Undoubtedly, the criminal court case of George Zimmerman was the most talked about case all summer and gained a tremendous amount of national attention. Zimmerman was on trial for the shooting death of 17 year old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman admitted to shooting Martin, but said that he shot the young man in self defense. A jury had to decide whether or not Zimmerman acted in self defense or if Zimmerman shot and killed Martin in cold blood. Many people, including the media, speculated that race would have an impact on the proceedings because Zimmerman was a white/hispanic man, while Martin was an African American teenager. Read the
following article from abc.com and respond to any of the following in a well written paragraph:
- Are you upset or unsatisfied with the verdict?
- Did race play a role in the decision?
- What do you think of an all female jury?
- Would the verdict have been different if Zimmerman were an African American man and Trayvon Martin were a 17 year old white teenager?
**Note, we hyperlinked the article, which we are expecting you to do when you post an article.
The verdict of the Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case may not have been different if the races of the two men were swapped, but the way the media handled it would have changed dramatically. Because of America's history with racism, the media does all it can to show acts of whites against African Americans as "racism." Whether the shooting was racism or indeed self defense, the media would not have been as all over it if the races were swapped, and it certainly would not have been labeled as "racism." Many crimes of African Americans against whites go unnoticed because our media does not think that way, it is very one sided.
ReplyDeleteThis website : http://violenceagainstwhites.wordpress.com/the-hate-crimes-you-dont-hear-about/
show many crimes that have not been publicized because they were the "wrong way"
To be completely honest, I am not quite sure of what I think about George Zimmerman being judged not guilty. I believe that race partially played a role in the decision made by the jury, but I do not believe that the decision was made just on the factor of race alone. Because of all of the rumors and thoughts about race playing a part in Trayvon Martin's death, I do believe that the verdict would have been different if Zimmerman were an African American man and Trayvon Martin where a white teenager. So many people, immediately after hearing about Martin's death, believed that it occurred because Zimmerman was racist. Therefore, since the idea of racism is still very present in people's minds,I do believe that the verdict would have most likely been very different if Zimmerman was an African American male and Martin was a white teenage boy.
ReplyDeleteI believe that George Zimmerman's trial was fair and not racist. The jurors would have had to find Zimmerman guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. With the evidence, or lack of, provided for this trial the verdict seems to be fair. I agree with Jess and her opinion on the media's position. I also think that if the races of the two had been swapped the media might not have reacted so angered with the verdict. With America's history and the sensitivity of racism, the media seems to be more biased towards crimes against African Americans.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with Kaleigh and her common opinion that the verdict would have been different if the races were swapped. The amount of evidence necessary to find Zimmerman guilty just was not there. Many of the twitter accounts participating in the trend "JusticeforTrayvon" did not know the simple facts of the trial. They seemed to unknowingly want to talk about the injustice of the case which only seemed to add unnecessary negative publicity for the case. I think that the case was done out very fairly and the jurors were very fair in their verdict of proving George Zimmerman not guilty.
I absolutely agree with Jess. I believe that if the ethnicities of the two men had been swapped the jury would have given the same verdict. However, the media would be on the side with the black man just because he is black. It is so much easier for the media to support a black man in a trial simply because of the sympathy he can obtain. If they play the racist card, they can never be supporting the wrong man. This is because we are all taught to believe that racism is a bad thing. The media will jump on this case to show Americans another example of how racism is a bad thing and how it is still here in America. Another thing the media can make out of the case is showing how strong racism is in our society and how it can overpower the law.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with emma when she says, "George Zimmerman's trial was fair and not racist." I do not believe that race had an effect on the decision of the jurors. The jurors would have had to find beyond reasonable doubt that Zimmerman was guilty. Apparently not enough substantial evidence was presented for the jury to convict Zimmerman, and they did the right thing by declaring him innocent because they did not see substantial evidence.
This case was caused by many issues, but I do not think racism was the most important one. I believe that the most prevalent issue was that about gun laws, which has been a very popular topic since December 14, 2012 when twenty young children and six adults were shot and killed by Adam Lanza in Sandy Hook, CT. I myself, was a little upset about the verdict. Although Trayvon may have seemed like a thug, Zimmerman did not need to act in such an absurd manner. When the neighborhood watch program was started up, Zimmerman was told that he was "not supposed to take matters into [his] own hands" and to "let law enforcement take the risk of approaching a suspect" (Dorival). When I think about it, I'm sure Trayvon was treating Zimmerman with absolutely no respect and was encouraging a fight, but it was no call for shots to be fired.
