Your old Uncle PC admits it.
He, like so many Americans, has developed a pretty short attention span when it comes to news cycle arcs.
As such news cycles go, the killing of Trayvon Matin by vigilante George Zimmerman has held The Blog's interest, and maybe even passion, for an unusually long period of time.
While checking on The Blog's blog traffic, this evening, he saw several hits in the past week on a post about the disgusting Trayvon themed gun targets that was posted in May of 2012.
That's over a year ago.
Wow!
And, as mentioned in a recent post, in the weeks following a jury's "not guilty" verdict for George Z., The Blog has been chewing on the story like The BlogDog chews on her favorite toy.
And, as mentioned, The Blog's research has resulted in a jam packed file of story links and graphics that have happened since the verdict.
The PC promised that this post would be an epic.
But, you know what?
After all that research and so many disheartening revelations about his fellow man...
The PC is sick of it all and is ready to just put a lid on it.
So, instead of the planned epic, I'm going to try to sum it all up as briefly as possible.
Here we go...
The case came down to this...
An unarmed, black, teenager, walking home from a 7/Eleven, was followed, confronted and shot to death, by an armed adult with vigilante tendencies and a history of racially tinged 911 calls and a legally checkered past.
This is fact. No one, not even Zimmerman's defense, denies that.
The defense lawyers did their job. They successfully confused a jury of lay women enough to cast "reasonable doubt" and find in favor of Zimmerman.
Did the jury find correctly, within the parameters of the law?
It would seem so.
Was justice served?
I don't think so.
But, as "they" say, it is what it is.
As disturbing as that is, that isn't what is sticking in The PC's craw.
What bothers me is the fact that in the weeks following the shooting, and in the weeks following the verdict...
... Mostly white, mostly middle class, mostly male, (mostly parroting the millionaire punditry,) and exclusively "conservative" folks, some public figures, others, just plain folks and some friends of The PC...
...Have spent an inordinate amount of time and energy defending Zimmerman, defending lax gun laws and "Stand Your Ground" laws and blaming Trayvon for his own death.
It started out with the once cool, but now pathetic, Fox "News" favorite "selfie" tweeter and Bill O'Reilly boy toy, Geraldo Rivera...
...blaming Trayvon's death on the way he was dressed.
And then, there is the whole denial that race had anything to do with the case.
Or, even, the denial that racism still exists in today's America.
Just ask the "Kenyan Half-rican" that America voted into the White House, twice.
There is some serious "post-racism" for you.
And, oh, The Blog's white, conservative friends love to glom on to quotations from successful African-Americans and "share" them on Facebook, when said rich and famous black men criticize their black brothers (often, out of context,) who weren't lucky, talented or educated well enough to rise up from their lowly existences.
"That Bill Cosby," they say, (*ahem* That's Dr. William H. Cosby, to you.) "That Charles Barkley, that Morgan Freeman, that Barak Obama," (and yes, that is President Obama, to you.)...
"They know that it's not about race."
Actually, they do.
Some of them, from their rarified air of success, may have forgotten. Because, The PC has observed, close up, the tendency that rich, super successful people, (or those who marry rich, super successful people,) forget what it's like to not be rich, very quickly.
We will get to that in a post, soon.
But our President remembers.
He remembers what it was like to be brown skinned in America.
Those store detectives that followed him around didn't know or care that his mother and grandparents were white. They only knew that his skin was dark.
*DIGRESSION*
Many, many years ago, the lily white Blog wore his hair down to his waist. (That's when he had hair.) Those same store detectives, (well, not the exact same ones. The Blog lived in Ohio. The Prez lived in Hawaii,) But, the same sort, profiled your Uncle PC, based on his appearance. He wasn't black, but he was a long haired, hippy freak. probably high on "Mary Jane" and looking to steal the store blind.
*END DIGRESSION*
Where was I?
Oh, yeah.
So, Trayvon Martin has been tried and convicted of his own murder, in the mainstream and social media because he was a black kid, wearing a hoodie, walking home in the rain.
And, George Zimmerman walks free.
A couple of days ago, Mr. Z. was pulled over by a Texas cop for speeding.
He had a firearm in his glove compartment, which, in Texas, is evidently, okay.
He was let off with a warning, which, according to Texas law enforcement, is standard procedure.
Right.
After the cop posed for celeb pix with George.
Go Facebook!
Seems legit.
But, The Blog has seen this before.
George Zimmerman is a "bad penny."
He will turn up again.
His type always do. Just ask O.J.
Unless his speedy trek through Texas was a trip to south of the border.
In which case, we may never see him again.
For now, The Blog is done with him.
And good riddance.
Let me leave you with one final thought...
The Blog still has that folder full of research. He's going to hang on to it for now.
Because, even though he is done with George Zimmerman, he isn't done with some of the stuff he has collected.
More about those subjects, later.
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