Monday, April 9, 2012

An Open Letter To George Zimmerman

Mr. Zimmerman, I have only one thing to tell you.

You're guilty. Start making peace with that.

It doesn't matter whether you're charged or not, or whether you'll be convicted or acquitted. People have already made up their minds. You can't appeal that sentence.

I want you to get familiar with another person: Casey Anthony. You two need to start comparing notes, because you'll have to rely on each other's advice if the justice system eventually decides in your favor.

But like I said, that doesn't matter. You have no way to win. If the special prosecutor declines to press charges, people grumble about you beating the rap in the white man's justice system. If you go on trial and a jury acquits you, it's still beating the rap. If the facts show you gunned Treyvon Martin down in prejudicial cold blood, if a jury convicts you and sends you away, then that's that. You did it. Go away.

Or is it, really? The stench of a tainted verdict is still out there because people will gather the jurors had their personal nightmares of Sanford, Florida morphing into post-Rodney-King Los Angeles. With so many people calling for you to be locked up, can anybody seriously believe they're willing to accept a verdict of "Not Guilty?"

Here's the irony of all this: the hue and cry for your arrest is done in the name of justice. But the justice system only works to the degree with which we believe in it. The outcomes which don't match our personal beliefs -- regardless of what the facts tell us -- reinforce our notions that the system is broken. Protesters say prejudice led to the shooting that started all of this. Now prejudice is going to envelop the rest of it.

It's so inconvenient for us, this justice system that is supposed to keep our society somewhat civilized. It's too slow, too laborious, too detail-oriented, and dadgumit, doesn't make the right decisions all the time. Conviction by assumption is much easier, much more streamlined. No, I'm not going to blame the media. That's a cop-out. Despite what some people tell you, reporters don't tell us how to think. We make that choice. Show me where the First Amendment deprived us of free will.

You've already had your trial. You've already been convicted. Personally, I don't know whether you're guilty or innocent. I haven't even gotten to the likely possibility of a wrongful death lawsuit. I can't do anything for you now but tell you to pray and pray for you myself. GOD promises HE will deliver justice in the end. For now, you're stuck with the rest of us.