The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Wattree's picture

    The Zimmerman Verdict - A Return to Jim Crow “Justice”

    By Wattree on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 2:03pm |

    Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

     

    The Zimmerman Verdict - A Return to Jim Crow "Justice"
    .
    The Zimmerman verdict was a return to Jim Crow justice. The ONLY solid evidence in this case was that Zimmerman stalked, approached, and killed an innocent Black child. That was proven. Everything else was simply the word of a murderer trying to justify his crime.
    .
    We didn't have to prove that Zimmerman murdered Trayvon. That was a fact already in evidence. Thus, it was then up to ZIMMERMAN to prove that there were mitigating circumstances that justified his committing the crime, otherwise, he would have simply gone to jail for murdering a child.
    .
    Thus, the case boiled down to who the jury chose to believe, a murderer trying to get off the hook, or their lying eyes, and due to their racist attitudes toward Black males, they chose to believe the murderer - in spite of the fact that every act he engaged in prior to the murder was improper. So it was a racist verdict - period.
    .
    To all those who are trying to bend reality and common sense by saying that the jury merely followed the law and jury instructions and came to a completely objective and color-blind verdict, I simply say the following. If that were indeed the case, it would be a matter of record that Black people and Whites get equal justice under the law, but every statistical study ever done on our judicial system clearly shows that’s not the case.
    .
    All laws and jury instructions are open to interpretation. That's why we have juries. In this case, this jury, chose to believe that Fred Flintstone actually existed and graduated from Yale in the Spring of 21000 B.C., and every non-racist, clear-thinking in America knows that, so you might as well stop trying to debate this issue.
    .
    By trying to justify this blatantly racist atrocity, and claiming that anyone who doesn’t want to accept the ridiculous justification for this murder and verdict is race-baiting, your merely making our case regarding the continuing strain of racism that's so pervasive in this country. Because such an argument is the height of racist arrogance, and it's an insult to the intelligence of anyone with common sense. It’s the murder and verdict that’s race-baiting.
    .
    In essence, what racists and the obsequious idiots who follow them expect us to believe is Zimmerman was found not guilty because an innocent dead child failed to prove that he had a right to live. That argument is as stupid as it gets. It's a throwback to the Jim Crow era when bigots used to be acquitted on the grounds that "the nigga forced us to lynch him."  So if you embrace that rationale, you’re either stupid, or a racist.
    .
    Eric L. Wattree
    Http://wattree.blogspot.com
    [email protected]
    Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
    .
    Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

    Comments

    Obama just gave a heartfelt view of the Trayvon Martin case.


    by rmrd0000 on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 7:39pm

    Thanks for the link, I especially liked point #3 The damn Congress creates an environment of a "dog eat dog world" then wonders why folks are attacking one another. With the attitude "Ive got mine, now go get yours" 


    by Resistance on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 11:40pm

    .


    by Resistance on Fri, 07/19/2013 - 11:45pm

    It just got to me that Chris Mathews echoed me in the last couple of days:

     

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/19/chris-matthews-apologizes-black...

     

    Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    He had Steele and this Black Exec from MSNBC on his show and he apologized.

    He apologized for 'how things are'.

    You acknowledged my comment of course! 

    You told me not to apologize.

    SOMEBODY HAS TO APOLOGIZE TO SOMEBODY FOR SOMETHING!

    hahahahahah

    Steele and the exec and all these Black Folks are coming out and relating their own experience of being a Black Male in a white universe.

    I am proud of my President.

    I am proud that this country has demonstrated, by a real majority twice in the last five years that we as a country are proud of our heroes Black or White.

    This is a great nation. We can elect a Black President and a female Speaker and we can witness some of the greatest House Members of all time; Black or White or female or whatever.

    But my son has lost track of some of his old friends due to the birth of his daughter.

    And he talks about his Black buddies in the Twin Cities; a bastion of Civil Rights really.

    Well, Seany never got stopped for anything and his 'minority' friends (middle class and upper middle class) would be stopped all the frickin time.

    And he knew it and his friends knew it and that just is the way things are!

    And all these important Black commenters on cable all give the same story.

    And I read about Hannity and Rush and all these bastards in denial and attacking my President for one of his best 'off the cuff' pronouncements this week; and it makes me sick!

    President Obama just shined at that impromptu press conference this week; just shined like some beacon for sanity.

    I am left with this:

     

     

     


    by Richard Day on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 3:06am

    There are White people who were much more upset about the verdict than. I was. There is a realization that Black life means very little. If you complain about the situation, you are playing the race card. I watched Bill Mahrer and watched two pathetic examples of modern White male Conservative in denial about race in the United States. Their reaction to openly gay Dan Savage was classic.You could see the revulsion on their faces.

    Laws have been put on the books that allowed an unarmed teenager to be murdered. Some people who decry the use of drones to kill innocents are applauding the murder as a glorious example of the law working. Most good-,hearted people know that the justice system failed.


    by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 9:45am

    Yes.  I understand that it is impossible to consider the jury as innocent props and nothing more--they are living thinking people who should be able to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time.  Of course.

    But we need to come to grips with a far more important point, which is how the system has been manipulated, once again, at the expense of African Americans.  I appreciate that the president tried so hard and with such candor to explain to the rest of us how this is viewed in the African American community, but in truth I can only imagine how it feels.

     

     


    by Bruce Levine on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 10:17am

    Blacks are told to get over the slights that they face on a daily basis.we are told that everyone has problems.The difference is that the slights that Blacks face can get them killed.  President Obama had to show his birth certificate. This is insanity.

    It may be that Blacks as a group may be less shocked by NSA surveillance because they are used to being watched when walking down the street, driving a nice car, browsing the aisles of department stores and frisked on the streets of NYC. 

    If an innocent life can be taken and the death justified, then a green light is given to incinerating the 16 old son looking for his father using a drone strike. Rand Paul would not stand up for Trayvon Martin. Paul repeatedly hires racists. When you tell me that I should support Rand Paul's stance on drones, I will say that you are delusional. Blacks are not obligated to support a racist. Attempting to whitewash the racism by championing Paul's position on drones sullies the efforts of other people fighting the make the random use of drones a thing of the past. Paul's racism is part and parcel of the man,A filibuster still leaves us with a racist.

    Blacks are supposed to be hurting over the death of Trayvon Martin, to do otherwise would be pathologic.


    by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 10:30am

    Neither the U.S. as a country and culture nor the Zimmerman case are as cut-and-dried black and white as you and Wattree constantly proclaim. Now as part of a response saying that it is that way, you bring in this:

    If an innocent life can be taken and the death justified, then a green light is given to incinerating the 16 old son looking for his father using a drone strike. Rand Paul would not stand up for Trayvon Martin. Paul repeatedly hires racists. When you tell me that I should support Rand Paul's stance on drones, I will say that you are delusional. Blacks are not obligated to support a racist. Attempting to whitewash the racism by championing Paul's position on drones sullies the efforts of other people fighting the make the random use of drones a thing of the past.

    That statement is completely void of any coherent logic. The jury verdict did not 'justify' the killing of Martin and few white Americans are so stupid as to do so either, but your hero, Obama, has justified his killing of colored U.S. citizens without any due process, though he didn't make being colored part of the justification.

     So it is, by your logic, Obama who has been given a green light to kill innocent 'others' because of the existence of racism in America and you say that the idea of turning that light to red is out the window because of some political stunt by Rand Paul. Delusional.

