George Zimmerman is an idiot IMHO. From what I can tell while watching the case as closely as I have, he saw a black kid in a gated community and jumped to a stereotype. He then confronted the kid, a fight broke out and he shot him. What is in dispute, is the fight. Was Zimmerman acting in self-defense or did he commit murder? This debate was taking place in a court of law, and in that court, a murder conviction can only be passed down when there is no reasonable doubt. No one knows what happened in regards to the fight … that’s reasonable doubt. It’s tragic when someone dies for seemingly no reason, but that’s not what a trial is about. It’s about facts and proof.
Now, the worst part of this whole thing is that it has reignited the race debate—black vs white. There were racial undertones, however, those undertones were perpetrated by the media and the ignorant. If people wanted to get broad, how has this not generated another conversation about guns?
This trial is rationally about one man vs. one man. Also, Zimmerman isn’t white— he’s Hispanic. I stated this on my Twitter tonight, and I was told that race is not determined by the colour of one’s skin. Think about that for a moment. If you’re thinking the person that presented such debate is stupid, don’t. A different person that accused me of being racist is stupid. This girl is actually quite smart. What this novice debater did was frame the conversation to suit her needs to continue her argument, in hopes that I was weak. It’s short term intelligence. Eventually, this debate falls to scrutiny, however in the short term, well done.
Race is defined as, 2. Each of the major divisions of humankind, having distinct physical characteristics.
Broken down to it’s most simple essence, race is all about physical appearance and colour of skin. George Zimmerman isn’t white by this standard. White is not a culture, Ukrainian is. Black is not a culture, hip hop is. Culture, creed, religion, ethnicity have nothing to do with race. Race is purely physical. I can’t say that enough. The next point of debate was that the father’s DNA determines race. Scientifically this is a very weak point. The father determines gender. The father and the mother determine race as they both contribute this DNA and there is no predominance from what I understand. Throughout the debate I was told that the Bible says the father determines the race. Well I’ve read that book, and I didn’t see it in there. I asked for a link—nothing. Not that it would matter, you can’t bring the Bible into intelligent debate. The world has changed greatly in one year, never mind thousands.
The fact that we’re still arguing this point shows we’ve come far, but not far enough. Zimmerman may have made it about race, but we didn’t have to, especially when the race in question is just plain wrong. I am a very tolerant person with multiple races in my family, and that’s probably why I don’t see in terms of race. I can see how culture creates divide, but race? It doesn’t make sense in this advanced scientific world. My white self, my black cousin, my Asian aunt, my native cousin and my brown best friend are all the same—human. When the fuck are we going to learn that critical lesson?
WRITTEN BY JAMIE HALL Writer, Entrepreneur & Fan of Superman from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada