Six Black Women Would’ve Convicted Zimmerman: Trayvon’s Skin Was His Sin

[Publisher’s Commentary]

A jury of six Black women would have likely convicted George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin.

There would have been cries of outrage from Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh.

But of course, such a jury could never exist.

A jury of three Black women and three White women also would have likely convicted Zimmerman. The evidence was strong because of Zimmerman’s own actions and his own words on the fateful night.

Any jury that focused on the facts of the case would have convicted Zimmerman. The five White women jurors and the part-Latina did not make their decisions based on the evidence. Their decision boiled down to one question: Was it worth convicting Zimmerman for the murder of a young Black boy whose life did not amount to much at the time of his death, and may never have amounted to much anyway?

That’s what the character assassins set out to show soon after Trayvon Martin was killed.

The killing itself was straightforward and even bordered on pre-meditation. Zimmerman fancied himself as some sort of Dare Devil; the protector of his community from people like Trayvon Martin, Black men and Black boys.

Zimmerman had called the Sanford Police, between 2004 and the night he killed Martin at least 52 times. According to Police Records Zimmerman’s calls ranged from complaints about a vehicle cutting off other drivers to an April 22, 2011 call about “suspicious activity” by a “black male” who was about seven or nine years old and was of “skinny build” and had short black hair.

On the night Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin, a Black boy whom he did not know, he again called the police to report a suspicious character. Of course Trayvon was a bit older than a seven or nine year old; he was 17. Like the seven or nine year old Zimmerman had called about nearly a year earlier, Trayvon was also of “skinny build.”

Zimmerman clearly had racially profiled Trayvon Martin.

During his 911 call of February 26, 2012 Zimmerman also complained about the “suspicious” characters. In his own words: “Fucking Punks. These assholes, they always get away.”

Presumably he’d also been referring to the seven to nine year old from 2011. Clearly he was disappointed that they “got away.” Zimmerman was told by the Police dispatcher not to follow Martin. He acknowledged the caution.

Zimmerman still followed the boy anyway. After all, Zimmerman was armed. He was in a position to make sure that the boy –this particular “punk”– did not get away. He was not to be disappointed again.

At the end of the night 17 year old Trayvon Martin lay dead on the grass with a bullet in his chest thanks to 28 year old Zimmerman and his determination that another “fucking punk” didn’t get away. Trayvon had left his father’s home to buy Skittles and a soda.

A straight forward enough case.

Between the time of the shooting on February 26, 2011 to the date the verdict was rendered on July 13, 2013, Zimmerman had already been exonerated and Trayvon Martin had been convicted through character assassination as Martin Bashir pointed out.

There were stories about Trayvon Martin having marijuana residue in his bag; stories about Trayvon Martin posing with hand signs on his Facebook page; stories about Trayvon writing graffiti; stories about Trayvon, thin-rail and conceding 40 pounds to Zimmerman, being athletic and adept at hand-to-hand combat. Zimmerman, in other words, had not encountered little baby-faced Trayvon Martin that night. Thanks to the demonization campaign Zimmerman had actually confronted a juvenile delinquent, a Black thug, or a potential convict-in-the-making.

The character assassination had an intended purpose. To ensure that the prejudices that a wide segment of the population have against Black males would distract potential jurors from focusing on the case against Zimmerman. Especially if the jurors were more vulnerable to such manipulation.

Even during the trial media focused on how Rachel Jeantel looked and spoke. Jeantel is the friend Trayvon Martin was on the phone with shortly before he was killed; he’d informed her Zimmerman was following him. Now in the courtroom Jeantel’s perceived pedigree, or alleged lack thereof, was correlated to the value (or lack thereof) of Trayvon’s life. In other words, if this was Trayvon’s friend, then his life could never have amounted to much anyway.

Molly West, daughter of George Zimmerman defense attorney Don West, could have as well been describing both Jeantel and Trayvon, when, after Jeantel’s  cross-examination, she posted on her Instagram account a photo showing the family eating ice cream with the words: “We beat stupidity celebration… #dadkilledit.”

Now that Trayvon was dead, jurors may have reasoned, why convict Zimmerman for killing someone who’s life never would have amounted to much? Someone “stupid” or who, at least, had a “stupid” friend.

After all, Zimmerman had been out on a mission to “protect” the neighborhood. He’d been looking out for the interest of folks whose lives had much more “value” than Trayvon Martin’s (and his friend Rachel Jeantel’s). The jury’s decision was influenced by the well-placed and well-timed distractions and the vicious assault on Trayvon Martin’s humanity; his essence.

Jurors did not focus on the straightforward facts: that George Zimmerman, armed with a gun, had stalked a Black boy whom he had described as “suspicious” to the police, based purely on racial profiling, and that Zimmerman ended up killing the boy.

Six African American women would not have been affected by the campaign to demonize Trayvon Martin. Even the presence of three Black women on the jury could have affected the deliberations and yielded a different outcome.

In the end, for Trayvon Martin, truly, his sin was his skin.
 

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