The Zimmerman files

We’ve all been relentlessly bombarded in the past few weeks about the trial of George Zimmerman.  The jury found Zimmerman not guilty of second degree murder and manslaughter or Trayvon Martin, which were the charges against him.

Celebrities are quick to cash in on a perceived opportunity to appear to have a social conscience.  Kirsty Ally tweeted “White people used to make black people drink from separate fountains. Now we just shoot their children.”  Never mind that George Zimmerman is Hispanic, not white.

Miley Cyrus, that intellectual titan, tweeted “No justice, no peace”. Concise, yet vapid.

The Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson never let facts get in the way of a good public outrage. They calling for federal prosecution, prison for Zimmerman and a UN investigation to right the wrongs of an oppressive America.  That’s what they do.   

Eric Holder, who’s FBI already investigated and found no evidence of racism in George Zimmerman’s background, is investigating whether to bring federal charges against Zimmerman. And no less than the President of the United States chose to disregard the judge, jury and prosecution in the Zimmerman case declared who declared that the Zimmerman trial was not about race or Florida’s stand-your-ground law but about self-defense.  “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago”, he told the world.  Really?  Obama would have been wandering around a housing complex in the middle of a rainy night and tried to beat in the head of a neighborhood watch volunteer because he thought he was being followed?  I suppose if he would have taken any questions at the ‘press conference’ someone might have actually asked him that.

Nobody is surprised that celebrities and politicians make grandiose statements about public events to try to polish their image.  But this isn’t about global warming, charity or demagoguing about Wall Street tycoons, big oil, or corporate America. The target here is a living, breathing man who has been found not guilty by an American jury.    We might expect gang leaders like Sharpton and Jackson to regard the welfare, reputation and even the very life of one non-white man as a collateral damage in a larger war.  But we ought to be frightened and outraged that our President can so easily throw an American citizen to the wolves to score political points. 

The Florida prosecutors didn’t even want to try the case because they couldn’t find enough evidence to convict.  But, bowing to public outrage from the racist community, the Florida attorney general went out and retained a different prosecution team and pressed ahead.  I can almost imagine how Pontius Pilot might have felt when an angry mob demanded appeasement.  Yet Pilot at least had the integrity to wash his hands of the injustice rather than be part of the travesty.  Our administration wants to be out in front of the mob, waving torches and basking in the glory.

George Zimmerman’s life has been a nightmare for the past year and a half, and he didn’t do anything other than defend himself.  Now, some public figures are determined to make him suffer even more – not because there is any evidence that he should – but only because they are willing to sacrifice his life for what they consider a more noble cause.  We have heard a lot of emotional speeches from people who ‘fear for their children’ in wake of the Zimmerman verdict.  Even more justified may be the fear of having our lives ruined by shameless, publicity hungry government officials.