Zimmerman, Martin, America

Well, you had to know I’d eventually put my $0.02 in, right? So here goes.

Two people met on the night of 2-26-12; one Trayvon Martin (17) and one George Zimmerman (28). It was the last night of life for Martin. We all know this much. Zimmerman shot and killed Martin. Police took Zimmerman into custody; got him treatment for minor head injuries, questioned him for five hours, and released him, accepting his story that the shooting was an act of self-defense.

At a later date, Zimmerman was charged with murder. His trial recently concluded with a verdict of not-guilty on counts of 2^nd Degree Murder and Manslaughter.

I’m going to assume that you are all familiar with the circus that erupted around this event, including all of the memes that passed around the social networks (such as the one showing a picture of Martin looking all “gangsta”, except you know, it wasn’t actually Martin).

During that time, you probably also learned that Martin had some disciplinary marks at school, but no criminal record. As well, you probably learned that Zimmerman had been charged with assaulting a police officer, as well as domestic violence.

You probably also read about how the police essentially showed up, heard Zimmerman’s side of the story (but not Martin’s, since he was, you know, dead), and eventually said “Yeah, sure, sounds legit.”

Zimmerman was found not guilty, and the story he told and that is being touted as truth is that he was acting in self-defense. And ho-lee shee-it are people eating it up. It’s being used as a defense of concealed carry, Stand Your Ground, and other such things.

But here’s the thing:

For all we know, Martin, at some point, did turn around and beat the holy shit out of Zimmerman.

And if so, he was right to do so. Because in doing so, Martin is in fact the one who would have been acting in self-defense, not Zimmerman. Zimmerman, by his act of pursuit and stalking, was the aggressor in the situation.

Period.

Any single one of you reading this put yourself in Martin’s situation. Walking home on a dark night when you notice someone is actively following you in a suspicious manner.

What would your reaction be? Try to hide? Try to run home? Call for help? Confront the person?

I’m guessing all of the above, depending on who is doing the reading.

Zimmerman initiated the situation, and was responsible for putting a person in fear for their safety and for subsequently killing that person.

When this happened, one of the things we heard most about was Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law. If Martin assaulted Zimmerman, it was justified under that law. But we’ll never know for sure since a known criminal (whose shady activities didn’t stop with shooting Martin), killed him.

The event was a tragic one (but not an unusual one in the U.S.A.). The following media storm was shameful on all sides. The trial was a joke. The standard of proof was fucked up. The judge’s actions were fucked up. The case the prosecution brought was weak, and they should have known better.

But it’s over, and now people all over are whooping and hollarin’ about it being the right verdict, and blah blah blah. Some on the right are trying to turn it into a different kind of racism.

But I want to make some things clear to everyone:

1. The implementation of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law is fucked up and needs to be revisited, but a study of Florida governmental actions will tell you that’s not going to happen, and it’s not the worst thing to come from that state’s government.

2. Zimmerman stalked and murdered a kid that night. Justice has been failed again. Also not uncommon in the U.S.A.

3. Studies demonstrate that when it comes to shootings, White-on-Black are ruled as justified at a frequency so much greater than in other cases that it’s both shameful and another example that racism is still alive and well in the U.S.A. Which is interesting, when you consider how this was portrayed as a white-on-black crime, (see below)

4. Isn’t it amazingly convenient that when it comes to shooting a black kid, George Zimmerman is “White”. Man, I don’t know how to tell everyone on Free Republic and elsewhere how their Great White Hope isn’t white. Sorry, but Zimmerman isn't a white man. I've known plenty of racists who, in a different situation, would have boot partied him due to his lack of whiteness. But again, it was convenient to the needs of the media to portray this in a particular way.

5. That doesn’t mean Zimmerman isn’t racist, or bigoted. Here’s a tip: being a person of color means you cannot be racist only when speaking of systemic, institutionalized racism. It means nothing on the personal level.

6. Well-to-do white men really need to stop acting like this is some kind of payback for O.J.

People all over are arguing about whether or not Zimmerman reacted the way he did because of racism. His parents try to say that because he is mixed race, he cannot be racist. Columnists and bloggers say that the way Martin was dressed helped provoke the situation (a wonderful mix of victim-blaming and racism). Others say it was clearly because of racism. Some say it was a hate crime. Some like to say horrible or terrible mistakes were made on both sides. I’m going to tell you what I’ve told them.

There are not only two sides to this event. There are three:

1.  Zimmerman’s

2. Martin’s

3. Society’s

And horrible mistakes were made on all three sides.

Zimmerman made the horrible mistake of stalking and killing a young man who was doing nothing wrong. And yes, it was a racially motivated crime (see below). Denying that is being willfully ignorant.

Society made the horrible mistake of becoming a place where it is accepted and common for people to see a young black man and think of him as a guilty criminal regardless of his actions.

Martin made the horrible mistake of walking at night while black.

Zimmerman’s actions were absolutely racially motivated. The mistake people are making is thinking that “racially motivated” means he thought to himself “Hey, I’m going to kill me a nigger tonight.”

Like you, like me, like everyone else here, Zimmerman grew up in a nation where, despite gains, people still willingly and unwillingly think of African-Americans as criminals. Just like all of us, he has his subconscious prejudices, and those absolutely influenced his actions.

As a nation, we’ve made significant gains on dealing with systemic and institutionalized racism. But contrary to what some will tell you, racism is still a thing, still a problem.

Zimmerman’s prejudices played a large part in his killing of Martin. The jury’s prejudices played a large part in their not guilty verdict, since it was hammered into their minds that Zimmerman is white, and as I noted, white men tend to fare much better in self-defense cases. The police officers’ prejudices played into the way in which they investigated and proceeded on the case.

Ignoring the racial aspects of this injustice is just shameful at best, intentionally malicious at worst.

One of the things about the post-verdict reaction that I find interesting is that no one seems to have pointed out that in a slightly different scenario, in a different place, George Zimmerman easily could have been the innocent person shot by someone acting on the their subconscious prejudices. In a different place, his lack of whiteness would spur the same reaction in others that Martin’s did in him.

If anyone takes anything from this, I hope it is this:

The next time you find yourself scooting away, clutching your purse closer, checking your wallet, or feeling suddenly anxious because a person of color is near, think about what you are doing and why. And think about this:

That person may be having the same reaction to you.

Because we live in a nation and world of Othering.

And that gets people killed.

Try to be better.