After the killing of Trayvon, the police of Sanford, Florida had no intentions of charging George Zimmerman with any crime. If you remember, he was questioned by the police and released. After Trayvon’s family and others refused to let this tragedy go unnoticed, the national media slowly and reluctantly began to give coverage to the case. Black people all over America and beyond took to the streets, to social media and every other venue to protest the killing of Trayvon and to demand justice. Black people were very emotional over the death of Trayvon and that is both a good and a bad thing.
I believe that without question, the only reason Mr. Zimmerman was finally arrested was due to the non-stop protests and demands of the black community. So the powers that be made a conscience decision to arrest George Zimmerman to quell the protests and pacify those who wanted an arrest. However, I don’t believe there was ever a commitment on the part of the police, the prosecutors or white people in general to see a white man go to jail for killing a young black man, especially one who has been portrayed as a thug by some in the media.
White policemen have never shown any respect for black life, especially that of black males. Black males are routinely shot by white law enforcement officers and those officers are nearly always exonerated by claiming that the black man was posing some type of threat. So to think that the same white policemen would commit themselves to vigorously seeking evidence to arrest and convict George Zimmerman, a white man of murdering the very same black males that they themselves justify killing all the time is beyond reasonable thinking on the part of black people.
Furthermore, to think that white prosecutors, the same prosecutors who always seem to find the actions of white policemen justified when killing black males would be committed to sending George Zimmerman to jail is preposterous. George Zimmerman was arrested to pacify black people and soothe our emotional pain, but they never intended for him to go to prison.
The prosecution intentionally put on one of the weakest cases I have ever seen. Since when have you seen a trial where nearly every prosecution witness scores points for the defense? Do you really believe the prosecution didn’t know what their witnesses would say? You think they didn’t know that the policemen called for the prosecution would help the defense? Of course, they did! Also, how could the prosecution agree to a six member jury with five of the jurors being white in a trial with such strong racial issues?
Back to our emotions. Emotional outrage can only be sustained for so long. It’s like a crying baby, eventually the baby will cry him or herself to sleep. The goal is simply to let black people vent for a while, then quiet us with an arrest. It is a tactic that has worked successfully in the past.
Now that Zimmerman has been found, "not guilty," the prosecution and policemen can simply say, “well, we tried.”
But the fact of the matter is that they didn't try. The prosecutors intentionally blew the case. They and the policemen collectively worked together to ensure that the jury would have no alternative but to find Zimmerman not guilty. We have witnessed white folks conspiring together to protect one of their own. Did the prosecution, policemen, defense lawyers and judge meet in some secret place and agree to free Zimmerman? Of course not. There was no need to do that.
The white people referenced in the Zimmerman case have an inherent disrespect for black life and therefore they all knew that Trayvon's life did not warrant a white man losing his freedom. So conscious and unconscious decisions were made not to vigorously prosecute George Zimmerman.
White supremacy is maintained because white people in positions of power, as were the prosecutors, policemen and judge in the Zimmerman case work together to maintain white power and to keep black people in inferior positions. We can't expect justice from a system that is unjust at its very core.
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