Trayvon: The Beat Goes On (Beating On His Character)

So, it took weeks, but the right-wing nutjobs and the racist asshats in Florida finally have begun to weave together enough material to begin to assassinate the character of a murdered youth.

He had been suspended from school…so the hell what? As I understand it, he was suspended for chronic tardiness to a particular class, not for bad behavior or thuggery. I haven’t heard anything so far that indicates he was anything but a mostly good student.

There was marijuana residue in his backpack. Residue. Maybe he smoked pot, or maybe he let a pot-smoking friend borrow his backpack. Point is, there were no drugs in that backpack and from what I’ve heard so far, tests on his corpse showed no drugs. And even if he did like to smoke pot now and again, let me make a couple things clear. First, I was an honor student, and I hung out with other honor students, and being a good student doesn’t mean you don’t ever imbibe or smoke things you aren’t supposed to. Ergo, doing such things doesn’t automatically make you a bad person or a bad student. Also, when was the last time you saw a violent pothead? People who smoke marijuana are generally peaceful folks, unless they’re putting a whole lot of other things in their body in addition to the pot.

Oh, and he listened to gangster rap? Oh myyyyyy. How…how…you know: who cares!!! I have gangster rap in my music collection. Plenty of his white classmates listen to it, too, I can guarantee. Listening to country and western doesn’t mean you’re an idiot redneck either. Nor does listening to punk rock make you a punk.

Finally, there is evidence that perhaps George was roughed up a bit? That Trayvon might have reached for his gun?

Oh, really?

Let’s recap:

• George was in a vehicle, following Trayvon (which would creep me out and make me feel threatened and in danger if I was a youth)
• George called 911
• 911 told George they didn’t need him to follow the “suspect” and police would take things from there
• George didn’t follow directions
• In addition to continuing to stalk Trayvon against official instructions, George chose to exit his vehicle, carrying a weapon.

So, George was acting creepy as hell, and didn’t stay in his nice, safe vehicle, and that’s Travyon’s fault? We don’t know exactly what went down when they were both on the street together, and we never will…but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if George scared the hell out of Trayvon (for no reason and with no authorization or authority) and Trayvon thought (justifiably) that his safety was in danger and perhaps his life. Maybe a fight started then, but Trayvon didn’t make it happen. He didn’t reach into George’s vehicle and drag him out of it.

There was only one armed person who picked a fight. That was George Zimmerman. A man with a history of questionable behavior and vigilante tendencies. He’s a murderer and Trayvon’s a victim.

Period.

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