Zimmerman: Not Guilty. But . . .

The Verdict

The jury correctly found George Zimmerman not guilty of murder in the second degree.  Another way to put it: not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  We can take satisfaction in that.  It is how the criminal justice system, rooted in English common law, is supposed to work.  Every indicted person walks into the court room at the start of every day of his trial an innocent man.  Only at the end does the court room drama reach its climax with the jury's verdict: Guilty, Not Guilty or Not Decided. Sir William Blackstone, the great Anglo jurist said it this way: "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer." 

Trayvon Martin was innocent too; we do not try the dead.  Neither man was guilty but both were complicit.  Both contributed to an encounter that proved nothing and ended in tragedy.  Martin can claim that ancient school boy excuse, "He started it."  Zimmerman, playing a role of neighborhood watchman, followed a young man wearing a hoodie with the  hood up, calling police as he did so.  He told them he was following Martin.  "We don't need you to do that," the dispatcher said, but Zimmerman did so anyway, first in his car and then on foot.  Martin spotted him.

"What Are You Following Me For?"  "What Are You Doing Around Here?"

It was slightly later than 7:09 pm, February 26, 2012,  in the non descript town of Sanford, Florida, when that exchange of questions went down. The mean temperature that day was 61 Fahrenheit, cool for Florida and excuse enough to wear a cool hoodie.  Martin was on his cell phone to his friend Rachel Jeantel, who told investigators that she over heard the exchange of questions in the heading above.  Minutes later a single shot was fired into Martin's heart and he died almost immediately.  In between a number of witnesses testified that they saw and heard a patchwork of conflicting sights and sounds.  A brief summary of what we know: they fought; Zimmerman was losing (and had the injuries to show for it); he shot and killed Martin, probably in self defense.

George Zimmerman

He was accused of being a "wannabe cop."  That may be true but it is also probably unfair.  A recent rash of burglaries and other bad behavior had prompted his neighbors to elect Zimmerman head of their new Neighborhood Watch program, which they made known to the police.

 But his actions that night were not an advertisement for what Neighborhood Watch members do.  Their job is to be alert and aware and to report suspicious behavior to the police.  Nothing more.  They do not patrol.  They do not follow (stalk) suspicious characters.  They do not carry a concealed weapon (pack heat).  They are not, as in Florida and elsewhere, emboldened by the right to pack heat, follow anyone and stand your ground if you feel endangered.

 Zimmerman may have been off the Neighborhood Watch reservation, but he was a member in good standing of a numerous Florida tribe not nearly as civilized as the Seminoles. It may have been just after 7 pm that night, but in Florida, and places like it, it is always High Noon.  George Zimmerman bought into  that culture and his life will never be the same old normal again.

Trayvon Martin

At 17 he was only technically the child his supporters like to conger up.  As in "How can we keep our children safe?"  To compare his death to the Clan crushing the life out of Emmet Till demeans a memory we dare not forget.  Martin was a normal kid who had been into no more mischief than is typical of his age.  In fact he was a danger to himself, full of the physical strength of a young man, the culturally induced thin skin of a young black and the immature  judgement of the child his supporters made him out to be.

It was not late to be out.  He was not doing anything more suspicious than walking with cell phone.  He had ties to the neighborhood and was in fact staying with his father's fiance. His hood was up because it looked cool and the weather was cool enough for it.  He had every right and excuse to be where he was.  When he questioned Zimmerman about following him and Zimmerman replied with a variant on The Question every black child and man hears all too often, he lost it.  Trayvon Martin had not yet learned what Martin Luther King had learned from Mahatma Gandhi and it cost him his life.

The Rest of Us

 

It is not rational what happened that night. The consequences  are at once tragic and commonplace. It could have just as easily been you and me toe to toe on that lawn, feeling and not thinking, hot and not cool, deciding in split seconds what to do, and deciding wrongly.  But the consequences did not have to exceed a broken nose, bruised head and maybe a split lip or two.  Instead a cowboy culture that condones stalking, packing heat and high stakes at High Noon, and is coupled with an ancestral bent to think in stereotypes, especially when danger lurks, and to view those who fit a stereotype stored in our more ancient brain parts as the "other," can expect many more such nights.

It would be interesting, if impractical now, to trace each man's origins through their DNA.  Trayvon self-identified as black; George as Hispanic. DNA testing can show to a remarkable degree the geographical origins and racial makeup of your ancestors.  I would suspect that the two antagonists were more alike than different, and like most of us brothers under the skin. 

 

I just hope the next such story to gain national attention doesn't occur 20 miles from my home.  There hasn't been much else in the local newspapers lately.