Friday, October 18, 2013

A Black Zimmerman

           If you kill someone, sell or use illegal drugs, steal property or money, cause a car accident, or illegally possess or use a firearm, then you should expect to eventually be caught, charged, and convicted. This is the judicial process. But this is always not the case in the United States. There have been and continues to be circumstances where the crimes committed have not always come with arrests and convictions. Is it because of lack of evidence, police involvement, or the person who committed the crime? When race comes into play, it may be said that a black man was convicted because of the type of crime he committed but the same crime committed by a white man went unpunished or not even considered as a crime.
            The most current and polarizing case involved a mixed race man of White and Hispanic parents who killed an unarmed black teenage boy in Florida. You may have heard of the Trayvon Martin murder case.  This case consisted of a male who shot and killed an unarmed teenage African-American boy because said man feared for his life. Never mind the fact that the grown man initiated the contact between the two or that this man possessed a firearm and used that firearm to commit a crime. Keyword being used is CRIME! It was proven and Zimmerman admitted that he did in fact take a person’s life. Today George Zimmerman is a free man after committing a crime.
             Another case that involved a firearm and the discharge of a firearm involved a woman in Florida named Marissa Alexander. She was being abused, and her life was in imminent danger by her husband who had verbally and physically threatened her. She fired a warning shot and escaped from her home, according to CNN.com. This woman was charged and found guilty of aggravated assault and sentenced to 20 years in prison. According to Florida Law, this woman unlawfully threatened her abusive husband by firing a gun in an attempt to stop him from abusing her. Besides a life being taken, the difference between these two cases, are race. The woman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison was a Black woman. In addition it took 12 minutes of jury deliberation to find her guilty, even while using the same “Stand your Ground” defense that let Zimmerman walk free. A law that says if a person feels their life is in imminent danger or threat; they have the right to defend said life.
              Is crime any different, when committed by a black person or a white person? No! A crime is still a crime. But arrests and convictions of these crimes are different when race is involved. The eyes of justice, as much as many may think is blind, are wide open and viewed through the eyes of society. Race will always have a significant part in crime and conviction. God forbid that a Black Zimmerman would have been let free if he would have killed a white Trayvon.             

(The Florida woman who was sentenced to 20 years for firing a warning shot was granted a new trial.)

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