ReplyDeleteI don't think race played a huge role in the decision. Many forget how much gun laws were brought up after Trayvon was killed, the Aurora shooting, and the Sandy Hook shooting. These laws were debated more than any other issue in a long time. The gun laws played a big role in the Zimmerman/Trayvon case in the earlier stages, but now many think that race was the reason for the shooting. The reason it was important in the case was because Zimmerman wasn't even supposed to have a gun on him. Branching off from this opinion, I don't think race played a role in the decision, and I also don't think the case would have been any different if Zimmerman were black and Martin were white.
As for the all female jury, I don't think it was a good idea. If so many people were concerned about race, why didn't they hire a more diverse group of people to be the jury? I think it was a bad idea for "five of them [to be] white and the sixth [to be] a minority, believed to be Hispanic" (Newcomb & Wash). Also, "four of the women either have experience with guns or relatives who are gun owners" (Newcomb & Wash). I also think this was a bad idea because they were obviously against gun laws, being gun owners themselves.
I am not upset at the verdict of this case. I believe that the trial was correct to rule George Zimmerman not guilty.I don't believe this is a race thing and I think that there was not enough evidence to say that he was guilty. I also agree that had the races been swapped, the media would have had a much more different reaction. But, the verdict would have remained unchanged. I believe that the jurors, boldly, did the right thing. This case was a case in which rascism was the main topic, but rascism was not the main factor
ReplyDeleteThe all female jury was not a good idea as the courtroom did not show enough diversity in a case like this. Mikey is correct when he said " I also think this was a bad idea because they were obviously against gun laws, being gun owners themselves."
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhen I heard the verdict, I, like many others who did not know all the details about the case, was upset by it. Now that I know more, I know the jury was correct in their ruling. They did not have enough evidence that they could convict Zimmerman beyond reasonable doubt. This case was given an excessive amount of attention due to the different races, which shows Americans can still be very racist. If both Zimmerman and Trayvon were white, this case would not have had the same impact it did, and the media would not have made as big a deal about it. What happened to Trayvon Martin is a tragedy, and it should not have happened. I agree with Mikey that "Trayvon was [probably]treating Zimmerman with absolutely no respect and was encouraging a fight, but it was no call for shots to be fired." Now that this case is over, I hope gun laws will become a little stricter so something awful like this does not happen again.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am slightly upset with the verdict of the case. Zimmerman was following somebody who was not doing something wrong, was told to not follow Martin by a 911 operator, most likely instigated the conflict and he was completely let off. I believe race did not play a role in the decision by the jury because very little is actually known about the fight between the two. The only known facts about the actual conflict is what George Zimmerman says and the background of a 911 call made by a neighbor. I also believe that if the races had been switched, the media would have covered it much differently but the verdict would remain the same.
ReplyDeleteI do not like an all female jury because it is not diverse enough. I also think with all the gun controversy recently, that choosing pro-gun women for the jury was not the best choice for a jury in a case that involves a shooting
I am a bit upset by the verdict of this case. I definitely do think that race played a part in the decision. In today's society, we are brought up with the idea that racism is bad, but many races are discriminated or stereotyped against. I believe Zimmerman had racially profiled Trayvon. In all honesty, I would have profiled him as well. A young, hooded black man walking around at night would make me uneasy and suspicious. I would also feel uneasy if he was white. I can see how Zimmerman became agitated, but I would not have acted in the same manner. As a man trying to protect his community, Zimmerman got "trigger happy" and acted too soon, shooting Trayvon.
ReplyDeleteI do not support the all female jury. In any court case, the jury should be as diverse as possible. Men could have contributed different views, because both parties involved in the case were males. Women tend to be more sympathetic than men, which could have caused bias towards Trayvon or Zimmerman's families, rather than looking at the facts.
I think the verdict would have been different if the races of the two men were swapped. I believe the media would still be on the side of Trayvon. I feel like they would pity the poor "white kid" whose life was ended by a cruel black man. The media has far too much power over the opinions of the viewers. It is very difficult to decide what happened, because there is only one side to this story.
Race plays more of a part in society than we like to admit. It would be nice to think we all treat each other fairly, but we do not. Many other students have brought up interesting points, and this blog is an interesting way to see what others are thinking about the subject. Mikey's theory had not even crossed my mind. I also related to Kaleigh because I do not think race alone played a part in the decision.
I am undecided on whether I agree with the verdict of the jury or not. Originally I did, however after learning more about the case I have sensed some racial tension from Zimmerman, specifically because of his words to a police dispatcher, "these a**holes always get away" and muttering "f***king punks" (abc news). Since this evidence did come up, I believe that racism may have been mentioned while the jury made their decision, however I do not think it was a large enough factor to have an impact.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion about the all female jury is that I feel it was not a bad choice, but it did lack diversity when it came to decision making. I agree with Mikey with his statement that said "they were obviously against gun laws", which could have had an effect on the verdict.
