Trayvon Martin’s Saga Is Not Dead!

It is always entertaining to read right wing blogs and how they skew, ignore or simply manufacture facts.  This post is a classic example. Why O.J.’s Saga Lives and Trayvon’s Died, American Thinker, June 13, 2014, By Jack Cashill.

It starts with the unequivocal announcement that O.J. Simpson killed his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.  Of course, the criminal jury found O.J. Simpson not guilty! Sooo, I guess criminal jury verdicts mean nothing since they can be so summarily dismissed.  It is good to know, that according to Mr. Cashill, the not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman case does not interfere with the reasonable conclusion that he was guilty.  Glad that that is cleared up.

Mr. Cashill ultimately concludes, as the title of the post indicates, that Trayvon Martin’s saga is dead. One of the criteria he considers is that there are only two books he is aware of on the Trayvon Martin tragedy, and no “long form” essays in any major magazine.  There are actually more books than that, but no need to quibble over that oversight. He cites his own book and Lisa Bloom’s seminal Suspicion Nation: The Inside Story of the Trayvon Martin Injustice and Why We Continue to Repeat It which he claims didn’t get “any attention.”  He doesn’t cite statistics such as how many copies of the book were sold nor does he explain how he concluded it was “painfully orthodox” and how that characterization impacts the book’s message – that George Zimmerman was guilty!

Here is a list of articles written on the tragedy right after the verdict.  Roundup of commentary on the George Zimmerman ‘not guilty’ verdict, Anika Myers Palm, July 14, 2013  I would think that the New Yorker, The Nation, The Atlantic, Time qualify as major “magazines” and they each featured long, in-depth essays.  There is also another long form essay posted by the Reuters news service.

Mr. Cashill believes that the African-American community is so naive and pliable as to be incapable of forming their own opinions and are totally dependent on the “sinister media.” However, the author, and other right wing pundits can think for themselves. Consequently, their insights are superior to blacks who cannot break free from the evil maw of the “sinister media.”  The media as “sinister”, “octopusic” bogey man” is a prevailing right wing theme and is reprised in the Zimmerman case.

A classic example can be found here:  George Zimmerman Should Be Rich By Now, The Conservative Pundit.net, by Carl Jackson  Mr. Jackson is “a Christian Conservative American That Happens To Be Black” @carljacksonshow  I will not bother with some of his more outrageous claims, i.e., that Democrats used the Trayvon Martin tragedy to further their political interests.  He provides no source for this silly allegation, so fittingly, I presume it’s his.  Mr. Jackson claims listening to the “defamatory” NBC broadcasts stirred him into a frenzy since they implied that Zimmerman found Martin suspicious solely because he was black.  Mr. Jackson even had flashbacks to the Rodney King beating inspired Los Angeles riots.  

Sometime after though, he managed to recover from the media imposed mass hypnosis which still shrouds the view of the entire black community.  This was accomplished because, though he is black, he is also a conservative, and thereby, became privy to the real facts of the Zimmerman case.  Those would be the ones that elude the rest of the African-American and liberal population who are, presumably, tethered to the sinister media’s massive teat, and cannot form their own independent opinions.

Ironically enough, Zimmerman did find Martin suspicious because he was black and simply waited for the dispatcher to ask what race he was. Naturally, Zimmerman claims he’s not a racist.  He even claims to have mentored black youth yet he didn’t bother to simply talk to Martin or identify himself.  I guess those black youth he mentored must have really scared him!

