Riots?

Sanford officials, including the police chief, are worried that riots and mayhem may break out following the George Zimmerman trial. I think it would be a good idea to ask why they think that. There was no concern about riots as the end of the Jodi Arias trial approached. So, why should there be concern now?

Despite having a gaggle of 'experts' talking ad nauseum on a daily basis, it appears that nobody considers that self defense is even a remote possibility (and I am talking about HLN for the most part). It’s obvious as the trial goes on that George Zimmerman is not guilty of murder. That’s not to say he is going to be acquitted, but the evidence is pretty clear. But just like the prosecutors who were pressured into charging him with the crime in the first place, the jurors are likely feeling pressure to convict. And how is that pressure applied? With threats of violence, chaos, rioting and looting.

Had the nation’s media not spent so much time and energy screaming from the rooftops that Zimmerman was a murderer, this wouldn’t be a concern. Instead, there were edited audio clips, claims of slurs and even inaccurately reporting his race as ‘white’ in order to exploit a non-existent racial angle. If the evidence were reviewed and reported accurately, the people of Sanford might have been spared the rather large expense that this trial will cost them. If anyone should be rioting, it’s the taxpayers.*

So what this comes down to is that people have been told for over a year that George Zimmerman is a murderer. Yet, when the facts of the trial come out, it starts to look more and more like that may not be the case. If you’re predicting an acquittal during the prosecution's presentation, then there is a good chance that there was no injustice done. Race should never have been a subject in this case. To suggest that (black) people won’t accept the outcome and take to the streets in an orgy of burning and looting may itself be racist. However, if it does turn out that way, it will not be because of an injustice in the courtroom, but an injustice in the reporting of this case over the past year.





*I say that in jest because it is a funny scenario that people angry about their community wasting money on a trial would show their outrage by completely destroying that community at a cost multiple times that of the trial itself. Obviously, this would not happen because people concerned with how their tax money is spent will act rationally while non-taxpayers will riot. I have no problem assuming that the two groups have zero overlap.