     The drone strike that killed that 16 year old was not random in any way. It was not in any way comparable to an incident where two people have become involved in a personal incident which escalates to a fight and one is killed. In a meeting where it is reported that evidence was  studied and the pro's and cons of the strike were deliberated, a conscious decision was made by your hero to kill that 16 year old colored boy, a boy who looked, as our President so eloquently put it in a different context, much like a boy child of his own might look. Would you suggest that Obama's decision was totally about, and because of, race? 


    by A Guy Called LULU on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 12:45pm

    Part of my comment is quite legitimately arguable. I said, "The jury verdict did not 'justify' the killing of Martin and few white Americans are so stupid as to do so either, ... ...".

     The jury did in a sense justify the killing and many do agree with the verdict but I was thinking of the bigger picture. I believe that most white Americans agree that a tragic thing happened which should not have.


    by A Guy Called LULU on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 1:41pm

    There have been multiple articles about Black parents discussing the meaning of the the Zimmerman verdict on the value of the life of their Black child.There are marches today I multiple cities because of the fear the country has instilled in Black families just like fear was instilled in the Jim Crow days I am sorry that you do not see that. Most White Americans were either not paying much attention to the trial or tired of hearing about Trayvon Martin. The issue was important enough for the President of the United States to tell White people how the Black community was hurting because of the verdict.

    Yes, because Rand Paul is a racist, I will not lend him support in anything there are a host of other good- hearted people who are willing to address the issue of drones. I value the life of Trayvon Martin, I value the life of the 16 year old who was searching for his father. I value the life of the friend of the Tsarnaev brother who ran into bullets and died of lead poisoning.

    It appears that shifts are being made in how the drones are deployed. I would have liked to have heard the President address the issue in detail in a speech, but his speech on the issue of drones was repeatedly interrupted by a rude, wide-eyed open mouthed White woman who would not shut up long enough to let Obama speak.you may be unaware of how angry many in the Black community felt because of the loudmouth protester. But the Black community is tired of being told that our logic is flawed or about our lack of understanding. We reject this type of dismissal whether it comes from the Right or the Left. 

    We can agree that the issue of drones needs to be addressed. We will not support the racist or the loudmouth. Neither the racist or the loudmouth will actually get anything accomplished, so the country loses very little in rejecting them.

    you will not understand the need for the Trayvon Martin vigils. You will not understand why Blacks simply cannot accept a racist like Rand Paul. You cannot understand the disrespect the Black community felt when they heard Medea Benjamin yelling non-stop. It is not important that you understand.There are enough people of all races who understand.

    BTW, I prefer my hero as you put it to your racist hero, Rand Paul.

    There is another trial dealing with the murder of another unarmed Black male in Florida.The dead child's name is Jordan Davis. You probably haven't heard of him. We will see what message the country sends to theBlack community if the cas goes to trial.It may be that the child sitting unarmed in a parked car was enough of a threat that Stand Your Ground will be used to get a dismissal.

     


    by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 5:58pm

    his speech on the issue of drones was repeatedly interrupted by a rude, wide-eyed open mouthed White woman who would not shut up long enough to let Obama speak.you may be unaware of how angry many in the Black community felt because of the loudmouth protester. You cannot understand the disrespect the Black community felt when they heard Medea Benjamin yelling non-stop.

    Really? Was the black community equally upset by Medea Benjamin's heckling of Condelezza Rice, Bush, Wayne LaPierre, and Donald Rumsfeld? Were they angry about Benjamin's heckling of Bush or just Obama? Did the black community feel disrespected  when Benjamin heckled Condelezza Rice?

    Heckling as a form of protest is somewhat common in our society. Some feel its one of our cherished freedoms guaranteed in the first amendment. Does the black community have a different interpretation of the first amendment than the white community? Does the black community feel all  heckling wrong or just when a white person heckles a black person? Is it wrong for a white person to heckle a white person?  Is it wrong for a black person to heckle a white person? Is it wrong for a black person to heckle a black person?


    by ocean-kat on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 8:35pm

    What I am pointing out and what some of the posts by some here have amplified is that there are different viewpoints by some Progressives and much of the Black community on a variety of issues.