Why he found Martin suspicious would not have mattered had he let the police decide if he was or not.  It turns out Martin, despite being black and wearing a hoodie, was not engaged in any criminal activity, including burglary.  The tragedy happened because Zimmerman was so sure that (1) Martin was a burglar and (2) he might “escape”, that he left his vehicle, followed him (“stalked”) and scared him.  Even Detective Serino pointed this out in his report.  Yeah, the one who testified that he believed that Zimmerman was telling the truth, but that’s a story for another post.  Why wouldn’t a teen be concerned about a stranger following him on a dark night?  Please read my post: Zimmerman Ultimately Killed Martin Because Unknown Young Black Males Were Burglars To Him and Trayvon Martin’s Killer Trolls for More Dollars by Offering to Sell his Signed Autograph, Frederick Leatherman Law Blog and George Zimmerman: Prelude to a shooting, Chris Francescani, April 25, 2012, Reuters

Now Zimmerman denies he chased Martin, and contends he only followed him though Neighborhood Watch regulations strictly forbid such behavior.  He also states that Martin viciously attacked him, for no reason, as he returned to his vehicle (over two minutes after the dispatcher advised him to stop “following” Martin.)  He claims Martin sucker punched him, knocked him down, then slammed his head on the concrete over 12 times.  Then somehow saw his concealed gun in the dark and rain and grabbed it. Only, then did he shot him.

Mr. Cashill not only concludes that the Trayvon Martin’s saga is dead but tells us why….its because George Zimmerman is innocent:

“After the Zimmerman verdict, however, writers and producers have shied from exploring the subject in depth because the facts all lead in the opposite direction, the direction that the media rejected from the beginning, that of Zimmerman’s innocence.”

That’s an absolutely ludicrous statement, not only because it complete ignores Ms. Bloom’s book that “explored the subject in depth”, but because even a cursory examination of the facts plainly leads to Zimmerman’s guilt, as Ms. Bloom concluded.

That’s the problem! That’s precisely why the African-American, civil rights community and anyone who is concerned about fairness is angry at Zimmerman’s acquittal.  They have seen this situation happen before, many times. A white or white Hispanic or Hispanic man kills a black man or teen and contrives a perfectly ridiculous story and a jury of his peers i.e., other non-African-American people, gobble it up regardless of its absurdity! That’s the problem!  A white man’s life and word are worth much more than a black man’s (or boys!).  For example, read Zimmerman acquittal reignites passions over race, justice and the South,  Washington Post, Wil Haygood July 15, 2013

What physical evidence is there to support Zimmerman’s story?  None.  The only physical evidence contradicts his story!

•Zimmerman had injuries but not ones that matched the severity of the attack he described, according to Serino. If Trayvon had been banging Zimmerman’s head on the sidewalk, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer should have had skull fractures, not just cuts, Serino said.

•There were no defensive wounds on Zimmerman’s hands and just one small scrape on a finger of Trayvon’s left hand, Serino said — little evidence of life-and-death struggle.

Zimmerman changes details, makes claims inconsistent with other evidence, 6:22 p.m. EST, June 27, 2012| By Rene Stutzman and Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel

I, other bloggers and journalists have gone over this extensively in numerous previous posts and articles, most of my posts deal with it, most notably George Zimmerman Did Not Kill Trayvon Martin In Self-Defense.  I’ll still offer an overview.

Though, Zimmerman claimed he was punched in the face repeatedly, all he had was a bloody nose (not a broken nose) and some slight swelling. He also had no defensive wounds on his hands. Though he claimed his head was slammed on the concrete over 12 times, he had only 2 slight scrapes on the back of his head, no loss of consciousness or fractured skull. He was perfectly lucid after this “ordeal” and didn’t even require a trip to a doctor. He claimed he only shot Martin because as he was pounding his head on the sidewalk Martin somehow saw and grabbed for his gun (though it was dark and his gun was “concealed”). However, Martin’s body was found several feet from the sidewalk.

The DNA evidence does not support Zimmerman’s story.  With all that punching Martin supposedly did, he had none of Zimmerman’s DNA or blood on his hand or under his fingernails and had only a slight abrasion on one knuckle.  None of Martin’s fingerprints or DNA are on the gun.  Of the 47 stains on Zimmerman’s jacket only two could possibly be attributed to Martin.  Remember Zimmerman claimed Martin fell on top of him after he was shot and he had to push him off.  Read:  George Zimmerman’s DNA problem, Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post,09/30/2012, FLE DNA Report

The biggest problem with the faulty comparison of the O.J. Simpson and Trayvon Martin cases is obvious; how can you compare the aftermath of a case which is 20 years old to one that is only 1 year old?  Absurd, huh?   However, there is a striking similarity between the two, that the author ignores.

