Trayvon Martin supporters at the Million Hoodie March. Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68146720@N05/7005067963
The real George Zimmerman has stood up. At least, virtually.
The 28-year-old neighbourhood watch captain who shot and killed unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin this week launched his website, The Real George Zimmerman, with the express purpose of raising funds for his legal defence. Though he admitted to shooting the teen during a confrontation on 26 February in a gated community in Sandford, Fla., Zimmerman has not yet been charged with a crime, owing to Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” self-defence laws. Under the law, people are justified in using deadly force when they feel a reasonable threat of death or serious injury; Zimmerman claims that Martin attacked him. Martin’s death, however, has exploded issues of race relations, police indifference, and the justifiability of the “stand your ground” law, with some in America feeling that Zimmerman has been allowed to get away with murder.
Zimmerman’s attorney on Tuesday confirmed that the website was indeed the real Zimmerman and that all the funds collected via the site’s PayPal account would go to him.
“On Sunday February 26th, I was involved in a life altering event which led me to become the subject of intense media coverage. As a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage, I have been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately, my entire life. This website’s sole purpose is to ensure my supporters they are receiving my full attention without any intermediaries,” Zimmerman claimed on the site.
The news of the website’s veracity comes as the Florida grand jury that was scheduled to convene on the case was cancelled, leaving many wondering when a decision will be made on whether Zimmerman will face charges. Jacksonville special prosecutor Angela Corey said that she would not present the shooting case to a grand jury, preferring instead to make the decision on her own. The move also rules out the possibility that Zimmerman will face first-degree murder charges, as Florida law requires all first-degree murder cases to go before a grand jury.
Charges soon? But Corey’s rather unusual decision has some legal experts claiming that charges are imminent, despite the fact that first-degree murder charges are now ruled out. “I would anticipate she will move quickly on this,” Paul Callan, a former New York homicide prosecutor, told CNN. “I think you’ll see her come down with charges probably very, very soon.”
Should Zimmerman face charges? Only if Corey finds that there is really and truly a strong possibility of proving Zimmerman guilty during a trial, Eugene O’Donnell, a law professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, wrote at CNN. “No American should ever be prosecuted for any crime as a consequence of the demands of a crowd, however large or vocal. This core principle of justice should stand regardless of the facts of a case or the radioactivity of a defendant. The justice system, fragile at best, is imperiled when prosecutorial decisions are tied to politics.” That said, Corey shouldn’t shrink from the case just because it looks complex or challenging, which the Martin shooting undoubtedly is.
The really real George Zimmerman? Bill Schmalfeldt, at The Daily Kos, found through a bit of happy searching that the domain name “the real George Zimmermann” was not taken – so he took it. And built up another website, one that isn’t “a crappy, cheap, Go Daddy page that looks like poo on a white horse”, but that offers places to donate to worthy charitable organizations. On the site, he claims that the “real George Zimmermann” isn’t the man himself, “but the spirit of fear that caused the death of 17-year old Trayvon Martin”.
“If you are afraid without good reason, you are also George Zimmerman. If you hate people because of the color of their skin, you are also George Zimmerman. If you spread lies to spread the fear you feel in your soul, you are also George Zimmerman,” wrote Bill Schmalfeldt, designer of The Real George Zimmermann site.
This is homicide – but maybe not racial profiling or even racism. Zimmerman may not have been racist – he may have just been a trigger-happy aggressor, contended novelist Paul Theroux at The Daily Beast. After Martin’s death, President Barack Obama waded into the mess by claiming, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” Responded Theroux, “Perhaps true, but so what? The implication of looks equating to innocence (or guilt) is illogical and emotive and divisive, and indeed racially charged. Many more people could respond, ‘If I had a son he’d look like George Zimmerman.’ And would that make him a trigger-happy neighborhood-watch captain?… The Trayvon Martin killing is lamentable, and its aftermath has produced different versions, distortion, ax grinding, and contradiction. It is necessary that it be investigated as a homicide. Whether it is an example of a hate crime or racial profiling remains to be seen.”
