Martin Bashir provides the best summation of the George Zimmerman trial. It is great to see a mainstream personality provide context as opposed to a false balance in a narrative.
Bashir is rightfully taken aback that every childhood misdeed by Trayvon Martin is being fed to the media with the intent at character assassination. His childhood misdeeds are no different than those of millions of teenagers that will never have to be concerned about being stereotyped, hunted, and murdered.
A closer look however must be laid on the mainstream media. The mainstream media allowed the character assassination of Trayvon Martin to be aired. The actual brushes with the law that Zimmerman had were actually germane to his behavior as erratic yet not covered as much.
Many watching the case used this character assassination to give cover to their most carnal prejudice to justify a morbid support for George Zimmerman’s lack of basic humanity in killing a child. It allowed many to abandon the reality that Trayvon was a 17 year old child, a child that could be their own absent his hue, it allowed them to accept the ‘not guilty’ verdict as just.
Many of the so called legal experts continued to imply that the prosecution had little to work with, that they had not proven their case. Unfortunately, had they done their research, they would have seen that clearly in Florida, similar cases were probative. Not only were they probative, but they clearly show results were frequently biased.
Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville, a Black woman, received a 20 year sentence for shooting in the air to ward off her known to be abusive husband. No one died or was hurt by the bullet. Yet there is no outcry from those who staunchly believe the Zimmerman verdict was just.
A Florida man, Ralph Wald, a 70 year old White Vietnam veteran, killed a man his wife was having an affair with claiming she was being raped. All evidence pointed to it being a murder. He was acquitted.
The pattern is clear. Many will attempt to deny the facts on racially based outcomes. They will use anecdotal data to attempt to prove otherwise. The classic one is that O. J. Simpson got away with murder. O. J. probably did but in the aggregate the biasness of the justice system are undeniable and is documented in “The New Jim Crow”.
Martin Bashir says:
While you may be tempted to divert your attention away from what really happened. Here are the only three fact that really matter.
- First, a man with a gun chose to pursue an unarmed teenager who’d done nothing wrong.
- Second, the man with the gun chose to initiate a confrontation with the teenager after he was advised not to.
- Third, as a result of the confrontation, the man with the gun shot the teenager to death.
And when you focus on the facts it’s not the color of his teeth that keep coming back to haunt you. It’s the color of his skin.
In a gun crazy country, being a man or boy walking in black or brown skin is now a hazard to your health. It is amazing how easy 5 mothers were able to accept the demonization of a kid to provide cover and comfort for either their fear or prejudice to free his killer.
The fact that a killer of an innocent black teen that was hunted down like an animal or escaped convict is justified by some shows that a lot of work is left to be done on the American definition of fairness, equity, and humanity. What however should make every American extremely hopeful is the multicultural, multiethnic, and multiracial nature of the protests against this insidious verdict both online and in the flesh.
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We don’t put people on trial because other people were treated unfairly. Michael Vick was guilty.
Marissa Alexander was railroaded by the same corrupt, vindictive prosecutor who tried to railroad Zimmerman. She never should have been charged to begin with. But where’s the outrage in the black community for her unfair prosecution? Where’s the protests? Where’s the t-shirts and the placards and the people marching in the streets and demanding justice for Marissa?
Where’s the outrage against Angela Corey? She’s clearly a corrupt prosecutor who unethically withholds exculpatory evidence in an attempt to convict innocent people. How many more Marissas will have to go to jail before the black community wakes up and realizes she is very dangerous to the well being of innocent blacks?
Zimmerman was not guilty under the law. Plain and simple. The prosecution failed to prove that he did not act in self defense. It’s time to move on, and to begin to address the fact that 93% of the black murders in America are committed by other blacks. It’s time to address the black “thug” subculture that teaches youngsters that it’s OK to play the “knockout game” and to use “flash mobs” to rob retail stores.
