The Trayvon Martin case aftermath

This article was first published in the Villager newspaper.

The Villager is a Namibian newspaper under Omalaeti media.

The Trayvon Martin case aftermath

By Andrew SevenSeven

I’ve been following the Trayvon Martin case with one eye for more than a year now, ever since that tragic evening in February last year. To be completely honest, I’m not much of a law geek. In fact, I avoid series and movies that involve anything to do with a courtroom or crime investigation like it was the plague. But this case wasn’t just about the crime, not just about incident. It was a case that had a good number of the world population fully locked in from the moment the incident hit the media because of the ever-giving good old subject matter of race. 

There have been two groups divided on the issue, although one has been conspicuously more vocal. That is the pro-Trayvon Martin side and it has become even louder since George Zimmermann (Martin’s killer) was found not guilty of any crime. From celebrities to famous public figures and even journalists and pastors, people have been crying out for justice. The claims are that the judicial system is blatantly racist and corrupt. It’s an issue that runs fiercely through the veins of anyone with melanin because wherever there have been black people in numbers, some kind of marginalisation or abused could almost always be found there as well. It doesn’t matter if voices emerge from parts of Katutura or the suburbs of London, it’s an issue that concerns all of us. Basically, if Trayvon Martin had been white, and Zimmermann black, this would have been a non-issue solved in a matter of days probably.

Perhaps that is true, but perhaps that isn’t necessarily where the issue lies. Zimmermann was charged with second degree murder which meant the burden of proof fell to the state and his prosecutors. This means they had to prove beyond doubt that the man was guilty. Of course this was complicated by the Stand your Ground laws of the state the incident happened in and he eventually walked free. The outrage that ensued is understandable. But Zimmermann supporters question why the same fervour wasn’t shown when O.J Simpson was acquitted. And to be fair they kind of have a point. When O.J walked, every black comedian’s pencil was breaking as scripts overflowed with jokes. I think it’s time we began looking past race.

A boy who hadn’t even turned 18 yet was killed because he was followed (presumably because of his race)-but what allowed it all and indeed the Zimmermann to walk free was the law in place. It is difficult to prove that a shooter had premeditated a shooting and done it out of ill-will and convict him/her of second-degree murder, but under Stand Your Ground laws, the degree of threat one has to feel to resort to use of deadly force is quite murky. As long as the person feels the necessity, it’s fine. Studies show that justifiable homicide tripled in Florida annually after the law was put into effect.

It’s true, young black males are marginalised in the USA but if more attention was paid to resolving these laws then tangible change would come. The same can be said back home. We can cry about gender based violence forever, but until people start to tackle the law side of things (stricter punishment for one), it’ll just remain a social issue when it should be a legal one.