    In general, there is much less support for figures like Ralph Nader and Cornel West. Nader is know as the guy who called Obama an Uncle Tom. Yes, Nader did say that we would have to see if Obama would be an Uncle Tom, but the use of the label sticks to Nader. West is seen as a constant critic with nothing of value to offer. The inability of some Progressives to acknowledge or respect this point of view in the Black community could strain relationships. Blacks do not accept any obligation to view Nader and West as heroes.

    When Madea Benjamin starts yelling at Obama imagery of old slights by Whites scolding Blacks rushes forward.Blacks do not have to apologize for having these feelings, they were ingrained by experience. Benjamin is free to yell, but she has to realize how it may appear in the Black community.If she feels no need to explain her behavior, he is in essence saying that she doesn't care how Blacks feel, she is going to just do her thing.Blacks find that unacceptable.

    When Michelle Obama was confronted by a heckler, the Black community applauded when Michelle challenged the heckler.Medea Benjamin felt it her duty to write a column instructing Michelle on the proper way to respond to a heckler, there was pushback from the Black community. CodePink actually apologized for the impression sent by Madea Benjamin's article. CodePink did not want to appear tone deaf.

    The President addressed the pain the Black community felt over the Trayvon Martin case, Black parents are consoling their children who view the not guilty verdict as being told that there lives are worthless. They see how easily they can be portrayed as thugs and are rightfully fearful. That is why there were vigils in multiple cities in response to the acquittal.

    Blacks have had the Voting Rights Act gutted. They have seen a child murderer go free. They remain more supportive of a wide range of Progressive issues than most Whites. Eighty percent of the "homophobic" Black community voted for the Presidential candidate supporting Gay marriage despite GWBush's Faith Outreach Program.

    Blacks have different life experiences that are to be respected.We are not obligated to be in lockstep with Progressives have to understand and deal with sources of discontent with the behavior that Blacks see in some Progressives.

    the justice system failed Trayvon Martin the Black community is hurting. Our President had to show his birth certificate and now someone heckles an important speech? Not toady.


    by rmrd0000 on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 10:12pm

    In the discussions here on the Zimmerman/Martin case I've agreed with your posts 95% of the time. But you've gone too far here. Obama has had speeches interrupted by black protesters. Was that ok? Or is it just that white people aren't allowed to protest black people? Laura Bush frequently had her speeches interrupted by protesters. Michelle Obama just has to get used to it, its a simple fact of American life. Pelosi was heckled by Benjamin. If Benjamin was focused on just protesting black politicians I'd see your point, it would most likely be racist. But by far she heckles white politicians and she has been far harder on Bush and Rumsfeld than she ever has on Obama.

    Your hurt feelings don't give you the right to quash Benjamin's or anyone's free speech rights. Obama does not get a pass from protests or heckling because he's black or because the black community might get its feelings hurt. Its absolutely outrageous to suggest that black politicians are exempt from the quite common and normal types of protests that white politicians face all the time.


    by ocean-kat on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 11:19pm

    Nothing I have said prevents Benjamin from protesting. I gave my opinion and I shared the opinion expressed by others in the incident with Michelle Obama. CodePink issued an apology. CodePink thought that they had crossed a line. I provided links pointing out the sequence of events. Many Black women had a negative opinion of the Michelle Obama heckler and the Medea Benjamin guide.that is simply a fact.

    I did a very quick you tube search on Medea Benjamin and other figures banners were held up at the NRA Newtown conference. When she confronted Condi Rice she had a banner and held up a peace sign. I'll continue may search tomorrow.Perhaps she was more vocal at the RNC or with Dick Cheney.

     


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 12:25am

    From Democracy Now, Medea Benjamin was 20 feet away from Dick Cheney at the 2004 RNC.She unfurled a Banner protesting the war in Iraq. When she was being carried out of the building, she asked Cheney how much money he had made on the war. Like Insaid I'll continue to looks or the non-stop yelling that was displayed at the Barack Obama speech. Thus far , the yelling that I have seen occurred went she was being removed.


