A Conversation Between My Heart and My Head

 

George Zimmerman is the kind of man who needs a gun to compensate for the things he lacks.  Objectivity. Courage. Athleticism. Self-Awareness. Honesty.

The gun, to the GZ’s of the world, is the great equalizer.  “I might be a wimp, but I have a gun, so I’m on solid ground,” he tells himself.

The gun is what gave George Zimmerman the stones to disregard a suggestion from the telephone cop NOT to follow Trayvon Martin. 

Unfortunately for GZ, he failed to take into consideration that a young man who has just turned 17 and has grown to a scrawny 5’11” might not take kindly to a short, stocky stranger following him around.  Doesn’t he know that one of the first ways a young black person learns we are, for some reason, not to be trusted is when we are followed around in a retail store by a “Loss Prevention” professional?  It’s insulting and it’s off-pissing.

Nobody really knows what happened out in that dark, damp pathway.  We know what GZ says happened.  Let’s take a look at his story.

GZ says Trayvon slipped out of his view for about four minutes.  That was plenty of time for Trayvon to run home and escape the “creepy-assed cracker” he told his friend Rachel was following him.  But I ask you.  How many hormone-hyped 17-year-old boys do you know who would actually run from a confrontation?  Especially a confrontation with a man who is a full four inches shorter.

So let’s give GZ the benefit of the doubt and say that Trayvon circled around and ambushed him on the “T” part of the path.  He probably didn’t jump out of the bushes, as reported by GZ.  There were no bushes.  No, Trayvon simply strolled up to GZ and asked him what the hell his problem was. And he probably hauled off and busted GZ’s nose.

It is not outside of the realm of believability that Trayvon Martin smarted off, jumped bad, swaggered and pranced.  He was an adolescent at an age where, as the old folks used to say, he was “smelling himself.”  And being young and still somewhat stupid to the ways of the real world, he failed to think about the possibility of this “creepy-assed cracker” being armed with a concealed weapon.

So, up to this point, both men made a series of very bad decisions.

According to the law as it was applied to this case, THIS is where the case began.  All the preceding paragraphs do not matter.  All the cause and effect we want to think about, talk about or scream about are not relevant.

A court of law is not a place for feelings.  It is a place for facts – details – evidence.  The prosecution did not even attempt to offer a scenario of this incident that proved that self-defense did not apply.  Even the witnesses they called to the stand failed to say anything that supported that.  Most of them said things that supported the defense, for heaven’s sake.

And what they said is, in a nutshell, Trayvon Martin was kicking George Zimmerman’s wannabe-cop ass. No one was able to prove who was screaming for help, but it was only GZ who had a busted nose and wounds consistent with having his head bounced off a sidewalk.  Yes, the defense exaggerated those injuries. That is their job.  It was the prosecution’s job to tell us, beyond a reasonable doubt, that it didn’t happen that way.  They couldn’t.

Now comes the point in question.  This is the only thing that mattered, according to the laws of Florida.  While Trayvon was beating the crap out of GZ, did GZ believe he was going to sustain extreme bodily harm, even death?  Probably.  If you listen to the screams on the tapes, you hear a person hysterical with fear.  Why he didn’t fight back with his own fists is a question only GZ can answer.  Why he drew the gun instead of kicking Trayvon in the groin is a question only GZ can answer.  Why, when he did pull the gun, he didn’t aim it at a shoot-to-maim part of Trayvon’s body, only GZ can answer.  Nobody asked him.

The jury in this case was as exemplary a panel as I’ve ever seen.  All reports from the courtroom were that they were attentive, some taking copious notes.  Several times they were asked if they wanted a break and they said no.  They wanted to keep working.  Knowing that the finish line was within their view, that jury could have sped along and come to their conclusion within a few hours.  Instead, they worked a total of 16 hours.  The question they sent out about the instructions for manslaughter told me there probably was at least one person who wanted George Zimmerman to be found guilty of something.  But that something wasn’t available to them.  All they knew is that they believed Zimmerman fired his gun in self-defense.  That’s all they needed to find him not guilty.

That jury would have had to totally disregard the insanely confusing instructions they must have had to read a dozen times just to understand, in order to find GZ guilty.  That’s what I think the OJ jury did.  Instead, the Zimmerman jury did their work and did their job by following the letter of the law.

Was justice served?  Hell no!  But I don’t blame the jury.  I blame the State’s Attorney for overreaching in her charges in the first place, probably in response to public opinion pressures.  I blame the prosecution for failing to instruct the jury on the matter of manslaughter. 

George Zimmerman profiled Trayvon Martin that night.  Race WAS a part of that profile, of that I have no doubt.  Zimmerman foolishly decided to play hero that night.  His personal demons were definitely at work, of that I have no doubt.  But our legal system seems to have little to do with justice for victims.  It seems to have everything to do with a fair trial for the accused. It is the system we have, and it worked.  Just not for Trayvon.