Strong opinions about Trayvon Martin's murder

[Tommy_Carcetti]

42. Oh, don't get me wrong, racism is very much a part of the case.

All I'm saying here is that, with a few exceptions, we've moved on from the days of in-your-face blind hatred racism to a more subtle, "dog whistle" type of racism. And the latter, while far less noticeable, is just as, if not more, disturbing.

For the record, I don't think George Zimmerman was thinking that night, "I'm gonna shoot myself a n______r." That's just not evidence in the record. While some have tried to claim similarities in this case to Emmett Till, it's very much a different case.

What I believe Zimmerman was thinking was that he was the "good guy with the gun," that he believed he was going to be the one to stop any crime in the neighborhood, and he stereotypically associated crime with young, black males, thus any young black male was a perceived threat. The last part is clearly where the racism lies. I don't think he got out of the car with the stated intention of shooting and killing Trayvon (hence no 1st degree charge), but I believe he was a highly volatile and combative personality (as evidenced by his 2005 arrest for battery on a police officer). And you combine highly volatile and combative personalities with guns, and bad things happen. I don't believe for a second he was "ambushed" by Trayvon as he claims. My best guess is that he approached Trayvon on his own accord, angry words were exchanged and it deteriorated into a physical fight, and Zimmerman being volatile and combative pulled out his gun and shot Trayvon. However, by his own reckless behavior and callous disregard for human life, he placed himself in that situation and should not be shielded by the affirmative defense of self-defense. At a very minimum he deserves a manslaughter conviction, and I believe a second-degree murder conviction is warranted as well.

But racism comes in different forms. There's the KKK and Neo-Nazi form, which thankfully I believe is on the wane. And then there's soft bigotry, which is scarier because it draws in people who appear to be less perverse and more "normal." Take for example the people who wanted to deny the permit to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York because they think it is "insensitive" to the 9-11 victims. That's bigotry right there, disguised as sympathy but attributing the worst in other people just because who they are.

Seeing a young black male walking alone at night and automatically thinking that he is up to no good may be different than seeing a young black male walking at night and wanting to string him from a tree, but as this case shows, it can be just as deadly.