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 12:35am

    If you think Barack or Michelle have been heckled more than other politicians you just haven't been paying attention. Bush was heckled 9 times by different people during one 10 minute speech. Each time the police removed one protester another stood up.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/04/bush-heckled-during-4th-o_n_110...

    Tag team protests like that are pretty common. Here's Benjamin and another code pink member heckling Rumsfeld.

    The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq was arrested Thursday after interrupting a campaign speech by first lady Laura Bush. As police hauled her away, she shouted, "Police brutality."

    Wearing a T-shirt with the message "President Bush You Killed My Son," Sue Niederer of nearby Hopewell screamed questions at the first lady as the audience tried to drown her out by chanting, "Four more years! Four more years!"

    http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/09/17/bush.protester/index.html

    I could go on and on and on. I guess you just don't pay attention unless its a black politician being heckled.


    by ocean-kat on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 2:51am

    Unless those same black women were just as upset when Laura Bush was heckled, or Bush or Rumsfeld were heckled they're hypocrites and I don't care how upset they are. We can have a dialog about how appropriate these types of protests are but you're clearly saying that its wrong to heckle just black politicians. That about the most outrageous bullshit I've heard in years.


    by ocean-kat on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 3:08am

    I commented on what you actually said to begin with.

    When you tell me that I should support Rand Paul's stance on drones, I will say that you are delusional.

     Now you say you will not support Rand Paul. That is a distinctly different statement.

     You cannot understand the disrespect the Black community felt when they heard Medea Benjamin yelling non-stop.

    No, I cannot understand that. She was yelling about a specific issue and what she was yelling about had nothing to do with Obamas race so I don't understand why it was felt to be particularly insulting to "the Black community". And, Obama politely responded and with a claim of respect for Benjamin's heckling questions and claims and after a short while she was removed. Nobody held a watch on the President's speech, he got to say everything he wanted to say. He got as much detail in as he wanted to or was willing to.

    BTW, I prefer my hero as you put it to your racist hero, Rand Paul.

     Calling Rand Paul my hero is totally baseless and totally wrong. Calling him my racist hero is insulting and ignorant and might piss me off except I am coming to wonder if you understand standard American English.


    by A Guy Called LULU on Sat, 07/20/2013 - 10:14pm

    Medea Benjamin held up a banner at Wayne LaPierre's conference on the Newtown shooting. Benjamin was arrested for holding up a banner and displaying a two finger peace sign when protesting Condi Rice. She said nothing. Benjamin continually interrupted my hero Obama and yes she was treated politely by the President. It was so polite that some thought that Benjamin was a plant.

    Medea Benjamin took it upon herself to issue a guide on handling hecklers to Michelle Obama. That guide did not go over well. The heckler also received a backlash.Code Pink apologized for Benjamin's action.

    Obama's drone policy is stricter than Rand Paul's. I reject Rand Paul and his drone policy that would allow armed drones in the United States.

    You are correct that connecting you to Rand Paul was over the top.I apologize.


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 12:01am

    You are a gentleman and I would like to buy you a beer.


    by A Guy Called LULU on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 12:38am

    I would suggest an o'douls. Beer and politics/religion don't mix.


    by Resistance on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 12:56am

    Thanks, a good glass of a Zinfandel would be great. Hops and I never agreed.


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 8:58am

    Here's a summary of the Zimmerman case you might find interesting.

    Kinda points to what the case did or did not prove.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 4:00am

    And Bob Somerby highlights the dishonest way of framing this case over and over that makes it pretty useless to even discuss.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 4:16am

    The outrage is that the Stand Your Ground law was in the books in the first place. The law made the murder of Trayvon Martin legal. People have a  right to be upset. Jim Crow laws were legal. Imprisonment of the Japanese in World War II was legal. It is very likely that data - mining by the NSA is legal.Ceertain laws should be challenged.

