Feb. 26th, self-appointed neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman, 30, gunned down 17-year-old Trayvon Martin for looking suspicious as Martin was walking from the corner store to his dad’s house.
Trayvon was black and Zimmerman is not (people say he’s part Latino, but Zimmerman’s race is all but irrelevant) and this case has sparked a lot of dialogue concerning the details of the shooting, whether it was justified, who was at fault and the problem of race relations in America.
Dialogue about problems is always nice and fairly necessary, but when it boils down to it, Zimmerman shot a child. He admitted it. Witnesses have come forward, 911 calls concerning the event were released to the public and that is all there is to the case.
Zimmerman probably will be going to jail for a lengthy amount of time once he appears in court. That’s all there is to the situation and that is all that there should be.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. If the tragedy of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was not bad enough, there has been a lot of discussion on why what happened happened. Most of the arguments are concerned with whether Zimmerman is a racist or the fact that there were recent burglaries in the area or the fact that Trayvon was wearing a hoodie and had his hands full with Skittles and an Arizona iced tea.
These are interesting points for discussion, but Zimmerman shot a child. I barely care about the rest of the facts. Zimmerman shot a child. The only other relevant point to this story was that Zimmerman called 911, was told that the police would investigate it and was advised to not follow Trayvon anymore. Zimmerman then continued on to go shoot a child.
I don’t understand how anyone else could possibly have an alternate take, view, opinion, spin or rebuttal for this. Zimmerman shot a child. Still, we have dissenters who want to argue the finer points as if they were relevant.
Trayvon was walking around in a gated community. Trayvon was on the phone with his girlfriend and told her he was being followed instead of calling the police himself. Trayvon was wearing a hoodie. Trayvon first attacked Zimmerman during the confrontation. All interesting flavor text, but Trayvon was minding his business when a large strange man pulled up in a car and started hassling him about what he was doing. What happened next was George Zimmerman shooting a child.
The scariest part of the whole thing is the implications for other young black kids. Trayvon was walking down the street being a regular dude. I drink Arizona. I like Skittles. When it rains outside, I’ll probably put on a hoodie just to be dressed for the weather. Hell, apparently neither of us was capable of growing a beard. I might get lucky later on and grow a beard. Trayvon won’t.
Zimmerman shot a child.
Tazz Mays is an Ohio University senior and currently resides in Cleveland.
