We're really swimming in it now. [View all]

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Today, at work, I found folks who are well-entrenched in Zimmerman's defense who weren't shy about angrily defaming young Trayvon and loudly proclaiming the gunman's innocence. I'm only mentioning this here because I haven't had this type of experience since the 'Rodney King incident' years ago. It's a wake-up call to me.

These Zimmerman defenders were taking their reasoning right from the script of the news reports which most of us believe actually favor the circumstance that Trayvon was pursued, accosted, threatened, and then shot. The 911 call, for instance, sounds to clearly record Trayvon crying out for help before a shot rang out -- then, silence; no more cries for help.

The logic says that was, indeed, Trayvon, all the way. However, I was subject to a stereo defense of Zimmerman today at work from a couple co-workers who expressed anger at the dead kid. Some said they would, themselves, have pursued Trayvon and chased him from their neighborhood. That notions raised were really over the top. I'm just floored by the impressions of this youth that folks defending Zimmerman have developed and are promoting.

There were insinuations from these folks that Trayvon had committed some sort of crime to merit a confrontation from Zimmerman. There were claims from these folks that the cries for help were Zimmerman's. I can't see how someone 'getting his head bashed in' and 'semi-conscious' (as described by his defenders) and still making those clear and distinct cries for help. Yet, these folks defending him were so certain . . .

What did I get from all that today-- and why bother to add to all of the angst by going into this here? I'm wondering if we're not seeing the fault lines in this incident of a major cultural divide. Inevitably, there are going to be folks who will stake their view of race relations and the relevance of these issues raised on the strength of the evidence which emerges from this curiously long investigative process and hopeful prosecution. That's on either side of the fault line.

I hope for a thorough and complete investigation and a swift prosecution if the facts support my view from the outside of this incident. In that scenario of his prosecution and conviction, I would hope that folks who so eagerly blamed the dead child for his own demise would take the same amount of time to represent and promote Trayvon's character in a positive light -- as well as take some time out to re-evaluate their own negative preconceptions about our minority youth.

I would also hope that we would take a lesson from this incident and try and be more circumspect in our representations of our social counterparts. We can't possibly know, at this point, just who these two principles actually are from news reports and the anecdotal.

I think we're heading for a larger collision of impressions and perceptions of each other, based on our impressions and perceptions of this case. Of course, we're rational. Of course, we're reasonable and fair. But, we're also impressionable and vulnerable to the emotional and pernicious manipulations of some of the folks managing this media-driven tragedy. I just had a uncharacteristic shouting match about this case with a couple of co-workers. We quieted down quickly enough after we had our say, but all of what was said is still simmering inside. I know that I'm mad as hell and have entertained thoughts of the same type of vigilantism I decry in this case. I can only imagine what the folks who held diametrically opposite opinions are thinking.

This isn't going to resolve itself easily. I know that's an understatement, but I can gauge the depth of feeling out there from my own attitude and from the equally insistent attitudes from those with views opposite mine. This is a powder keg ready to explode (or implode and aggravate and deepen already unresolved tensions over the characterizations surrounding this presidential election). I can see political lines being drawn over where we stand.

I know how angry I am over this and I can imagine having to defend my views and perceptions into perpetuity against outlandish stereotypes and slurs, much like I have about the 'King' incident years ago. We're really swimming in it now.