Shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman - Essay Example

?Trayvon Martin case The Trayvon Martin case involves the fatal shooting of a 17 year old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on the night of February 26, 2012. The fact which made this case a media phenomenon and garnered the attention of the public, and thereby was blown out of the proportion, is the race of the victim. As Martin was an African American male, and was unarmed when an altercation between Zimmerman and him resulted in his death, it was viewed as a hate crime. Zimmerman has a biracial Hispanic background and was the community watch coordinator carrying out his duty, and according to his version he has acted in self-defense. On a private errand, Zimmerman noticed that Martin was walking around within the parameters of the gated community in a suspicious manner. On the other hand, Martin was visiting the home of his father and his father's fiancee. (Sendensky). Zimmerman first phoned the Sanford Police Department with the intention to report about Martin's suspicious behavior. After the call ended, it is said that there was an altercation between the two, with Zimmerman being pinned down to the ground by Martin. This forced Zimmerman to fatally shoot Martin at a close range in self-defense. “Zimmerman has claimed self-defense, saying he opened fire after Martin punched him in the face, knocked him to the ground and began slamming his head on the sidewalk.” (Sendensky). With police finding no evidence against Zimmerman’s version of self-defense, he was left off. That created huge stir, with certain sections of the media and the public implying racial bias for the release of Zimmerman, thereby reporting the crime in self-defense as a hate crime. That is, when the facts of the case, versions of the witnesses and the dubious role played by the media are viewed critically, it implies that the Trayvon Martin case is being blown out of proportion as a hate crime, even involving celebrities. Speaking about celebrities, many came in support of Martin asking for the immediate arrest of Zimmerman. That is, when Zimmerman was let off, the issue snowballed into a major issue when the media started focusing on it. The first action which raised awareness of this issue was carried out by Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, who created a petition in the website, Change.org. It attracted over 2.2 million signatures and that made the issue gain more attention. (Stableford). As Martin was killed while he was donning a hoodie, people supporting his side started wearing hoodie as a sign of protest. This form of protest spread to various U.S. cities, as protest marches labeled as “Million Hoodie Marches” or “Hundred hoodie marches” were organized extensively. That is when celebrities came into the picture. Celebrities including Nelly, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade, P. Diddy, Luda, Tia Mowry, members of the Miami Heat, etc., tweeted or posted photos in various social networking websites of themselves wearing hoodies. (Shapiro) (Stableford). This created heightened media focus regarding the murder and non-arrest of Zimmerman. Then, a large gathering was organized in the Union Square in New York, where many civil rights leaders like Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, etc., participated and voiced their protests against the non-arrest and lack of serious charges against Zimmerman. Even the American President, Barack Obama asked for an impartial probe in the issue. At the same time, celebrities’ particularly film director, Spike Lee’s action against Zimmerman and his family came under scrutiny. With many radical groups offering rewards and calls to ‘capture’ Zimmerman if the police are unable to do, Lee retweeted an alleged address of Zimmerman to his 200,000 Twitter followers. That address came out to be a wrong one, with an elderly couple occupying that address leading to criticism of Lee’s action. “Spike Lee's retweet of a tweet thought to contain the address of Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman has resulted in a firestorm of criticism—in part because the address was wrong.” (Stableford). All these actions by the celebrities viewing the killing as a hate crime and not just has another crime or murder in self-defense ‘fueled’ the ‘media fire’ on the issue. When these actions of the celebrities and also by the media are viewed critically in relation to the facts and witnesses’ versions, it seems the issue has been blown out of proportion. One of the facts of the case is, Zimmerman was also hurt during the confrontation with Martin, and was bleeding from the nose and also had an abrasion on the back of his head. Zimmerman also alleged to have asked for help from a resident of the community, when he was pinned down by Martin and was punched on the face. This was corroborated by the witness, who was identified just as John. He stated, “The