I find myself caring more about the George Zimmerman case now than I did before the verdict. I'm not sure I understand it and would love to hear the jury's theory — if indeed they have one — of what happened between the two men. Did they think the kid with the candy had threatened the life of the guy with the loaded gun? Or was it just their interpretation of Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law…which sure strikes me as an invitation for paranoid people to claim "I felt threatened" after they blow away anyone who causes them to feel that way. I dunno.
I see a lot of folks cheering the verdict on Twitter and Facebook and even two in my own e-mail. I'm sure there are people celebrating this who aren't showing an ugly streak of racism but I haven't seen them yet. I see people who feel an injustice was done to George Zimmerman for even questioning that he was right to kill a young black male.
Years ago, I found myself one evening engaged in a friendly (I thought) debate with a fellow writer of comic books. We were discussing the Death Penalty, a topic on which I have a raft of conflicting feelings…but one clear one is this: If we're going to execute people, we ought to do an airtight job of making sure we execute only guilty people. I felt this way before we had the avalanche of DNA tests that proved a lot of folks on Death Row were innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. My faith in our judicial system went down further after those exonerations…and it's taking another hit tonight. Anyway, it seemed to me that "we shouldn't execute innocent people" was one of those obvious truths — the kind of which you say, "Who could possibly argue with that?"
Well, this fellow did. He said to me, "No one on Death Row is ever innocent." I asked about the many exonerations. He said, "Oh, those people may not have committed those specific crimes but everyone on Death Row is a loser who probably hasn't been caught for the crimes he has committed." And then to further shock me, he added, "Especially if they're poor and black or Hispanic."
I remember that. I also remember the sound of my jaw hitting the linoleum. The fellow realized he'd let his racist side show and he quickly tried to back-pedal from what he'd said but there was no unringing that bell. I heard it loud and clear. It's made it difficult to associate with the guy ever since.
I got those two e-mails tonight from folks I know who were pleased about the Zimmerman verdict. One believes the prosecutors simply didn't make a sufficient case…and that may be true. I think there probably was a sufficient case to be made but not having been in the courtroom, I don't presume the jury heard one. This correspondent of mine considered the whole matter tragic, especially the loss of a young man's life. I respect that way of thinking. Tragic indeed, regardless of who was at fault.
The other e-mail was from someone who seems pretty happy Trayvon Martin is dead because, you know, he was a druggy gang member who probably deserved it. Martin may not have been guilty of something at that moment but he was foolish enough to go up against an armed man so he brought his death on himself. Or so this guy believes. I don't think I'm going to consider him a friend any longer.