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.
LIKE My Facebook Page – Visit My Blog: EgbertoWillies.com
Follow @EgbertoWillies
