-exerpt from the movie "A Man Called Peter"

July 14, 2013 - During the evening hours of February 26, 2012 George Zimmerman, neighborhood watch captain, saw a young man wearing a hoodie standing on the street corner in his neighborhood. Zimmerman called police and alerted them of the person on the street who was moving and shifting as he stood. Zimmerman’s neighborhood had had a rash of burglaries and the neighbor had had enough, so the neighborhood watch was formed.

Zimmerman called police to alert them to the situation and eventually the person of concern began walking down the street. While on the phone with police he began following the person, later identified as Trayvon Martin, in order to be able to tell police where he was. After following Martin up a dark “alley” Martin confronted Zimmerman and a struggle ensued during which Zimmerman fired his gun killing Martin. Zimmerman was eventually arrested and charged with second degree murder and after two weeks of trial was found not guilty by the jury. However, the aftermath of the trial leaves questions to be answered concerning the use of race against persons legally.

First of all, the media steam-rolled Zimmerman because he was of a different race than the deceased. After an investigation by police and then a review by the prosecutor’s office, it was determined that there was not enough evidence to charge George Zimmerman with murder. Racist hucksters like Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton took no time in using the Martin family as a platform to hype racism, regardless of the evidence in the case. CNN and HLN (formerly Headline News) quickly brought in their own hype-sters such as Nancy Grace and Jane Velez-Mitchell to fiercely flame the fires of bigotry. This leaves the discussion of the culpability of the media wide open in cases like this.

After CNN and HLN began hyping the case the governor of Florida succumbed to political pressure and appointed a special prosecutor tasked with the job of finding some way to arrest Zimmerman. The evidence in the case did not seem to matter, only to ease political pressure to satisfy the special interest groups like Sharpton, Jackson and the NAACP who appeared to want vengeance no matter the guilt or innocence of Zimmerman. CNN and HLN seemed to conspire with these groups to accuse Zimmerman of racism even though evidence in the case proved otherwise.

George Zimmerman is a man of multicultural heritage, being part Caucasian and part Hispanic. According to his brother Robert Zimmerman the family was raised in a neighborhood that was predominately black and had never had difficulties with friends and neighbors. George Zimmerman was active in his community and mentored young black kids who were from broken homes hoping to end the cycle of social failures in his community. And when his neighborhood became the object of burglaries and theft, George Zimmerman took part in the neighborhood watch. News organizations seemed to downplay these facts and at times seemed to mock the neighborhood watch programs. But media outlets were not the only ones at fault in the Zimmerman case.

Secondly it is clear that the legal system steam rolled Zimmerman when it succumbed to fear of radical race baiters like Al Sharpton, who were not interested in anything related to justice, but used the Martin family as a platform for self-promotion. On Fox News a commentator with Geraldo Rivera made the point that one prosecutor had already declined to prosecute because there was no evidence. Also it was said that the special prosecutor was charged to find something to charge Zimmerman with. It has been suggested that a stronger prosecutor would have refused the case.

If Zimmerman was innocent what does that say of the legal system that arrested an innocent person strictly because of political pressure? Does it nullify the constitution? The fourth amendment to the U.S. constitution says "...and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause”. After the police investigation and review by prosecutors it was determined that there was no probable cause to arrest George Zimmerman. And jurors in the case found Zimmerman innocent. It was only after politicians and “civil rights activists” became involved that a special prosecutor was appointed, charged with the task of finding a way to arrest Zimmerman.

Being that the constitution guarantees protection from arbitrary arrests, does this indicate that America is shifting away from its own constitution and bill of rights? Being that there was found no probable cause to arrest Zimmerman, yet a special prosecutor did so anyway, one could make the case that George Zimmerman’s constitutional rights were violated by the state of Florida. In this morning’s news concerns that the Justice Department may charge Zimmerman with civil rights violations have arisen. Will the United States government trump charges against him in order to relive political pressures or enact vengeance through the wishes of the Obama administration? It is plausible to say that this case may determine whether or not the United States will stand by its own constitution or rewrite it to satisfy the wishes of politicians.

The system is shattered which shows in recent high profile prosecutions. Casey Anthony was found innocent in the death of her child and walked free. The prosecution did not have evidence of murder, but could have prosecuted her on numerous other charges which could have gotten tons of jail time. However, because of the publicity surrounding the case, poor judgment was used by the prosecution and now Anthony is free.

Thirdly, questions of reversal of race have risen. Each media outlet has questioned that if the races had been reversed, would the same verdict have been made? The question implies that the jurors ignored evidence and expressed racial bias in their verdict. No question could be more disrespectful to the jurors (by implying they are bigots) and is more damning of the justice system.

The case never went to a grand jury because of the lack of evidence. Police had investigated twice and determined that no crime had been committed. However, after a lot of racial comments from the likes of Al Sharpton and others, a special prosecutor was appointed that took no time in scarfing up Zimmerman and jailing him. Even though he had not broken the law, pressure from special interest groups appeared to be able to trample on his rights and jail Zimmerman. What does this speak of civil rights leaders? What liability have they incurred in this case? Time will tell.

Robert Zimmerman, Jr. told Piers Morgan on CNN that George is still processing the results as this incident has changed both the Zimmerman and Martin family’s lives. However Morgan proceeded to play Martin as a victim by stating that Martin was “armed with a bag of skittles” as though Martin used the candy as a weapon. Statements like this are meant to downplay Martin’s part in the violent confrontation. Robert Zimmerman, Jr. said he has concerns that George and his family will be in danger from now on because of radical people who may wish to harm him.

Following the trial NAACP president Ben Jealous mockingly referred to “these little neighborhood watch volunteers who think they’re making their neighborhoods safer” as though the volunteers are small-minded. Ads on television by Medicare call for “Senior Medicare Patrol” volunteers to monitor for fraud. All this questions whether U.S. citizens will continue to find value in spending time with volunteer groups when you stand the chance of being branded with a slur. Many more question are yet to be debated, such as the value of constitutionally guaranteed rights when political pressures may side-step those rights.