Justice, Prejudice, and Testosterone

A congressman dons a hooded jacket while addressing the House of Representatives, a mob raids a convenience store, vigilante hoodlums issue a $10,000 bounty for the capture of  George Zimmerman.

As usual, most people engage in controversy (a favorite American pastime) as it relates to the event itself. “Who is to blame? Who is lying? What’s the real story?”

Well, I think the real story is lost in fuzzy thinking. That is the kind of thinking that aborts objectivity.

To begin with, even an extreme bigot assigned to patrol the streets (as either a volunteer or professional lawman), does not leave his home to look for someone to kill. If for no other reason, he is not about to ruin his own life. Listening to bigots like the “New” Black Panthers, Jesse Jackson, and Al Sharpton, I get the impression that they actually believe African Americans are dealing with genocide.

The Black Panthers issue a fatwah (in America!), Jesse Jackson says that Trayvon Martin was “gunned down in cold blood.” Cold blood? Surely, Jackson knows that this tragic event was not premeditated.

In its feeding frenzy, MSNBC claimed that it was George Zimmerman that told the 911 dispatcher that Clayvon was black. In fact, Mr. Zimmerman was asked by the dispatcher whether the ‘suspect’ was “white, black, or Hispanic.” It was not Zimmerman that volunteered that information. Once he had been asked, he answered, ‘I think he’s black.’

The dispatcher’s question and Zimmerman’s response are not prejudicial anyway. Their exchange was routine. It is just one of the ways to aid a search if it becomes necessary. NBC apologized for its ‘error,’ after the damage to Zimmerman had been done.

Trayvon’s brother said, “Trayvon had a short temper.”

I don’t know exactly what happened that night, but I know why it happened. Those two men were set up for tragedy. Zimmerman should have had a companion with him. Trayvon should not have been brought up in a society where Black Panthers and other animals influenced him to goad a man who was simply patrolling the neighborhood to prevent crime, black or white. It only needed a hormonal spark to end the life of one, and ruin the life of the other.