The O.J. Simpson jury was composed of a majority of “minority” inhabitants of the inner city, who very suspicious of law enforcement due to many negative interactions with them. When the prosecution made tactical errors (1) requesting that Simpson try on the gloves which did not fit (2) having Det. Furman testify that he had never used the “N” word only to have it shown he had used it many times. The jury seized upon these missteps to conclude (as they were predisposed to believe) that law enforcement planted all the physical evidence of O.J. Simpsons’ guilt. They ignored the substantial circumstantial evidence suggesting Simpson’s guilt and decided he was not guilty, not that he was innocent,  just that the prosecution had not met their burden of proving that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.  

The George Zimmerman jury was half the size but was dominated by 5 white, female inhabitants of suburban enclaves, who had no experience with black persons and considered them suspicious.  Remember the foreperson referring to Trayvon Martin as a “boy of color”.  To her that was his most distinguishing characteristic!  She also wrongfully believed that there had been riots, i.e., blacks are violent! The case was made more difficult by the decision to charge Zimmerman with 2nd degree murder instead of manslaughter. The prosecution was completely inept, and made at least three glaring tactical mistakes (1) putting Zimmerman’s self-serving statements to police and Sean Hannity in evidence thus allowing him to escape cross-examination (2) allowing the defense to use race, i.e. since prior burglars and home invaders were black and Martin was black, it was perfectly reasonable for Zimmerman to suspect him and (3) allowing Det. Serino to get away with “vouching” for Zimmerman’s credibility when he had been very skeptical of his story and had wanted to charge him, first with 2nd Degree Murder and then with Manslaughter.

The jury thus sympathized with George Zimmerman’s concern for his neighborhood and believed the wild notion that a black teenager simply returning from a run to the store, would suddenly and viciously attack and try to murder a stranger who outweighed him by 50 lbs.  Ironically, one of the bedrocks of American and British jurisprudence is that life is valued over property! The jury ignored the contradicting DNA evidence, Zimmerman’s total lack of injuries matching his story, and the testimony of Rachel Jeantel, mainly because she was black.  All this showed that Zimmerman was lying and was never in fear of his life.  You don’t get to kill someone just because they hit you once especially when you provoked the conflict! The George Zimmerman Trial For Dummies, Dr. Kristine Randall, July 10, 2013. They jury found Zimmerman not guilty, which again is not innocent!  Also, please read my post: So Zimmerman Was Found Not Guilty, Juries Can Be “Wrong!” and The prosecution concealed police corruption in Zimmerman trial, Frederick Leatherman Law Blog, Saturday, July 20, 2013

My conclusion is, the ethnic makeup and collected experiences of each of these juries was more instrumental in their not guilty verdicts, than the actual evidence presented.  It’s not shocking!  It’s why there is voir dire and jury consultants are highly paid!

George Zimmerman, was found not guilty, just like O.J. Simpson.  Nobody believes that O.J. Simpson is innocent, yet conservative pundits keep saying that Zimmerman is innocent despite all the evidence that strongly suggests he is not.  They parrot his incredulous story word for word as if it were gospel…as if they were there!  They take great pains to rationalize the many holes in it.

Conservatives and George Zimmerman worshipers can blame the media, but it is they who are attempting to mislead, not the “media”, well at least not the “sinister media”, aka the liberal media.  Black people are not stupid! They saw the trial and the evidence and can easily conclude Zimmerman was guilty notwithstanding the media, conservative or liberal. The jury finding of not guilty?  Well, as Mr. Cashill and American Thinker point out, juries can be wrong!

Trayvon Martin saga is no more dead than Emmett Till’s, which still resonates.