Justice Severed

Almost everything about the Zimmerman Martin saga reeks of injustice.
Everything except the verdict.
Perhaps the biggest injustice of all — certainly the most public — was when a very un-presidential Obama declared that if he had a son, his son would look like Trayvon Martin. This outrageous and extremely ill-advised statement fueled the flames of bigotry and intolerance that already senselessly raged around the incident.

Absolutely the only appropriate thing for Obama to have said would have been to tell people to cool it, and to exhort everyone to allow the investigation and due process of law to run its course. He kind of said something like that, but followed it up with his racist “main message”, choosing to inject more ridiculous race resentment into the situation. [ref]

Fanning the flames of injustice with Obama were the omnipresent racists-in-chief Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. I suspect that inwardly they were rejoicing at a new opportunity to grow their own influence the only way they know how — by exploiting (creating) a “crisis” with their gospel of prejudice, victimization and blame.

Trayvon Martin was a black man. A minority. Zimmerman, on the other hand was… Wait a minute. He too was a minority, a Hispanic, a member of a race that has also known prejudice. No matter — for Obama, Jackson, Sharpton and their ilk, if your skin color isn’t like theirs, then to heck with you.

The stark reality is that there was never any legitimate evidence suggesting that Zimmerman was motivated by racism. Zimmerman had close friends who were black, who publicly defended him [ref]. He volunteered his time to tutor black children. He voted for Obama [ref]. (If voting against Obama means you’re racist, then voting for him must be proof you’re not.)

Absent evidence of racism, the mainstream media heaped further injustices upon George Zimmerman by deliberately manipulating their reports to make him appear racist.

The most egregious fabrication was NBC News’ edit of Zimmerman’s 911 call to make it sound like he was racially profiling Trayvon Martin. According to their edit of the tape, Zimmerman tells the 911 operator “this guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.”

Here’s what was really said:

Zimmerman: “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.”

Dispatcher: “OK, and this guy — is he white, black or Hispanic?”

Zimmerman: “He looks black.”

NBC claimed “the misleading edit [was] a mistake, not a purposeful act.” [ref]

Hogwash. The NBC editors aren’t complete idiots. They absolutely knew the effect their edit would have on people’s perception of the incident. They intentionally slandered Zimmerman, and practically guaranteed that he wouldn’t get a fair shake.

Meanwhile, Trayvon Martin was portrayed as an innocent child. For weeks, a photo of a baby-faced 13-year-old was the primary image of Trayvon projected to the public by the media. The reality was the opposite. Trayvon, at 17 years old and with a muscular six foot stature, was anything but an innocent child. He was into drugs and apparently liked to fight. His family and friends were rightfully worried about the path his life was on. [ref]

When officers arrived on the scene, they found a battered, bruised and bloodied George Zimmerman, and a lifeless Trayvon Martin, unscathed except for a single gunshot wound. It was clear to investigators that Zimmerman had acted in self defense (as was later borne out by Zimmerman’s trial and acquittal). Investigators initially decided they were not going to charge him.

However, faced with tremendous pressure from political and social pundits — much of it fomented by biased media reporting — the lead investigator was fired (yet another injustice), and George Zimmerman was arrested and placed on trial.

After a decidedly one-sided trial in which the prosecution repeatedly relied on hypotheticals instead of evidence, a jury of six women, one of them black (should that matter?), courageously found Zimmerman not guilty of the prosecution’s charge of second degree murder. They also found him not guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Justice, so long severed, was finally served.

Not guilty?!?!? Cue the ignorant masses, clamoring for more injustice, pretending their irrational anger is a reason to perpetrate violence, polluting Twitter and Facebook with clueless comments.

An AP reporter tweeted: “So we can all kill teenagers now? Just checking”.

Well, yes, we can. And not just black teenagers, but also white, Hispanic, oriental or multi-racial teenagers (the race doesn’t matter one bit), if they are brutally attacking you (or your family), grabbing for your gun as they tell you that you’re gonna die tonight.

Speaking of killing and injustice, I wonder if this (or any) AP reporter ever wrote or spoke out against any of the numerous Trayvon Martin revenge attacks carried out by blacks against white victims in the midst of the media’s irresponsible racist reporting of the Trayvon Martin shooting? [ref, ref]

The United States Injustice Department (not a typo) is now considering charging Zimmerman with civil rights violations for shooting Trayvon Martin. Outrageous.

Even if Zimmerman was a racist, and even if Martin was a model citizen, the fact is that Zimmerman was being brutally attacked by Martin when Martin was shot. Nothing else matters. Zimmerman could have been Grand Master of the Klu Klux Klan. Martin could have been a High School Valedictorian. But once Martin began attacking Zimmerman, jumping on top of him, punching him in the face, slamming his head into the ground, and then reaching for Zimmerman’s holstered gun while telling Zimmerman it was his last night on earth, at that point Zimmerman had the right to preserve his own life by taking Martin’s.

United States Attorney General Holder says he is “mindful of the pain felt by our nation” over the “tragic, unnecessary shooting death” of Trayvon Martin. [ref]

Yes, Martin’s death was tragic and, from a certain point of view, unnecessary: If only Martin had refrained from attacking Zimmerman, Martin would be alive today. From another point of view, Martin’s death was necessary: Had Zimmerman not shot Martin, Zimmerman probably wouldn’t be alive today. It is an injustice that very few people will admit that point of view.

There is yet one more tragic injustice surrounding this entire episode: Had Martin prevailed and killed Zimmerman, the incident wouldn’t have registered even a tiny blip on the racist radar of injustice that Obama, Holder, Jackson, Sharpton, the mainstream media and others of their kind so selectively train on an easily manipulated and misinformed public.