I believe that the case should not have been publicized as being a case dealing with race because any case involving murder, or any crime, should be undergone the same way no matter how may different races are involved. However due to many past incidences involving interracial crimes between Caucasians and African Americans, in which the white man committed the offense, the trials have been known to involve racism. However many interracial cases in which the African American committed the offense have been ignored as "racist" because it is stereotypical for white men to racially offend blacks, but not the other way around.
The topic I just mentioned is something the really bothers me because racism, although it should disappear completely, should be recognized, and punished, "both ways" and not just when whites offend blacks. For this reason I do believe that the verdict may have been different if Zimmerman were an African American man and Trayvon Martin were a 17 year old white teenager.
While race played a huge role in the coverage of the case by the media, I do not believe that it had any effect on the verdict. In an ideal situation, the jury is expected to be as unbiased as possible, and base their verdict solely on the facts of the case. While we do not know much about the jurors selected for this trial, since they have remained anonymous, it would only be fair to assume that the jurors are some of the most unbiased people that could be found within the jurisdiction of the court. I firmly believe that the jury did the best they could to focus only on the facts of this trial. The only real reason that race was ever an issue in the process of this trial was due to the extensive coverage and speculation by the media.
ReplyDeleteI originally was undecided about whether I agreed with the verdict or not, but after learning more details about the case I have concluded that I agree with the verdict. I completely agree with Emma in the sense that there was not enough evidence supplied against Zimmerman in the case. Although race seemed to play a large factor in the media, I do not think it was a major factor in the case. As a judge and a jury, they should go into the court room with unbiased opinions, looking only at the facts, and not conclude the verdict solely based upon race. In that sense I agree with Jess that the verdict would not have changed if the races were reversed.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with John and Mikey about the all female jury. In my opinion, I think the jury should always be as diverse as it can be. It is always good to get different opinions from different people and races. I do agree with Mikey when he says "if so many people were concerned about race, why didn't they hire a more diverse group of people to be the jury?" The jury was a poor choice also because it was a second degree murder case, involving a gun and gun laws, and as Mikey says the jury was "obviously against gun laws, being gun owners themselves." If most of the women were gun owners they would be less likely to support any new gun laws that could have been put in order through this case.
I also agree that the media brought too much negative attention towards this case. I agree with Colton when he says “the case should not have been publicized as being a case dealing with race because any case involving murder, or any crime, should be undergone the same way no matter how many different races are involved.”
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am satisfied with the verdict of the trial. Zimmerman did what any police officer would do if they saw a someone suspicious. Although Trayvon Martin was African American, he still looked suspicious and caught Zimmerman's attention. Zimmerman was just trying to do his part to protect the welfare of the people. Zimmerman went to apprehend the suspected criminal with a loaded gun. It is not unreasonable that a police officer should approach a potentially dangerous suspect with a loaded gun to protect himself. If Martin calmly tried to explain the situation to Zimmerman the conflict would have been avoided, but Zimmerman claims that he was, "knocked to the ground and Martin was banging his head against the pavement"(ABC News). If someone is getting their head beaten against the pavement, they will defend themselves regardless if the assailant is white or black. This case was simply a police officer trying to do his job and defending himself when his life was threatened. The jury ignored the media fueled race issue and made an unbiased decision based on facts.
ReplyDeleteThe verdict of the Zimmerman/Martin case was certainly disheartening. George Zimmerman took away a human life and should face charges. Whether it was self defense or not, Zimmerman almost sounded like he was looking for a fight. Zimmerman may have provoked Martin and started the fight. I believe that the verdict of the Zimmerman/Martin case is encouragement for people to take the law into their own hands and is an example of how teen violence is on the rise, as well as sudden deaths of young teens. The fact that race was even thrown into the decision of the case is most likely something the media decided to add to increase the interest of this case.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on all of these posts. I am impressed with the effort and all of your contributions! Keep them rolling...
