George Zimmerman, the "white Hispanic" who was acquitted last year of murdering teenager Trayvon Martin in a case that drew worldwide attention, is in the news again.
If you've read my blog posts about the Zimmerman/Martin case you'll know that I initially believed the media reports that Zimmerman stalked Martin that cold, rainy night and shot him for no valid reason. Then, as real facts were revealed, such as the unaltered 911 recording, Martin's history and true size, Zimmerman's very real injuries, etc., I realized that he was most likely telling the truth about what happened. Working as a neighborhood watch captain, he followed Martin through the neighborhood because of some recent burglaries in his gated community. Martin was a stranger and Zimmerman wanted to see what he was up to. He called 911 and reported Martin as a suspicious character.
NBC employees altered the recording of that call to make it sound like Zimmerman was stalking a black teenager - which was revealed not to be true when the actual audiotape was released. NBC apologized and fired an employee over the incident but the damage had been done. The case became a racial issue immediately and it still is.
Because of his name, Zimmerman was immediately labeled as white, which fueled the racial issue. When it was discovered he was actually Hispanic, some media outlets, intent on continuing the racial aspect to increase racial division and keep the story at the top of the news, labeled him as a "white Hispanic".
Eventually, after months of racial outrage led by the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, and an investigation by a special prosecutor (who's ethics were questioned after the trial) the case went to court. The prosecutors couldn't prove their case. It was rumored that they didn't even want to take it to trial.
George Zimmerman was found not guilty by a jury. Though his life would never be normal again, he was a free man.
Flash forward to September of this year. George Zimmerman's now ex-wife called police and said he was breaking things and had pointed a gun at her and her father and threatened them. The police responded but could find no sufficient evidence of illegal activity and his wife refused to press charges.
Then, just one week ago, Zimmerman's current girlfriend called police and said he was breaking things and had pointed a gun toward her face and threatened her. This time he was arrested and charged but the girlfriend refused to follow up and the case was dropped.
To me it appears that George Zimmerman has a problem. I still don't believe he killed Trayvon Martin out of malice or for racial reasons but I am beginning to believe, as others have said in the past, that the gun Zimmerman carries makes him more brave than he really is and that it makes him do stupid things. I now can't help but wonder if he'd have followed Martin into the night had he not been armed. Threatening domestic partners with it makes him seem unstable - which could have been a part of what happened the night he killed Martin.
Of course, this is mere speculation on my part. But Zimmerman's repeated contact with police over gun issues gives cause to think about it. Some have predicted that sooner or later George Zimmerman will end up in jail for something. I'm starting to agree with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment