When I awoke this morning, I was greeted by an article about violence in the Crenshaw district, including vandalism against neighborhood businesses, in light of the Martin/Zimmerman verdict. Things like this bother me — I often think such violence is an excuse to be violent, for I fail to see how attacking a Wal*Mart in Los Angeles has any impact regarding a jury verdict in Florida, other than to make a community look like thugs and to perpetuate a stereotype.
So, although I’ve written about this before, let’s keep repeating this. The “not guilty” verdict does not mean that Zimmerman didn’t commit a crime (although I think that’s what a lot of non-thinking people believe). In fact, Zimmerman has admitted killing Martin. All this “not guilty” verdict means is that the prosecuter couldn’t convince a jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, under Florida law which has special rules, that Zimmerman was guilty of the specific crimes charged. I don’t know if Zimmerman can be retried on different charges, but he can’t be retried on the same charges. The charges go beyond the actual act of killing to capture the motivation and the manner that it occurred, if it was planned, if it was part of another crime — which then goes to determine the extent of the penalty. Florida has special laws regarding self-defense that come into play into this. It is very likely that the verdict received is more a reflection of where the crime occurred. I do know that Zimmerman can be the subject of a civil suit, which has different requirements regarding what must be proved, and doesn’t relate to specific charges.
If we are going to solve this problem, folks, the answer is not to do it by violence. The answer is to do it at the ballot box, by voting in people willing to fix the laws to address this. The answer is to run for office, to be the person who fixes this. The answer is to educate — in the communities where it matters — about the problem. Violence on the opposite coast doesn’t do much.
[There, now I feel better. Sometimes these things just force themselves into my head on the van ride into work.]