I wasn’t in the courtroom and I am not an expert on this case (I assume txantimedia isn’t either, but he or she might be). But, we are both entitled to our opinions and my opinion is that Martin should never have been confronted by Zimmerman. He was advised not to and disregarded the advice. Since he did anyway I choose to infer a great deal about his attitude before the confrontation. In my opinion Zimmerman created a situation that led to his killing Martin. All that stuff you talk about in your last paragraph should have nothing to do with Zimmerman and Martin. That moment Zimmerman stupidly confronted Martin, stupidly being the key word here, it seems by all accounts he was just a kid walking down a street. So, if people are a little upset, I get it.
Just my opinion.
Gary, you seemed to have missed much of the case and the facts. Your opinion of what happened is contrary to the facts of the case. I’m not repeating what Zimmerman said, but of what the evidence and what the girl talking to Trayvon said.
The girl talking to Trayvon said, Trayvon had gotten to his dad’s girlfriends house after losing Zimmerman in the dark. The distance from that apartment to where Zimmerman was, was about 400 feet. So here is Trayvon standing in front of the place he was staying at, 400 feet away from Zimmerman, and yet somehow Zimmerman was able to confront Trayvon? Why did Trayvon walk back to where Zimmerman was if all he had to do is go through the door to where he was staying?
This is what the jury saw from the evidence. They saw that it was Trayvon who became the aggressor, who threw the first punch and continued the felony aggravated assault.
The problem with this case, is that so many don’t know the facts, and are getting fed false info, like you recounted, and thus get pissed off.
Gary, since you (sort of) asked, I do consider myself somewhat of an expert on the case. I’ve followed it since it first hit the news, I’ve studied the court documents, created a timeline to see if witness statements matched Zimmerman’s, created transcripts for the NEN call as well as all the police interviews of Zimmerman and much more. I followed the entire trial in real time and reviewed the witness testimony videos, in some cases, after they were put up on Youtube.
Here are the known facts. George followed Trayvon (not pursued) until he lost sight of him. After a couple of minutes, the two of them got into an altercation. We don’t know who started it, because there are no witnesses. We do know that Trayvon, at some point, was on top of George, broke his nose and caused at least six blunt force trauma injuries to his skull. We know that the altercation lasted for at least 45 seconds and during that time George was trying to escape the beating but failed.
Under Florida law you have the right, EVEN IF YOU STARTED THE FIGHT, to use force, up to and including deadly force, if you believe you are in imminent danger of (can’t recall exactly) extreme/severe bodily harm or death and you are unable to escape the encounter..
It’s clear that both men made mistakes that night that led to a deadly altercation, but, at the point that George fired the fatal shot, he was justified in doing so under the law.
While we are both entitled to our opinions, I have attempted here not to express mine but to stick strictly to the known facts evinced at trial.
I still consider it your opinion.
I hold no grudge or ill will against the jury. Given the laws in Florida I believe they acted responsibly. I was merely stating I get why people would be upset. I don’t condone riots or acts of violence against Zimmerman.
As for facts: Zimmerman contradicted himself enough to make me believe he knew he acted rashly and possibly inappropriately. I read testimony that indicated it was possible Zimmerman exaggerated his claims of being brutally beaten and that the injuries weren’t life threatening and there might have been fewer strikes. The facts – as you say – are that we don’t really know and Martin couldn’t testify. I don’t know what brought him back to Zimmerman. Perhaps if he was a little older he would’ve been wise enough to just go in the house. Maybe older and wiser like Zimmerman, no?
It shouldn’t have happened and could’ve been avoided.
Bashir forgot a fact. Fact:
Martin had Zimmerman on his back and was beating the crap out of him.
I agree with much of what you say. Trials have devolved into gladiator wars between opposing counsel. Much of what transpires in the courtroom has little to do with innocence or guilt; it is all about winning, particularly for prosecutors who are trying to move up the political ladder or win the next election. It has become a disgusting charade of ‘justice’ played out on television to titillate the already convinced who have no actual interest in whatever law is presumed to have been broken and even less interest in logic and reason.