The White To Bear Arms

Shoot ‘em If You’ve Got ‘em

Sanford, Florida

July 19, 2013

Something is rotten in the state of Florida. No, I’m not talking about Tea Party Senator Marco Rubio…at least not at this moment, though he definitely doesn’t smell right to me. Unsurprisingly, I’m referring to Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law as it played out in the trial of George Zimmerman. Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law, the first of what is now a thirty-state-wide epidemic, was put on full display recently as would-be-do-gooder and actual murderer, George Zimmerman who was arrested in 2005 and charged with “resisting officer with violence” and “battery of law enforcement officer,” now spends his free time pretending to be a cop. Why is this asshole permitted to carry a gun?

Zimmerman was recorded on a police scanner shortly before fatally shooting an innocent boy, “Those f#@%ing punks always get away with it.” Zimmerman was found not guilty after stalking Trayvon Martin who, fearing for his life, attempted to elude the self-anointed judge, jury and executioner. Martin was ultimately confronted, forced to defend himself – to stand his ground to coin a phrase – and then finally shot through the heart at point blank range by the deranged vigilante. Trayvon Martin was of course unarmed as civilized people in a civilized society are wont to be.

Robert Zimmerman, Jr. said of his newly acquitted brother, "Clearly, he is a free man in the eyes of the court, but he's going to be looking around his shoulder for the rest of his life." In regard to the many Americans who saw things differently he added, "They think justice was not served and they won't respect a verdict no matter how it was reached. They will always present a threat to George and to his family." I’m sure we can all understand poor Mr. Zimmerman’s discomfort with being treated like a criminal for no apparent reason, being profiled by strangers who wish him harm, perhaps even followed on a dark rainy night when all he was doing was walking home with a bag of Skittles and some iced tea. That would just be terrible, especially if he became engaged in a hand-to-hand struggle with this ne’er-do-well and then shot to death. Nobody likes being in that position. I’d hate to think I was being followed by an armed pinhead with a cop complex an itchy trigger finger.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in shitty sunny Florida, Marissa Alexander, a black woman and mother of three, with no criminal record, who fired a warning shot to protect herself from an imminent threat by her abusive husband, is currently serving 20 years after being convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Nobody was hit, injured, or killed during the incident. You wouldn’t be off the mark for thinking Ms. Alexander was simply, uh, wait, it’s on the tip of my finger – oh yeah – standing her ground. She was however doing something that is generally frowned upon in the state of Florida, something that also tarnished Trayvon Martin – she was visibly and unashamedly being black. Mark O'Mara, co-attorney’ for Zimmerman’s defense (not the one who began his opening statement with a disastrous knock-knock joke) told a reporter, "I think that things would have been different if George Zimmerman was black for this reason. He never would have been charged with a crime," he said. Yeah, because it’s just so much easier being black in America…unless you live in George Zimmerman’s neck of the woods. Just ask Marissa Alexander.

I. Mangrey reporting.

Thanks for listening. Stand your ground.