ZIMMERMAN, MARTIN, AN ESCALATION STUDY!

(The Root, Michael Perman, Richard H. Pildes)

(Huffpost, Ferris State University, Aljazeera, Associated Press)

(Liz Goodwin, Tim Skillern, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Finally it’s over, Little Sanford, Florida, population 53,570, in central Florida can return to its sleepy existence, and leave the Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman trouble behind them, right…..well, unfortunately a resounding wrong. When George Zimmerman pulled out his pistol and shot to death Trayvon Martin, the act, or reaction meant much more than just a random killing, no matter whether it was self-defense, or murder.

 

I have labored long and hard over the issue, the trial and the verdict, and contemplated whether to write a single word about the unfolding story. In the end, I vowed to blog something, no matter the verdict, and whatever fall-out might result. Well as I’ve said to my wife many times, “people never disappoint me,” they act and react in predictable ways.

 

The trial of George Zimmerman was absolutely no exception; the media coverage that was delivered was above and beyond! George Zimmerman was a wiry looking fellow at the time of the incident, but by the time the trial rolled around, he, Zimmerman was a rolly, polly Pillsbury dough boy. I’m not sure what brought on the change, (other than food consumption), but his appearance was just short of Bizarre, and signaled to me, that things would get more bizarre at time went along.

 

I’m not going to waste your time dissecting the just completed trial, I’ll let some other blogger, or news report take care of that…..anyways, those people usually run along the same opinion lines…..and I usually don’t.

 

The scene of the crime, not the street address, but the city, county and state is what I consider the scene of the crime. Sanford, Florida has a population of a bit over 53,000, and has grown by 15,000 since 2000. The population is broken down by race as follows, 24,096, (white), 15,660, (black), 10,844, (Hispanic) and a smattering of Native Americans, Native Hawaiian, and Asian.

 

Sanford economy and most common occupations right off the bat should give a reader a huge clue about this sleepy middle of the state community. Buildings and ground cleaning and maintenance are the two biggest sources of work, and at the far end of the spectrum are construction and trade workers. People in Sanford, Florida are used to taking home a substandard paycheck.

 

The crime rate is above the state average, as well as the aggregate nation average, with robberies, assaults, burglaries, thefts and auto thievery leading the way. Although murders are not common, there are several every year.

 

The demographics of Sanford, Seminole and the state of Florida need to be taken into account whenever an incident like the Zimmerman-Martin altercation happens. Seminole County has a population of 422,718, with a white or Caucasian population make-up of 78.2%, and an 11% black only, and a 17% Hispanic or Latino make-up.

 

Florida is, to me, kind of a strange state, I understand that the make-up of the state population can, in certain places resemble an old folk’s home, but there are other more disturbing elements that for me are worrisome. Like the deaths suffered at the hands of law enforcement through the use of tasers, and the corporal punishment that is meted out on a daily basis.

 

HELLO JIM CROW, GOOD TO SEE YA

Is there a Jim Crow mentality going on in Seminole County in general, and Sanford in particular?  Trayvon Martin was black, Trayvon Martin was wearing a hoody, and Trayvon Martin was carrying Skittles, all perceived clues that he, Martin, is up to no good, hell, I’d have shot him myself…..(oh wait, I don’t own a gun).

 

George Zimmerman was a good samaritan; he was an unpaid neighborhood watch person who had a hankering to become a police officer. However possible the worst part, and the fatal issue for Trayvon Martin was the fact that George Zimmerman was packing heat.

 

What transpired nobody but George Zimmerman knows…..and I assume he’s not talking, unless it’s to a writer and a book deal, or better yet, a movie deal. The facts will be forever blurred, and surrounded in a wisp of smoke and fog. The dialog will continue for a while, and then people will move on to the next great mistake by some other human being…..its how we roll.

 

Jim Crow was really a vaudevillian entertainer by the name of Thomas Dartmouth Rice, born in 1808, who died before the break-out of the Civil War in 1860. Daddy Rice, as he was called used African American vernacular speech, song, and dance to become one of the most popular minstrel show entertainers of his time. Rice’s Jim Crow persona was a racial caricature contrived to flatter the contemporary belief in white superiority.

 

So the lifelong question…..to some, who was Jim Crow can be answered profoundly with much veracity…..Jim Crow was a man by the name of Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice who was an entertainer, and liked to paint his face black and talk, dance, and act like a black man of the 1840’s, and 50’s.

 

The Jim Crow laws that emerged after the South’s bitter defeat in the Civil War were devised and used in many southern states to keep the black man down, and stripped of the rights that had been won during the barbaric war of 1861-65.

 

Do they have any place here in the 21^st century, hell no, non-the-less they exist, or as some from the south might say, “Hell yes.”  It took an act of Congress to remove most of these archaic laws that were meant to govern blacks only. What happened, people with the superiority belief in the white race circumvented the laws, and made their own.

 

WAS THE ZIMMERMAN VERDICT A RESULT OF RACE

Well let me see…..can I count the ways…..yes…..actually a resounding yes, some people viewed Trayvon Martin as a street punk, and he got exactly what he deserved, a bullet in the chest that ended a black kid’s life, one down, many more to go…..can we get a verdict and move on?

 

Whether Trayvon Martin died at the hand of George Zimmerman is really irrelevant, for whatever reason the media just happened to pick up the shooting and run with it as a major story. Who knows why these things happen, (with newspaper stories).

 

I’m a white guy, have been all my life, and I think a majority of crap that goes on not only in the United States, but around  the world is racial. What’s the percentage of blacks to whites in American prisons today, or how about work possibilities for blacks as opposed to whites, or unemployment figures, bingo, again the majority of unemployed are black.

How about when you walk into a tavern…..in Middle American, a football game is on, a player runs for a touchdown, and the ensuing celebration by the patrons enviably includes something like, “did you see that nigger run.” When’s the last time you ever heard a “wow, that Caucasian can really run,” try never!

 

I’m not going to get into the semantics of the George Zimmerman trial, more to the point…..for me, is how a state in America could rectify a law that allows a person with a gun to shoot another because his space is invaded. Are you out of your mind?

 

George Zimmerman feared for his life from a 16 year old kid with a sack of Skittles as his only weapon, oh ya, and possibly a smart mouth, those are the facts. Convictions, you can’t be serious, Florida law dictates that each person has a space of their own, an aura that has been proclaimed by the state of Florida through a law.

 

The judicial system didn’t fail Trayvon Martin, a race, a community, or a nation, with the proof that was available, the jury had little choice. Where the failure is regarding this issue is how a state legislature passes an idiotic law which, in my estimation simply opened up the door for a fellow like George Zimmerman to take out a potential robber…..according to how Zimmerman felt at the time.

 

It is amazing how as a nation, as a people, we operate, green, blue, yellow, black or white…..we, each and everyone bleed red. Gee just think about it, a white man can use the blood of a black, (it it’s the same type,) and a black can use a whites blood, now, all you bigoted S.O.B. chew on that one for a while!

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!