On February 26, 2012 George
Zimmerman (then 28) shot and killed 17 year-old Trayvon Martin an unarmed
African-American teenager who was minding his business walking home from the
store. On July 13, 2013 Zimmerman was found not guilty by a jury of his peers,
six white women.
The reality is Zimmerman was long preparing
for a showdown. He had been Mixed Martial Arts training for 18 months; he was
enrolled in criminal justice classes. His best buds in law enforcement advised
him. He was carrying a concealed weapon.
George Zimmerman is the best
example of a person who should never have a gun permit. A person who sees bad
guys at every turn. A person who places himself in a position of pseudo authority,
in his case the Neighborhood Watch captain, which he thought gave him the right
to lord over others. A person who goes to Target to get groceries on a Sunday
evening strapped with a Kel Tec 9mm handgun. He had to carry a gun, as he never
knew when he would run into those “fucking punks”.
In what common sense would see as
an open and shut case of guilt on Zimmerman’s part, in the world of criminal
justice it is not quite that simple. The
world of criminal justice relies heavily in interpretation. The interpretation
of laws, the interpretation of words, the interpretation of evidence. It relies
on stacking the jury with people who lawyers think they can convince to see
things their way. It relies on money, in having enough to buy expert witnesses
to come in and testify to your version of events. It also relies heavily on its
ace on the hole “beyond a reasonable doubt”.
These types of trials are often not
about justice, forget who wins or loses. They are not about the little people,
those being the victims and/or the defendants. Once they reach the world stage
they become career boosters for the attorneys involved, the judges, the TV news
anchors and the so-called experts who are the guests on their shows. They are
about the forthcoming movie and books deals (Zimmerman’s friend Mark Osterman penned
his book early), celebrity appearances and making money.
Trayvon Martin’s parents have been
a model on how one might carry themselves publically through unspeakable
tragedy. They are not “street people” you know, the seemingly ignorant ones that
everyone can comfortably say “they had it coming”. Trayvon’s mother Sabrina Fulton
has been employed 24 years with Miami Dade-County. She is a college graduate, married
to Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s dad at the time of his birth. Tracy Martin is a truck driver. They were a
tight family unit. Both mother and father actually lived near each other in
Miami. Martin Sr. was visiting his fiancée in Sanford and Trayvon was with him
because he was suspended from school. I
can only imagine the little road trip was to give Trayvon some father/son “get
your act together kid” time.
As of now there was no way of
knowing if any further remedy will be sought regarding justice for Trayvon
Martin or punishment for George Zimmerman. Today we know that Zimmerman was
found not guilty and is a free man. Today he is free to roam the streets again,
free to carry his concealed weapon.
In reality Zimmerman will never be
a free man again. Soon enough the financial support will stop, his wife will divorce
him. He will spend the rest of his life a pariah, an embarrassment to his
people, to his judge father, to those same peers that once had his back. They
will soon find association with “Georgie” uncomfortable once the blinding
lights of the media are turned off and reality sets in. After all, who wants a
dinner guest with blood on his hands from killing an innocent kid?
