One, he could have passively complied with everything in wannabe cop George Zimmerman's fertile, paranoid imagination. He could have been circumspect and understood Zimmerman's fears and dropped to the ground in a spread eagle pose to reassure Zimmerman he wasn't a danger.
Or, two, he could have been armed himself or been able to wrestle Zimmerman's weapon from him. But then if Martin had shot Zimmerman dead would the teenage Martin have been covered by the Stand Your Ground law that is protecting Zimmerman? Would Martin have been handled so cordially by the Sanford police? Or would he have been characterized as a gang banger? All serious questions. What's indisputable is that it was Trayvon who had the more legitimate fear of bodily harm or death.
Many African Americans aware of Jim Crow history in America might characterize the first scenario as the "good n-word" response, as in, "Sorry I scared you, boss. Please don't shoot me!" The latter, accordingly, might be called the "bad n-word" response.
MSNBC has reported that professional analysis of the 9/11 tapes reveals George Zimmerman muttering under his breath the words "fuckin' coon" as he is following Martin. Those analyzing the "Help!" cry heard on the tape during the tussle just before the gunshot are reportedly "99 percent certain" the voice was Trayvon Martin's and not Zimmerman's. The fact Zimmerman and his father, a magistrate judge, claimed it was Zimmerman's voice suggests desperation and fabrication.
The fact Zimmerman was not jailed and no forensic murder investigation was undertaken is damning for the Sanford criminal justice system. It seems to find nothing wrong with an armed 28-year-old man stalking a 17-year-old kid to the point of killing the child. The final insult is an NRA-sponsored law that says the 28-year-old can declare self-defense because the 17-year-old kid had the audacity to fight back.
It seems incredible this can happen in 2012.
It's more frightening when you consider the historical parallels with the rise of post Civil War Jim Crow laws, which spread like wildfire. Once one state enacted such a law, other states were encouraged to enact their own, even harsher, versions. Soon enough, criminal justice systems in much of the land had effectively turned their backs on African Americans. The law became the enemy. And as author Davis points out in the epigram above, it was a history with "a unique tolerance for homicide."
Michelle Alexander writes about this kind of parallel eloquently in her book The New Jim Crow .
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