Two thoughts: I don't mind living in a society where Zimmerman isn't convicted, but that society better also afford that not guilty vote in similar cases involving any combination of race/ethnicity/money/whatever. I know we don't have that, so the real focus should be on making sure every black guy who tells a story the prosecution can't disprove gets the same trust. And that relates to my second point: our legal system can't cover everything without creepy 1984 stuff. It's absolutely possible to do fucked up things and get away with it. Don't do bad things and work toward a society where no one wants/needs to.
I mean what's to say? I'm glad we have jury trials and a kid who had done nothing wrong was gunned down for no good reason. I don't know what the alternative to this kind of justice is. I wasn't in the jurors seats, I don't know the facts that were raised at trial and I don't envy them for the duty that has been imposed upon them. I know that being a parent has changed how I perceive these kinds of things. I would have been more outraged before I had a child, now that I have one it's just a lot more sad. Sorrow has taken part of my outrage. I just got off shift from an event that was about 95% black patrons, Trayvon was on everyones minds. Beyond the outrage and disgust was a fear for their own kids, it seems well merited.
There's an odd, seemingly not reconcilable, intersection here between rule of law and injustice. On the one hand, rule of law is what separates civility from non-civility; that is, I think one of the best things about the first world is the ideal that the law is above any individual. In that sense, maybe the system "worked". So long as the trial was fair and the jurors followed the law, what can we do? On the other hand, one of the basic tenets of civil society from the times the first laws were written (and probably before) is that murder is against the law. In my book, killing an unarmed kid for no reason than he looked 'suspicious' (read: 'black') is murder. I don't know how else it can be seen. If indeed the law was followed in this case, the natural thing to do is change the law. Obviously, we can't live in a world where it is permissible to kill innocent kids. Who knows what the intent of the law was when it was written, as it was obviously written by backwoods goobers who think that "standing one's ground" is as American as it comes, but this case represents the absurd results that this type of law can produce. I don't want any kid to be murdered senselessly, but it would be interesting to see a similar case in which the pursuer/murderer was black and the victim was not. I'm not sure such a case would have even made national headlines.I mean what's to say? I'm glad we have jury trials and a kid who had done nothing wrong was gunned down for no good reason.
Agreed. I believe Zimmerman benefited from a diffused sense of responsibility that the law and society at large accepted. Sort of a societal shrug of the shoulders, "Well... I guess it wasn't really Zimmerman's fault entirely. Many of us would have been really scared too." Scared folks carrying firearms is a surefire formula for disaster, especially untrained scared folks. Having an untrained neighborhood watch carry firearms is sure to result in future incidents. I sure don't want one in my neighborhood. Zimmerman was armed and scared of the folks walking around his neighborhood. Powder keg all set. Add a spark. Add some intelligent and unwise kid who's terrified of the armed dude walking around and checking out the neighborhood. Toss in some miss-communicated body language or words and KABLOOEY! Another kid is full of bullet holes. This whole thing sucks. Now that he cannot be charged it'd be fairer to have Zimmerman be provided a minimum stipend by the state of Florida to truck around the country for the next 10 or 20 years speaking frankly of his mistakes with neighborhood watches, community groups, and law enforcement to educate people and make sure this never happens again.