By now, I’m sure everyone’s heard about the outcome of the George Zimmerman trial, and I’m sure that everyone has an opinion on it. I know I have my own thoughts, mainly that the fact that we live in a world where a grown man with a gun can confront and kill an unarmed teenager and get away with it is sick and twisted. To say that I’m upset is an understatement. I was actually consoling myself by imagining George Zimmerman being brutally murdered by vigilantes. That isn’t like me; I’m not a violent person. It’s just that the verdict for this case really did make me so angry that I wished a painful death on another human being. If someone were to tell me that justice had been served and that they were glad that Zimmerman was acquitted, that person probably would’ve been picking themselves and their teeth off the ground. Once again, I swear I’m not a violent person, just a really angry one.
Now that I’ve calmed down to the point where I’ll only scream obscenities at a Zimmerman sympathizer, I can process my thoughts on this situation.
- As much as I hate to admit it, I can understand why George Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter. There wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove what happened on the night of February 26, 2012. Since people in this country are innocent until proven guilty, there was no choice but to find Zimmerman not guilty. And yet, I can’t help thinking that this would’ve gone very differently if Zimmerman was a black man shooting a white kid in the same situation.
- I understand that George Zimmerman’s family believes that the man will have to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life for fear of vigilante justice. Basically, that means that everywhere Zimmerman goes, certain people will always believe that he is a violent, trigger-happy thug who will never be any better than a common criminal. He could also be confronted, attacked and even killed by those people simply because of who he is. I can’t say that I don’t appreciate the irony of that situation.
- This whole scenario has also served to remind me why I hate guns. Guns are weapons that exist only to kill other living things, and they are basically fetishized in our country. They are too dangerous, and I would be perfectly fine with most of them being outlawed and made unavailable to the public. And yet, I can’t say that without someone screaming about the Second Amendment and calling me un-Amurrican. Well, I don’t care. I’m going to keep saying it. Trayvon Martin died because George Zimmerman had a gun, and thanks to the Florida’s very scary “Stand Your Ground” law he had an excuse to use it on another human being. There are countless people out there just like Zimmerman who are practically obsessed with owning guns and want nothing more than an excuse to use them. I think this has shown us that we need to take another look at gun control in this country. I’m sure that’s going to offend everyone who uses the Second Amendment as their personal creed, but I’m not sorry that I feel that way.
- Finally, I think we also need to take another look at the elephant in the room and talk about race. Before anybody gets all up in arms, I know that George Zimmerman is not white. He’s hispanic, and therefore a member of a race that is just as marginalized in this country as African-Americans. However, he can pass as white. He has a decidedly European name, he’s light-skinned and he has enough money and social status to be able to live in a gated community. Trayvon Martin was young, black, wearing a hoodie and outside after dark. That was enough for Zimmerman to peg him as a “suspicious person” and confront him. Now, I understand that Trayvon was no saint; he had been suspended from school a few times and had been caught with bags containing marijuana residue and stolen jewelry in the past. Based on all evidence of what happened on the night he died, he probably beat Zimmerman up pretty badly. And yet, when it came down to it he died because he was young and black, and therefore a criminal in Zimmerman’s eyes. Zimmerman picked a fight with someone who fit his idea of what the bad guys look like, and when he was losing he used a deadly weapon to end it. But it’s okay, because the only one who died was a thug who happened to wander outside of the ghetto to commit some random crimes. After all, that’s what black kids do, right?
This was racial profiling at its “finest.” If Trayvon Martin was a white kid in a polo shirt I’d be willing to bet that Zimmerman would’ve kept on driving and not given him a second thought.
If I can take any consolation in this whole ugly series of events, it’s that there are lots of other people who are just as outraged as I am. A more cynical and racist person might assume that it’s just black people getting angry about this, but it isn’t. People of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds are pissed off that Zimmerman can shoot an unarmed teenager in the chest and not be punished for it. Everyone can see that justice was not served here. As far as I’m concerned, a young black man was killed for the crime of being a young black man. I can only hope that people will see how messed up things really are for people of color in this country after all of this.
