Trial = Justice?

Yesterday the outcome of the George Zimmerman trial came out and he was proven not guilty of anything. Yesterday, the outcome of another, lesser known trial came out as well. This person, was convicted with 20 years in jail. The only differences were:
in one case a seventeen year old boy with skittles died and in the other no one got hurt (physically)
in one case the person being convicted was a hispanic and in the other it was a african american
in one case the person being convicted was a male and in the other it was a female

If you want to read more into the other story, then here: read it.

Anyway, George Zimmerman should not have been let off without anything. No sentence, no fine, no nothing, especially if this women got 20 years in prison. George Zimmerman killed a boy, does that mean nothing to people? And for those people who think George Zimmerman was innocent and have a good reason, then feel free to comment below.

There is still more to this post, if you would like to read more, then click here.



Now to take the George Zimmerman case into account without this other case, is it okay that George Zimmerman got to walk away freely? This is where it gets more complicated, because according to law (or what his defense said), George Zimmerman should have been let off with out a sentence. After all, the prosecutors could not prove that George Zimmerman did not feel threatened by Trayvon Martin or that George Zimmerman initiated the attack. Of course George Zimmerman could have been lying the whole time, but that would just make the case even more confusing than it already is.

This is the a summary of the story that I've gathered:
On someday, last year, Trayvon Martin (african american) was murdered by George Zimmerman (hispanic) while he was visiting his father in Florida. A week before Trayvon Martin was murdered there was a neighborhood robbery, so George Zimmerman volunteered to be the neighborhood "watchdog". The night of the shooting, Trayvon Martin was walking in the subdivision at about eight o'clock at night talking to his girlfriend with a bag of skittles in his pocket. George Zimmerman, perhaps thinking that he was the thief, called the police. The police did not tell George Zimmerman to follow the boy, but George Zimmerman followed him anyway. No one knows what actually happened after George Zimmerman followed Trayvon Martin, but they do know that there was a fight, and George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin dead. After, when the police came, George Zimmerman was released because he was just using "self defense", but was later called back for a trial due to the large number of protests nation wide.

Before I get into the trial, I'd first like to talk about that how the police reacted right after Trayvon Martin had been shot, because racism plays a big part in this case. I wonder what it would be like if Trayvon Martin wasn't black, or if George Zimmerman was. Of course no one knows if it would have been different, but I feel like it would have. If Trayvon Martin was not black, I believe the police would not have been so quick to let George Zimmerman go because of self-defense. If George Zimmerman was black, the police would have probably been more hesitant in letting George Zimmerman go. In a country that prides itself in being free and of equal opportunity, is it right that our very own security system is biased towards whites? It has come to my attention that Trayvon Martin did have a juvenile record for marihuana and for stealing, but like the judge said, unless George Zimmerman knew about Trayvon Martin's criminal record, it is not relevant to the case. And if you want to turn it the other way here are some questionable things in George Zimmerman's past. And he seems pretty good at worming his way out of things.

In the court case, what the defense used was the Stand your Ground law, which basically says if you feel threatened, then you can act in self defense. Because the prosecutor's were unable to prove that George Zimmerman did not feel threatened and were unable to provide evidence that George Zimmerman initiated the attack, the jurors did not have enough evidence to convict George Zimmerman. That, and the recent findings that Trayvon Martin was on top of George Zimmerman, smashing his head into the concrete, lead the jurors to believe that George Zimmerman was innocent. Technically this is right, but that leads to an even bigger question, is our justice system flawed?

Last but not least is the message of the case. It's legacy. What is this case trying to tell us? Apparently, if you kill someone who looks threatening, and have no witnesses (and live in Florida), you can just use the Stand you Ground law and get away with it. Whereas if you threaten someone with a warning gunshot, someone whose actually been abusing you, 20 years in year would be your sentence. This case is also all about racism. African Americans still obviously have the lower hand. On the radio I heard someone talk about how he or she lucked out in the "cosmos lottery". It's sad to think how divided we still are as a society. By race, by gender, by intelligence, by our own fabricated groups. It might be bad to say, but I feel like I lucked out in the "cosmos lottery" as well.