The cause of the Trayvon Martin shooting appears fairly obvious. That is if one and ignores the propaganda coming out of such ignorance- inducing machines as Fox News and MSNBC. Before these cable “news” networks shanghaied the story and chimed in with their endless “concern” (i.e. an opportunity to bend facts to meet party lines) we had a rather cut-and-dry situation that didn’t require an Einstein to figure out.
The facts are clear. Self-appointed vigilante George Zimmerman took it upon himself to become Trayvon Martin’s judge, jury, and in the end, executioner, because he believed that the young man looked “suspicious.” Of course, Zimmerman believes that a great many people look suspicious – a fact ominously evidenced by his nearly 50 phone calls to the police in 2012.
Trayvon was talking on the phone to his girlfriend when he caught the inaccurate eye of this great protector of mankind. This is a valuable bit of evidence since it clearly shows that Trayvon was being stalked, not vice versa, as he was making his way back to his dad’s apartment after a junk food run. It’s also interesting to note that Zimmerman was talking to a police dispatcher during the incident, a person who emphatically told Zimmerman, “We don’t need you to do that,” after he confirmed that he was indeed following the “suspicious-looking” man.
At some point, Zimmerman caught up with Trayvon and some sort of altercation ensued. Now please lean in close. I want the following to jolt your brain waves into full function because certain players in the media are corrupting this into a point of contention. If I were being pursued by an unknown man at night, a hulking form that outweighed me by a full 100 pounds, and he finally cornered me, there’s no telling what I might do to extricate myself from the potentially deadly situation. Whether it be kicking, eye-gouging, testicle mangling, etc., I would do anything and everything in my power to get the bastard off me. I imagine you would do the same. In a “stand your ground” state like Florida, I would not only have this implicit right to defend myself, it would almost be incumbent upon me to take such pre-emptive action to save myself.
Nevertheless, certain factions have now twisted this easy-to-understand response into something that it clearly is not – an indictment of Trayvon and a justification for Zimmerman’s itchy trigger-finger. Bottom line: If Zimmerman hadn’t pursued Trayvon that evening, I wouldn’t be writing this now. It’s an inescapable fact that the punditry can’t dismiss.
Just as bad as Zimmerman’s actions that evening was the abominable misapplication of justice that came after the slaughter. To say that the Sanford, Fla.Police didn’t have probable cause to arrest Zimmerman is asinine in the purest sense of that word.
What more did they need? They knew via fresh police phone records that Zimmerman had stalked the man prior to pulling the trigger. They also knew that Zimmerman was packing “heat” when all that Trayvon was packing was a pack of Skittles. And they were mindful of Zimmerman’s long history of phone calls to them; — reports that made the selfappointed block-watcher look like a wannabe cop at best and seriously paranoid at worst.
So, with all of this evidence at their disposal, did these Keystone Cops arrest Zimmerman? No. Did they drug test him? No. But for some unfathomable reason, they felt it imperative to drug test Trayvon; the young man now lying dead on a slab courtesy of Zimmerman’s pistol. At least not all were blind that night. One Sanford cop went on record saying that he believed Zimmerman should have been held on a manslaughter charge. But his was the lone voice in the wilderness.
Bottom line? Justice will only be served after Zimmerman is arrested and the due process of law is allowed to take effect. The case is no longer in the hands of the Sanford Police Department, so there’s a fair chance that an inherent wrong will be rectified. Only time will tell. For Trayvon’s family, I pray that it comes to pass.
-Jeff Bahr
