A Few Notes on the Zimmerman Verdict

1. In retrospect, Trayvon Martin, his family, and his supporters never had a chance. When the other side subjects the jury and the media to endless smears, misinformation, and craziness, their chance of winning increases dramatically.

2. Race in America: a white man is free for murdering an innocent black kid, a black women is going to jail for firing a warning shot and not hitting her abusive husband, and the Supreme Court just took away the right to vote from thousands of black people in the South. At least Paula Deen is getting punished...sort of.

3. We shouldn't deny one important reason why Zimmerman was found not guilty. He wasn't not guilty because the prosecution couldn't prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was guilty. No, he was found not guilty because his side had to use racial prejudice to make Trayvon sound like some sort of violent thug. Without prejudice, Trayvon was an innocent kid walking home to enjoy some Skittles and fought back against a creepy stalker who was following him, Zimmerman's defense couldn't allow that, so they turned him into a thug who started the fight. Racism and prejudice are alive today.

4. Zimmerman was never on trial, Trayvon Martin was. He was found guilty on the charge of being black and refusing to know his place and be profiled. Zimmerman just retroactively became the executioner. Nothing is more insulting than telling the friends and family that Martin died as the aggressor. The courts say one thing, but the truth is Zimmerman was wrong to stalk Martin, Martin was right to defend himself and kick his ass, and Zimmerman was wrong to pull out a gun and murder Martin.

5. I think we need to make Trayvon Martin a civil rights hero, you can't reply to the way Martin was demonized with "just a kid buying Skittles." The civil rights battles of the past were the result of normal people just trying to live normal lives. But they became heroes because they stood up to assholes who created stupid and racist laws that prevented them from doing normal things like sitting in a bus or walking home without getting stalked, harassed, and murdered by a bully with a gun. Trayvon Martin should be the face of modern civil rights. As long as racism exists, so should heroes who stand up to racism.

6. I don't want to hear people whine about how Zimmerman's life is ruined, he ended Trayvon's life.