guy on the bottom, who had a red sweater on, was yelling to me, 'Help! Help!' and I told him to stop, and I was calling 911…And then…the guy who was on the top beating up the other guy, was the one laying in the grass, and I believe he was dead at that point.” (“Teen shot and killed in neighborhood altercation”). The other aspect, which implies that killing of Martin could be another crime and not hate crime, is the favorable reports about Zimmerman’s character particularly his racial views. Pointing out his multiracial background, Zimmerman's father, Robert Zimmerman, stated that his son was a Hispanic and brought up in a multiracial family, which had few African-American family members as well. “He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever…,” the letter says. “The media portrayal of George as a racist could not be further from the truth.” (Canada). In addition, there are reports of how Zimmerman had mentored African-American youths in the past, and also how he propped up and led the protests against the beating of a homeless African-American man by the white son of a Sanford police officer in 2010. (Canada). From these facts, evidences and reports, it can be implied that Zimmerman may not be a racist individual and could have committed the crime in self-defense and thus cannot be viewed as a hate crime. When the role of the media in blowing this issue out of proportion is viewed critically, it gives different perspectives. It being said that media focus on this issue accentuated, when the 911 calls made by Zimmerman to Sanford Police was released to the public. This led to a form of mass-reporting by majority of the American media, with specific African-American journalists playing a major role. “if not for several black journalists, including Trymaine Lee of The Huffington Post, Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic, Charles M. Blow of The New York Times, and Reverend Al Sharpton of MSNBC, it is doubtful anyone would know who Trayvon Martin is and was.” (Shapiro). Although, this initial coverage focused on the crime, sizable number of media houses started portraying it as the hate crime, through dubious means. For example, media is said to be ‘selectively’ using particular photos of both Zimmerman and Martin to ‘skew’ the public perception against Zimmerman. That is, in most of the photos used by the media Martin is being portrayed as a “baby-faced boy”, while Zimmerman were shown as “beefy-looking figure”. (Sedenksy). These photos were outdated as they were taken years back, and according to some experts may wrongly shape the public’s perceptions about who could be wrong. As Kenny Irby of Florida based Poynter Institute stated, “When you have such a lopsided visual comparison, it just stands to reason that people would rush to judgment,” (Sedenksy). Thus, it is clear that media’s dubious role in the use of photos made the public view the killing more as a hate crime. In addition, NBC’s release of an ‘edited’ 911 phone call, showing Zimmerman as the wrongdoer, came under scrutiny. When it was played by NBC, Zimmerman was alleged to have said to the Sanford Police, “This guy looks like he's up to no good. He looks black.” (Wemple). However, in the original recording, he just said: “This guy looks like he's up to no good. Or he's on drugs or something.” and when the 911 operator asks, “is he black, white or Hispanic?” Zimmerman just answered, “He looks black.” (Wemple). However, through that wrong editing, it seems that NBC wanted to portray Zimmerman has a racial profiler, who could have murdered Martin because of his race. Although, NBC apologized for that error and even fired the producer who was involved in the editing, it is clear that media played or playing a negative role in portraying the crime as a hate crime. That is, with the court case still going on and George Zimmerman not yet found guilty of murder, it is being said in certain quarters that the media and other groups are making it into a larger hate crime. With facts and evidences pointing towards how the murder could have been taken in the spur of the moment, without any possibility of racial overtones, it can be implied that the case has been blown out of proportion. Works Cited Canada, Danielle. “Robert Zimmerman Defends His Son, George, in Open Letter.” Rolling Out, 28 March 2012. Web. 25 April 2012 Sedenksy, Matt. “Old photos may be deceptive in Fla. shooting case.” SF Gate, 30 March 2012. Web. 25 April 2012 Shapiro, E. “How Trayvon Martin Became a Missing White Girl.” Huffington Post, 28 March 2012. Web. 25 April 2012 Stableford, Dylan. “Spike Lee retweet with wrong Zimmerman address sparks outrage and fear.” Yahoo News, 28 March 2012. Web. 25 April 2012 “Teen shot and killed in neighborhood altercation.” My Fox Orlando, 26 March 2012. Web. 25 April 2012 Wemple, Erik. “NBC to do ‘internal investigation’ on Zimmerman segment.” Washington Post, 31 March 2012. Web. 25 April 2012 Read More