Life After Zimmerman – Double Jeopardy?

by Ed Wood

So the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin tragedy and trial is over. What have we learned, and where do we go from here? Several things:

1. Political expediency affects everything.
2. Race trumps all else.

Let’s go back to the beginning. George Zimmerman was authorized by the community in which he lived to serve as their security guard, and as such was licensed to carry a weapon. Sadly, that is a necessary fact of life in the modern day Florida lifestyle. I know, I lived there.

For six years I owned a home in a gated and guarded 55-and-older community in one of the most crime-free areas in the state. The entire community was surrounded by a chain-link fence, and the only entrance was guarded 24/7 by armed attendants. Positive photo ID was required to enter. Yet, the Homeowners Association found it necessary to hire additional guards to continuously patrol the streets throughout the community, 24/7. It’s just a part of the Florida lifestyle.

And would our guards have stopped an unfamiliar hooded teenager roaming the nighttime streets during a rainstorm? You bet they would! That’s what we hired them for. That’s what the Sanford, FL community hired Zimmerman to do, and he did it. Sadly, evidence showed that Zimmerman was attacked by the intruder, Trayvon Martin, and he felt it necessary to defend himself. That’s when the tragedy occurred, and that’s when the political wheels began turning.

First of all, the media branded Zimmerman as a “white” Latino, the worst kind, you know. But it made it easier to issue an immediate call for Zimmerman to be arrested and charged with murder. When the Sanford police chief failed to do so for lack of evidence, he, and his Chief Investigator, were fired.

Then the Florida Special Prosecutor Angela Corey, facing political pressure from Governor Rick Scott, took over, had Zimmerman detained, by-passed his right to a grand jury hearing to determine if there was sufficient evidence to bring capital charges, and arrested him for second degree murder. Liberal icon and Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz told CNN’s Candy Crowley, “You know, this is a case that should never have been brought in the first place, certainly not as a second degree murder prosecution.”

Of course, by then Mr. Obama had weighed in on the side of the victim, and between March 25, 2012, and April 12, 2012, the Eric Holder Justice Department sent six separate community organizing teams to Sanford, and they brought sufficient political pressure to persuade local officials to arrest Zimmerman for murder.

News media was at its usual biased best, publishing photos of a 13 year old lad, rather than current mug shots of a 17 year old, 6’2″, 180 pounder. And, after the fact, we learned that the prosecution withheld records of prior arrests; records of Trayvon’s being expelled twice during the current school year, and the record of a search of Trayvon’s backpack by Miami School Resource Officer, Darryl Dunn, that turned up at least 12 pcs of ladies jewelry, and a man’s watch, plus a flat head screwdriver described as “a burglary tool”. When Trayvon was questioned about who owned the jewelry and where it came from, he claimed he was just holding it for a “friend”. A “friend” he would not name.

I haven’t figured out how they ended up with a six-member jury instead of the usual twelve, or how they chose all female jurors, plus a female judge. But in the end, the prosecution, obviously attempting to appeal to all the motherly instincts, couldn’t even make their case on a lesser charge of manslaughter. The all-female jury found Zimmerman not guilty.

So now we are seeing the true face of 21st century American societal justice. Having slipped the noose the first time, the Justice Department is considering bringing federal charges of civil rights violations, although previous FBI investigations found no such evidence.

Pro-bono attorneys are seeking the fame of suing Zimmerman for civil damages, even though he doesn’t have two nickels to rub together, since he has been out of work and in hiding since March of 2012. The President is using this tragedy as a reason for promoting gun control, and the Florida “Stand Your Ground” law for confronting your attacker is coming under scrutiny, even though it was not a factor on this case.

Every political pundit and/or commentator is coming down on one side or the other of this controversy, depending upon their own racial ethnicity. The not guilty finding is the justification for the usual robbing and pillaging, generally reserved for basketball tournament wins. . . or losses.

New York Giant’s wide receiver Victor Cruz was being unduly optimistic when he said Zimmerman wouldn’t last a year on the streets, and former Washington DC mayor, Marion Barry, no stranger to the arms of law enforcement, probably expressed the predominant view of the African-American community when he said, “The good news is that Zimmerman will never be in peace. He won’t be able to get a job. He’ll have to go underground, travel incognito, and never live in peace. That’s the good news for me.”

So what have we learned in this “post racial” era of the Obama presidency? Only that we are back about where we started with the 1954 decision of Brown vs. the Board of Education. Maybe worse. Politics is pervasive, and race trumps all.