George Zimmerman Trial Starts Today

While I'll be keeping an eye on Washington DC and Milwaukee for two trials starting there , my still unapologetically Black and trans behind will have my attention focused along with the rest of the country on the Seminole County Courthouse in Sanford, FL.

The trial of George Zimmerman gets started in Sanford, FL today in which he will attempt to get off for killing 17 year old Trayvon Martin in cold blood for the crime of Walking While Black.

Sarcasm meter off, continuing post.

This trial like the OJ one turned out to be in the 90's is unavoidably going to be an American racial issues litmus test.   We African Americans since the day we heard about what happened have been in 'there but for the grace of God go I' mode every time we see pictures of Trayvon or his parents stoically fighting for justice for their son.

As much as Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin and their attorney have tried to focus the attention on the legal case and getting justice for Trayvon, we can't avoid the overwhelming racial subtext permeating this case.

Those of us who are Black and TBLG and our organizations have a bitter familiarity with the result of what happens when the toxic union of bigotry and violence happens and see it visited upon our people far too often.

We can't avoid thinking about race in this situation especially when the conservafools, their talking heads, and their whiteness uber alles orgs sent cash and rushed to the defense of George Zimmerman. 

And before you even think about e-mailing any comment about Zimmerman isn't white, don't waste your time. He didn't bother claiming that Latino heritage until it was needed.  He had no problem accepting that whiteness and privileged white male status he got from Daddy and was obviously benefiting from by being able to sleep in his own bed the night he murdered Trayvon.

If Zimmerman is convicted, the justice system worked in this case despite the attempts o the Zimmerman family and the vanillacentric conservafool movement to shift the narrative, 'work the refs'  and demonize Trayvon for the fateful decision he made to simply get some tea and Skittles from a local 7 Eleven.

If he walks, we're probably looking at Rodney King levels of anger and pissivity in our community that I hope and pray doesn't explode into what Dr King called it in his 'The Other America' essay as 'the language of the unheard'.    

And what I wrote on March 20, 2012 will sadly be verified.

Once again, it reinforces the fact in the USA that no matter what we do, whether we are the president of the United States or some 17 year old kid just getting a late night snack, the lives of Black people don't mean jack to some people infected with vanillacentric privilege, ignorance and bigotry. 

And in some cases it's justification enough for these bigots to kill us.

We'll see as the court case in Sanford, FL unfolds what happens to Zimmerman and if Trayvon will get justice, or Zimmerman will be given a get out of jail free card for killing a 17 year old Black kid minding his own damned business until he stuck his nose in it despite the Sanford police dispatcher telling him not to.