You don’t have to copyright my comment!  It is free to whoever wants to use it.

I’ve been a guest at Bettina homes for many years.  My regret is that I was not at the home in Harvard Square to be a part of the discussions that I know took place over this trial and its verdict.  They have some really unbelievable conversations – especially on race.  So, I have to join the conversation via email.  I understand,as a former guest in the network, my comments are accepted for Bettina Network’s Blog?  If not, let me know.  If yes, I will see it published – except, like most people, please don’t publish my name.  I am not afraid of backing up my comments, I just don’t want anyone to pick up my name and start to harrass me.

My contribution to the conversation comes from listening to the juror.  It was clear racism was deeply embedded in the jury deliberations. In the USA denial is the way racism continues and the way folks are able to go to Church on Sundays and feel good about themselves even when they have participated in some really low-down racism.  They neither own up to nor are they even conscious of their sin.  In this case, I think they were – the tears show some unconscious understanding of what they were doing.  The juror saw Zimmerman very positively and could relate to him.  Martin, however, in her comments, deserved what he got.  How dare a Black man think he could question being stalked and treated in a demeaning way by someone like a Zimmerman.  Afterall, Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch person – Martin was the hoodie wearing ‘punk’ – according to Zimmermans description.  She said, she felt he was fully repentant and would be careful with his gun in the future.  I wonder if that is true – or if he got the taste of celebrity from killing a Black man and will want more?  So he becomes even more reckless and irresponsible with his gun.  There are always two sides and her and the jury’s racism only allowed them to see the side which cast Zimmerman in a positive light and Martin as a stereotype.  Her comments about Martin, as she quoted Zimmerman, were of a man looking in windows and clearly as someone who did not belong in the neighborhood because he was Black.  Has anyone explained to her and the rest of the jury the definition of profiling?  By the way, how could she quote Zimmerman who he did not testify at trial?

If you had any doubts that the Martin-Zimmerman decision was racist,or that the make-up of the jury was crucial to getting Zimmerman exonerated by the State of Florida, her comments erase those doubts.

I think this was a done deal before the trial – and I am not alone in that opinion.  The Department of Justice was considering filing charges against Zimmerman because the State of Florida was refusing to do so (by dragging its feet).  I think when they discovered the DOJ was coming, the State of Florida got its act together and started this trial, but did not intend for it to be a fair trial.  A public show so DOJ didn’t come in to get a conviction after they covered for this neighborhood watch person for almost two months.  To go forth with the kind of jury they picked – and to look at the history of convictions of Blacks in Florida and the refusal of the Florida prosecutors to charge some Blacks under the ‘Stand your Ground’ law – I don’t see how Trayvon Martin could get any kind of justice.  It was a clear stacked deck before the case even started to be tried.

Thanks for the platform!

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