A flawed victim?

As a trial lawyer who wanted george zimmerman to be found culpable for his actions, I was disappointed with the state's performance in the case. There are quite a few things that they did during the trial which left me wondering, and there are things that they allowed the defense to get away with that seemed way too easy.

The way, for instance, the defense portrayed Martin as sinister, minatory, and scary throughout the trial, and the testimony about young black males committing break-ins in the apartment complex where the incident took place.

This all helped to make zimmerman's actions justified because he feared for his life. The post trial statements by juror B-37 proves that it worked.

I am not mad at the defense lawyers; they were doing their job for their client. But I am still upset that the jury didn't find the Mall Cop wannabe guilty of something.

So george zimmerman is free and most black people, like me, are disappointed. Some blacks are angry, and still others are not as angry or even disappointed. Some of you wish that there was a more angelic victim than the young Trayvon Martin for you to rally around. While most will not go as far as the slave catcher, Jesse Lee Peterson (when he called Martin a "pot smoking thug" who deserved what he got), some will say, like an African American friend of mine (a man I respect who owns a business where he hires more than a few young black men), "With all due respect, this young buck ain't Rosa Parks."

No, he is not, but we can't always wait around to pick the perfect victim of injustice. Injustice is blind. Trayvon Martin was still a young man who lost his life because he was profiled by someone who believed that he had no right to be where he was that evening. That is an American tragedy, and just like the tragedy of hundreds of young African American men being killed by other young African American men every year; it is a tragedy that should be acknowledged. I don't care how much pot he smoked, or how much he liked to take pictures on Facebook with a braggadocios posture. His life, and the way he lost it, should not be diminished by these particular actions when he was alive.

Finally, I would like to address this Rich Benjamin controversy a little bit. Mr. Benjamin is a smart dude, and he is someone I respect. (At least I used to.) But some of the things he wrote in his article for Salon Magazine left me scratching my head.

I have to agree with some of my twitter fam who wrote things like the following:

"JamilahLemieux 18h

And I actually understand the colloquial use of "inner nigger." But it has NO PLACE IN THIS ARTICLE. Salon is not 125th Street.

 

blackgirlinmain 18h

@fieldnegro @JamilahLemieux Yes! Things we say in private amongst ourselves are not meant for the larger world, that includes inner niggers."

 

Rich, the next time you are inspired to share your inner most black thoughts, try to think about the platform that you are sharing it from.