    The Daily Howler acts as if the CNN segment was the only comment the Black community heard about Trayvon Martin's death and the law. The President of the United States of America said that the Stand Your Ground laws needed to be reviewed. Attorney General Eric Holder spoke about the need to consider changing laws. The outrage is about what is legal.

    Trayvon Martin's parents spoke at a vigil .The vigil mourned the loss of Trayvon and noted the need to change Stand Your Ground laws that were the backbone of the self-defense law that allowed Zimmerman to go free.

    I am sorry that Digby tuned in to Crowley and CNN. The statements of public officials about the problem with what was legal got missed. We are happy that Digby feels compelled to educate us dumb darkies about what is legal in Florida.


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 8:57am

      If the Constitution is the test of what is legal, Jim Crow and the internment of Japanese-Americans were not legal.


    by Aaron Carine on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 11:03am

    Where is this Digby crap coming from? Bob Somerby is not Digby. They are two different people who run two different sites and have two very different points of view on this issue.


    by ocean-kat on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 4:45pm

    Sorry for the error


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 5:27pm

    Thanks. That is a good summary even with its obvious bias of tone. Andrew Branca, the author, sounds like he would like to have the chance to make any emotional pleas to the jury for Zimmerman's innocence. That is not an automatic criticism from my point of view, I like [honest] reporting that tries to prove a point.
     Here is my own evolution of thought on the case. I'm counting on memory referring to the early days but I am fairly confident of my first impressions and first expressions.
     I immediately judged Zimmerman to be a jerk, a coward, and an instigator. I said some things that if said to his face in public rather than annonymously here at Dag, and if the concept of 'fighting words' was in play, might have justified him to take a swing at me. I also said though, at the very beginning, that I did not see how he could be convicted of murder but that manslaughter was probably an appropriate charge. I am now completely confident that I would have voted as a juror for aquittal. There are just too many areas of reasonable doubt and too few areas of confident belief about Zimmerman's actions which would make him guilty under the law. I could not send a person to finish their life in a cage without confidence in their guilt. I would not want to be a juror. Any defense attorney would want me to be one.  
    If I was now asked to vote as a juror on whether Zimmerman is a jerk, a coward, and an instigator, the direction I still lean towards, I would probably now have to conclude that the story that caused me to jump to my early conclusions, and so also those conclusions themselves,  has also been cast with some measure of reasonable doubt.
     


    by A Guy Called LULU on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 10:02am

    What Digby misses is the use of the legal system to impinge on rights. Juror B37 stated that she knew that George Zimmerman's heart was in the right place. B37's bias is legal. Stand Your Ground supported the Florida self-defense law. Murder is legal.

    Coupled with this law is the refusal of legislators to vote in favor of background checks despite the support of background checks in the general public. Legislator inactivity is legal.

    State legislators working to close women's health care centers is legal. inactivity on immigration law is legal. The gutting of the Voting Rights Act is legal.

    There is no reason to celebrate everything that is legal.


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 10:35am

    There is no reason to celebrate everything that is legal.

    I have tried to make the same point over other issues and have gone further over and over. And over. And over. There is no reason to even respect everything that is legal because of some of the ways the laws and the system are sometimes used to deliberately deny or thwart justice. Or to deliberately inflict whatever is the opposite of justice.

     The higher the authority abusing the law the more significant that abuse is. Would you agree?


    by A Guy Called LULU on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 11:09am

    I agree within limits. The local Florida law has a direct impact on how local Florida Blacks teens feel about the value of their lives. The Stop and Frisk law has a more direct impact in creaing feelings of humiliation and hatred of the police than things done at a national level. 24-30 states have some form of Stand Your Ground laws.

    The laws covering surveillance, drone use, Gitmo imprisonment, etc all deserve review if that's what you are getting at.


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 07/21/2013 - 12:20pm