Here is what we know:
- We know that The Retreat, the gated community Zimmerman lived in and Trayvon died in, reported eight burglaries, nine thefts (I don’t know the difference) in twelve months, creating an “atmosphere of fear.”
- We know George Zimmerman had a license to carry a firearm and was elected to neighborhood watch.
- We also know that at age twenty-one Zimmerman assaulted a police officer and resisted arrest.
- We know George Zimmerman made a 911 call at 7:09 PM, stated there was a suspicious character, lost sight of the character and ended the call at 7:15PM
- We know Trayvon Martin was dead when officer Timothy Smith arrived at the scene at approximately 7:17 PM
- We know Trayvon Martin had been suspended from school three times.
- We know Trayvon had a history with marijuana.
- We know Trayvon was visiting his father and soon-to-be-stepmother.
- We know Trayvon was wearing a hoodie.
- We know....
- We know....
- We know....
Those are the “facts.” Probably not even the facts, but its what most of us are working with. What we don’t know is that these facts mean. When added all up does Zimmerman’s innocence make sense? Does the color of Trayvon’s skin mean that, at Gary Younge put it, “it’s open season on black boys?” How does this damage racial relations on a local, national, or global level? Some of my most brilliant peers had so many insightful theories and points to make, all of which did absolutely nothing to soothe my madness.
I didn’t get much sleep. I went to bed too angry, wondering how there is no justice in our nation (or at least Florida). I kept thinking and thinking and getting angrier and angrier until I fell asleep in a pile of my own sweat. When I woke up I was angry anymore, but deeply saddened.
Okay. Let’s play a infuriating game that will most likely make you stop reading right now if you didn’t stop after my first paragraph. That game is called “Let’s Say.”
Let’s say Trayvon Martin had been the perfect student. A real goddamn role model. He was a straight A student, captain of the basketball team, and Secretary in ASB (it’s the 3rd highest position, not someone who answers phones). Let’s say his parents didn’t divorce when he was four. In his spare time he pursued little old ladies, and instead of shooting them he helped them across the street. Would Zimmerman been able to know all these things when Trayvon walked by wearing a hoodie at 7:12 PM in the pouring rain? Perhaps Trayvon always wore a hoodie when studying for AP Chemistry or applying to out of state schools (he kind of wants to get away from home, you know?), or usually he wore a smart looking blazer, it would mean jack shit to Zimmerman BECAUSE IT WAS FUCKING RAINING!!!!!! WEARING A HOODIE WITH THE HOOD UP WOULD BE SOMETHING YOU’D WEAR IN THE GODDAMN RAIN!
Okay. Sorry. Back to the game.
Let’s also ask ourselves if Trayvon Martin had been a caucasian male named Collin Halpern if Zimmerman would have still pursued? Would he have let the minor know he was simply an neighborhood patrol volunteer with a license to carry a fire arm, by the way may I ask you what you’re doing? Would he have even called the police and gripe "these assholes, they always get away”?
Let’s say “yes” to all of these questions. He would have pursued when he had been told “We don’t need you to do that.” Let’s say he would have engaged with Collin. And let’s even say he would have shot him should Collin have resisted him. Is Zimmerman still found innocent when we all feel he should be guilty? Are his reasons for suspecting Trayvon to be a potential threat just as valid for suspecting Collin to be that same exact threat? Maybe Collin isn’t wearing a hoodie, but a beige parka instead. And instead of walking head down with his hands in his pockets (IN THE FUCKING RAIN!) he’s gleefully skipping. Instead of getting Skittles he got a Baby Ruth.
Okay......uhmmm.....yes....he would still be found innocent. If Trayvon Martin hadn’t been a seventeen year old black male wearing a hoodie going out into the rain on February 26th, 2012 for some Skittles, but instead been Collin Halpern, a seventeen year old caucasian male wearing a beige parka going out into the rain on February 26th, 2012 to get a Baby Ruth instead, Zimmerman would still be considered an innocent man and able to walk free. What if it were a Hispanic girl named Pamela.....okay, fuck it, we can do this all day. Let’s give Zimmerman, the state of Florida, and the juror’s the benefit of the doubt because we’re goddamn insane people. It had nothing to do with race or gender or anything other than a suspicious person lurking in a gated community.
Collin Halpern would still be dead. Trayvon Martin is still dead.
This is the part I have difficulty putting into words....it isn’t a game where we can swap out all the contributing factors as we see fit. It’s real life. When it’s all boiled down to it’s purest, simplest form: a young man was shot to death by another man with a gun. His friends won’t be able to chew the fat with him anymore, or lose touch and call him up years later to “see how he’s doing.” His parents won’t see him go to college or get married or have children or watch him become the man they one day dreamed he would be. Trayvon Martin is now a symbolic figure to many people, a source of strength and inspiration to change how we view color and gun laws....but before he was any of those things he was just a kid.
In the wake of the trial Zimmerman’s guilt went to being the only thing I cared about to one of my last concerns. Anyone can tell you that one’s character can’t be judged in the blink of an eye. That same person can also tell you that if your finger is on a trigger a life can be ended in that very same blink. Trayvon could have been stealing a blu-ray player from a seven year-old orphan with cancer, Zimmerman had no right to shoot him. Zimmerman has no right to shoot anyone.
I’m sorry if I misled any of you into thinking I have an actual point I’d like to get across. I don’t. If you held a gun to my head my point would be guns are scary as fuck and lives are fragile as, well, fuck too, I guess. I just know that last night I had a fantasy of being one of the jurors who sent Zimmerman to the Phantom Zone (Superman exists in this fantasy) for 30 million years and calling it justice. And when I woke up this morning I didn’t want to dream of a world where Zimmerman gunned down Trayvon Martin in cold blood and was found guilty by a jury of his peers, I wanted to dream of a world where Zimmerman couldn’t have done such a thing in the first place.
.JPG)