ReplyDeleteI am a bit disappointed with the verdict. I think that race played a big part in the trial, and may have altered the jury's opinions, however I think that at the end of the day, I agree with the verdict. I believe that there was not enough evidence against Zimmerman to prove that he was guilty of cold bloodily killing Trayvon Martin. I do not think that having an all female jury was fair. The jury is supposed to consist of people who come from different backgrounds or positions in life and I think that should include having both male and female jurors. If Zimmerman were an African American man, and Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old white kid, the verdict could very well have been the same. Media often shows racism of whites against African Americans, though racism can be shown from an African American to a white person. I think that if the skin tones were reversed, each being the opposite race, the media would not have made this trial out to be so much about race. I think that the verdict could very well have been the same.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with Dogil that having an all female jury was a bad idea. The constitution states that you shall be judged by your peers and making the jury all women makes them not his peers, it should have been a mixed jury. This trial was extremely racially charged. The fact that protests were happening all over the country and still are is proof. This would not be such a high profile case if it was two whites or two blacks. Cases like these are probably seen all the time but because this one involves two different races it is high profile.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI did not really pay attention much to the Zimmerman trial, but after reading the article and posts from my classmates, I have gotten a better idea of what took place, and I am more lenient towards agreeing with the verdict. So no, I am not upset with this verdict, nor do I agree with it. I do not believe that the George Zimmerman trial was racist for the most part. I feel that racism may be a very minute deciding factor and if the tables were swopped, the verdict may have been different. I support and agree with Emily that “[a] young, hooded black man walking around at night would make me uneasy and suspicious. I would also feel uneasy if he was white.” I can understand why Zimmerman acted the way he did, but I am not so sure he chose the best action.
ReplyDeleteFor the all female jury, I do not agree with that decision at all. Having a group of all women is not diverse enough for me. Male and females are very different and in a case that was as big as this one, like James said, “the courtroom did not show enough diversity”.
I happen to disagree with Maleeha's response because I think that the verdict was completely fair. Watching a portion of the trial, I saw that the scientific and forensic evidence that proved Zimmerman innocent. Race was not dictating the discussion of information during the trial.I feel that the jury listened to all the facts of the case and made their verdict based on them. Personally, I was not taking into consideration the race of Zimmerman and Martin while making my own verdict on the trial. I did not even know the ethnicity of these people when I came to the conclusion that Zimmerman was innocent. From these experiences, I can believe that the jury also used the same factual based argument that I did while judging the trial. I think that people who were unhappy with the way the trial was going and the overall verdict were trying to blame someone or something. They turned to racism because of the difference of ethnicity between Zimmerman and Martin. All the facts of the trial show that Zimmerman is innocent, and no opinion of race can change that.
ReplyDeleteI am extremely unsatisfied with the verdict. I followed this case closely and in my opinion Zimmerman had no reason to worry about Trayvon in the first place. At first Zimmerman did the right thing by calling police, once on the phone with the operator they told him not to approach Trayvon and leave him be if he doesn’t do anything wrong. Once Zimmerman approached Trayvon after being told not to he should be immediately guilty because he clearly disobeyed police orders. I’m also unsatisfied because he was not a cop just a self appointed neighborhood watch men. This title given by himself to himself gives no right to act in anyway a cop should have in this situation. Lastly the verdict made me upset because in no way did Zimmerman act in a humane way, as Trayvon shouldn’t have supposedly attacked Zimmerman first, any teenager being approached by an armed man would have been worried and especially confused especially if he was doing nothing wrong.
ReplyDeleteI also think race made a decision in the attack by Zimmerman but doubt race was a factor in the trial. I believe Zimmerman was not guilty because this case was taken to court to quick and too fast for enough sufficient facts to be gathered against Zimmerman. I think an all female jury was very wrong to have in this case because most women are all for self defense, any woman would chose the person in self defense because they would hope if they were placed in the same situation they would be deemed not guilty also. Lastly an all female jury was wrong to have because if men were on this case they would be able to give a lot of insight on how they would have handled the situation in Zimmerman’s case and Trayvon’s.
I think that if the trial was switched around and Zimmerman was African American and Trayvon was a white teenager the trial’s verdict would have been different, as I believe race wasn’t a factor In the trial racism still exists in many parts of America and Zimmerman would have probably been deemed guilty solely due to stereotypes of African Americans.
I do not agree with the result of Zimmerman's trial. To reach this decision I looked at another helpful article, which gave more facts about the case. The link is listed below. The fact that he "showed no reaction to the jury's verdict" makes me think that he is mentally unstable. His family was more affected than he was, and he was the man who just avoided a life in prison.
ReplyDeleteI think racism played a big factor in the murder of Trayvon Martin. The reason I feel this way is because when he is on the phone with the police- response line, he says the man in question is black and later he says "These a**holes, they always get away.” If that is not racism, I do not know what is. I do not think the verdict would have been different if Zimmerman was African American and Trayvon was white. I feel that the present day criminal justice system is above judging a case differently based on race. In the real world, though, racism still exists, and I think this case is a prime example of that.
