WHY NOT?
Well, because unlike George Zimmerman, a Hispanic male who shot and killed an unarmed 17 year old Black male after he was physically assaulted and pinned to the ground, Roderick Scott is a Black man who shot and killed an unarmed 17 year old White male who stood across the street.
The cases are almost identical, except for two factors: 1) Cervini was committing a crime (breaking and entering a vehicle, theft); 2) Cervini had not physically assaulted Roderick Scott, nor did he have him pinned down to the ground. Moot points both, as both the Zimmerman case and the Scott case are self-defense cases, and it only matters that each of the defendants acted out of fear for their own lives.
There were no public outcries damning Roderick Scott for taking matters into his own hands. No one ever pointed out that he could have easily called the police instead of taking action himself. No one called him a “wannabe cop, ” or questioned why he hadn’t even give the police an opportunity to respond before he had decided to take action. It was assumed and accepted that Scott had acted in the best interest of his neighborhood.
Why weren’t these exemptions from blame extended to George Zimmerman? Do we now live in a society where a Black man has the right to self-defense, but a Hispanic man does not? Where a cry to “Kill Zimmerman” or “Murder Romney” is not perceived as a “credible threat”, but “Fuck Politics, Fuck Obama and Fuck the Government,” can get you arrested, facing 20 years imprisonment?
What’s going on here, America?
The Zimmerman case has served only to further reveal the growing hypocrisy of the current administration’s policies, and the mind-boggling contradictory outcries from those who claim to seek “equality” before the law, while simultaneously refusing to extend that same equality to anyone who they do not perceive to be worthy of it. How, exactly, will this lunacy be reconciled?
Imagine, if you can, a society where the right to self-defense will be determined upon race, social status, economic class, and gender – in that order.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t that exactly what the Civil Rights Movement fought to eradicate?
Make up your mind, people. You can’t have it both ways.
Read more: honeygetoverit.com
Poli-Soci commentary from the perspective of an innocent bystander.
Ok, maybe not that “innocent”… and not quite “standing by,” but you get the picture.
