifted from the initial issues and have gone to the right to self defense and who was the aggressor. It seems the message exuding from George Zimmermans defense is; you should fear black men, especially in the dark. With one of his witnesses taking the stand to testify her home in the same neighborhood was burgarlarized months prior to the incident in question, by young black men, one would think her message to the jury was you should fear black men, because they are scary.
Its a psychology that not only exist starkly here in America but all over the world. The fear and intimidation of the black man is real. The fact that so many of them lose their lives and are incarcerated each year due to both violent and non violent crimes can attest to that. Ask a black man you know if he has ever been in a situation when he was unnecessarily feared.
We all sit here with our eyes glued wide shut to this trial being aired live on news channels with the majority of its resources thoroughly covering the case. Infact one could argue the media’s coverage is more thorough than the overall police’s investigation of the case.
The age of information and technology is mutually exclusive with sensationalism. The “#ZIMMERMANTRIAL” has silenced and dimmed a lot of the other major headlines that has been in the news such as issues with the voting rights act, food stamps being separated from the farm bill for the first time in 40 years, as well as the increase on interest rates on college student loans. What is so fascinating about the zealous media coverage in this case, is the argument about gun control has mysteriously escaped it.
Somehow the gun control argument has been completely nonexistent in this case and it is puzzling. Is it because he was “legally” carrying his gun? Oh, George Zimmerman was a responsible gun owner. No. Clearly he was not. Its difficult for a person to comprehend the fact a young child cannot go to the store for a snack run at night and not make it back home and their is no accountability for that. Trayvon isn’t the first or last young person of colour we are going to lose to gun violence however we can continue to try to make a difference in our communities.
Now we await the verdict and will someway feel either vindicated, defeated or even confused.
Justice for Trayvon!!!!!
May he sleep in peace 
MizzRebelution 