I do not understand why the jury was all females. I do not understand what it is about having males in the jury that was a conflict of interest. If they were looking for a fair trial, shouldn't they have a diverse jury? I guess I will not really know what to think about the all female jury until I know why no males were selected.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/07/the-facts-in-the-george-zimmerman-trial.html
I am unsatisfied with the verdict, but mainly because a man who shot and killed a teenager in the street got free with barely any consequences. However, there just may have not been enough evidence to do anything about it. I don't really think that skin color had a part in the trial and I agree with all of the comments saying that the media played up the race issue- because it did. If the races were swapped, I believe that the verdict may have been the same, but there would not have been any talk of race. As for the all female jury, I do not agree with that. I think that a jury should be compiled of people of different genders and races to ensure a "fair" decision is made.
ReplyDeleteI feel like race was the only thing that kept this case alive. People are only presented with a fraction of known information about cases like this in order to sway them one way or another. I believe that the prosecutors used racism as leverage to give them more time to find legitimate evidence that find Trayvon Martin innocent. I supported the prosecution against George Zimmerman until I read this article and actually created my own opinion with the facts right in front of me. If George Zimmerman approached Trayvon Martin because he looked suspicious and a fight broke out, how do you think the fight started? If Trayvon was hiding something and someone confronted him, he probably did not know what to do other than start a fight to try to get away. In my opinion, I believe that George Zimmerman would have approached anyone in his neighborhood that looked suspicious regardless of their race.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am satisfied with the verdict. I do not believe that race played a role in this at all, and I completely agree with Jess when she says how "the media does all it can to show acts of whites against African Americans as "racism."" I think this is very true, and it is also true that the media can easily persuade people's ideas and opinions. I also think that if the races of the two men were switched then the media would not have connected the case to racism at all, and the verdict would have remained the same. I think that the female jury was not right. I think there should have been more of a mixture of people, because I feel as though all the females in the jury could have had the same ideas and opinions, and I do not think this was a good idea, especially because so many people were so involved with this case.
ReplyDeleteIn my honest opinion, I am comfortable with this verdict. I consider this as a fair trial. Although I do not like the idea of having all female jurors, because it should be more diverse. I do not think the race played a big role in this decision. However, I am not very sure about if the verdict would have been remain the same if the races were swapped. I hate to say this, but Racism is still going on and our society and people now days are still pretty racist.
ReplyDeleteI believed there would be other people suspicious about a seventeen year old kid looking high and walking down the road. I think Zimmerman just happened to be the unfortunate one who followed him and got attacked by him. It was a fact that Zimmerman got beat up brutally by Trayvon. Zimmerman happened to carry a gun with him and shot him. I certainly feel bad about Trayvon and his family. But I had to agree that Zimmerman just did what everyone else would do, protect himself.
It was also very interesting to read other's posts, to see different opinions.
My first thought when hearing about the Zimmerman vs, Trayvon case was that the verdict was unfair for Travyon,but after reading the article and actually comprehending the events that occured during the conflict, I started to agree with the Verdict given to Zimmerman.I believe race played a role in the way media and people viewed the case. Whether Zimmerman was racist because he shot Trayvon because of his race is a question know one will know, but assuming that that was the case is not a fair judgement. I agree with Jess when she mentioned how media can interpret things in a different light just to make it sound more appealing such as a white man shooting a Black teenager will be considered "Racist."
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing about the female jury, I do not agree with. I believe men and women think differently in certain situations, and if they had both men and women in the Jury than the result of the Verdict may have been different.
I believed race played a important role in how the media interpreted the case. Sometimes the media is biased when they cover news to make one side of the story inferior to the other. However in this trial, race isn't the only factor to consider since there are other sensitive ones like gender and age. I think the result of the verdict would be different if not only race was swapped, but gender and age as well.
ReplyDeleteI actually do not know if it was right for Barnes to make this public, but I do not think he owes anyone an apology. When I was reading this article I suddenly thought of the rap songs we have now, because the N-word is often used in the songs. If he owes anyone an apology then, I think many rappers out there owe people an apology as well. I am not here to say that I think it’s right to use to N word. As a matter of fact, I have heard many black and white people use that word. However, I do somehow think when a white guy shouts out that word, people are generally becoming more sensitive than if it was from a black guy. I have known some people who used the N-word when they are joking with their friends, and I understand some of them are not racist. But in my opinion those people just do not know how to talk better. It’s none of my business you can talk all you want, and it’s your right. But I just don’t think it is a right thing to say even if you were just joking around, maybe it is nothing personal, but you never know if anyone in the same room would feel uncomfortable.
ReplyDelete