Trayvon Martin

On the evening of February 26^th, a 17-year old by the name of Trayvon Martin, on a trip to Sanford, Florida, from his native Miami, was walking to the local shop to buy a couple of items. He never made it back alive.

There was an altercation, and there remains some ambiguity regarding the circumstances of the altercation that led to his death. The only person who knows for sure what exactly happened is George Zimmerman, a 28-year old neighborhood watchman, who was found with a bloody nose and other signs of a physical fight, and who would eventually pull a gun and shoot the young man to death.

Zimmerman claims that he killed Trayvon Martin in self-defense, citing a law in Florida that makes it lawful to shoot trespassers on one's property.

However, many people vehemently disagree with that account, and claim that there are double standards in how the case was handled. Also, it appears that Zimmerman might have used a racial slur, which if true, would likely make this a murder case and possibly even a hate crime, and certainly would severely damage Zimmerman's claim that this was self-defense, as he has been consistently claiming.

There are several aspects to this case, which has come to dominate the media headlines, in the age of the internet. Major media outlets were forced to pay closer attention to this case that seems to many to be a clear cut case of racial prejudice and double standards.

Trayvon Martin was walking back to “The Retreat at Twin Lakes ”, a gated community where he was staying. He had an Arizona Iced Tea and a pack of skittles on him, but no weapons. Also, he was on the phone with his girlfriend, and his girlfriend gives a radically different account of the events that unfolded from what she can tell, and she was on the phone with Trayvon, actually trying to tell him to get out of there as quickly as possible. The girlfriend was never questioned by police. Zimmerman, who shot Trayvon dead, never spent a night in jail, or anything. He remains free to do as he wishes to this point, and it seemed that the local police turned this into an open and shut case, presuming George Zimmerman's complete innocence automatically, and eliminating any possibility of exploring any wrong doing on his end.

In New York, there was a “Million Hoodie March”, to show solidarity with blacks who have been victimized by stereotypes, as well as to Trayvon's family. They essentially are talking about the double standards that a young black male would automatically be seen as suspicious and treated differently simply for wearing a type of clothing that is actually quite popular at the moment.

It appears that this case as not as open and shut as the Sanford Police Department, located in the outskirts of Orlando, Florida, seemed to have made it out to be. They accepted Zimmerman's account point blank, and did not appear to scrutinize this episode as much as perhaps they should have, which has subsequently served to discredit them and cast their findings into serious doubt. Whatever people's opinions are, a lot of people seem to agree that the police department could have handled the case a lot better. Zimmerman was taken into the back of a police car, but that was just about the extent of it. After killing a black kid, he did not spend a day in jail, and was essentially set free, presumed innocent beyond even having to be subjected to a serious inquiry, when there was a dead teenager involved.

A lot of people, mostly whites, claimed after the election of Barack Obama that marked the beginning of a post-racial America. When episodes like this occur, let alone the controversy to reactions to it, it seems clear that we still have a ways to go as a nation to reach that point.