In his final, now unsuccessful argument to the jury deciding the fate of Trayvon Martin’s killer, the prosecutor expressed what he thought was a simple assessment.
“This case is not about race,” said John Guy. “It is about right and wrong. It’s just that simple.”
It’s not that simple. It never is.
This case became a racial incident the moment George Zimmerman left his car with his gun and stalked an unarmed black teenager.
But it’s not that this kind of thing happens to blacks and people of color all the time that makes this about race.
STORIES
» http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/not_gui_ty_in_trayvon_slay_WHKdAoUzAFY2lz3OgcztFO” target=’_BLANK’>Zimmerman not guilty
» http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/celebs_react_to_george_zimmerman_MgfQk0yd4SN8542270W7eI” target=’_BLANK’>Celebs react to verdict
» http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/oh_no_supporters_shocked_EkHwJBvoq6aXcnSWMJnYeK” target=’_BLANK’>’Oh, no!’ Supporters shocked
» http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/reaction_to_george_zimmerman_verdict_4aj1qi5hFM4jsHll3YSg1L” target=’_BLANK’>PHOTOS: US reacts to acquittal
What makes this about race is that it never happens to anyone else.
Who else in The Bronx gets shot at 41 times by cops for reaching for a wallet, like Amadou Diallo did in 1998?
Who else gets gunned down behind the wheel of his car in Queens on his wedding day like Sean Bell did in 2006?
And who else gets racially profiled every day when they are stopped and frisked all over New York City?
White immigrants don’t come to America to get killed by cops.
White grooms don’t get gunned down by detectives on their way home from their bachelor parties.
And white teens don’t buy Skittles and walk toward home and end up dead.
Today, George Zimmerman is as free as you or me. Actually, a jury said he’s “not guilty.”
He’ll probably never be free.