7.21.13: Zimmerman-Martin Verdict Comment

(Reprinted from last week's column)

Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman Verdict

Ultimately, this is another victory for the gun.  We, as an American society, have reached the point where the man with the gun, who fatally shoots someone, is given the benefit of the doubt in court.  George Zimmerman had his say, and you would have to sadly conclude that the 'Stand Your Ground' law worked. This is the reason some are saying Mr. Zimmerman should have never been prosecuted in the first place.

A gun provided George Zimmerman with false sense of strength and the ego to believe that he was in control of circumstances when the truth is his actions came from a place of fear and he wasn't in control.  And it is this kind of fear that is perpetuated and promoted by the NRA and the gun lobby that lead to these tragedies.

We can neither escape the key role race played in the entire case, and there is no amount of detail that we can go into here that would sufficiently cover all the aspects as it is even concerned strictly to this case.  However, it's worthy to get on record the question: Why is it that most people in the country, the general consensus, believe that if the roles were reversed and it was Trayvon Martin in Mr. Zimmerman's position he would have surely been found guilty?

A jury of six determined that Mr. Zimmerman acted in self-defense, which implies that Mr. Martin, the guy with the Skittles, was the perpetrator?  The absolution of any responsibility for Mr. Zimmerman is what's unjust in this case.  But in America today, it's not about responsibility, it's all about blaming the other guy.