Assault on Trayvon and Lady Justice

Trayvon Martin

Trayvon Martin reportedly pounded George Zimmerman's head on the pavement just prior to getting shot and killed. But I maintain that what has really taken a pounding here is not the shooter's head but Lady Justice herself...she has been violently bloodied and ravaged and continues to limp along as the many pundits apply their interpretation to what the verdict in Florida really means.

Our nation has become the victim of Mr. Zimmerman, just as painfully as the young man who lost his life as a result of the actions of a self appointed vigilante who was unwilling to follow the specific instructions given to him by the authorities, "Stay in your car..." What part of that simple instruction was Mr. Zimmerman unable to understand? 

Personally, all other facts of this case simply become background chatter to the glaringly simple fact that had George Zimmerman acted as the authorities instructed him none of this would have happened.  Trayvon would have finished eating his Skittles, would have gotten home safe and soundly, his mother would have berated him for being out too late, George would have met the police on the corner and said "He went into that house there" and the police would have done whatever they do when a vigilante is too eager to identify every shadow as an opportunity to live out his personal dream of power.

But his irresponsible actions bring into focus a lot of other imbalances in the whole sequence of events.  Why did the authorities not prosecute him immediately for failure to follow their admonition to stay in his car? Wouldn't that have qualified as criminal endangerment?  Why did the authorities assume that his story did not require investigation? Why was the prosecution based on ANYTHING other than the strictest recitation of the facts...This man's refusal to heed the instructions given him directly resulted in the unnecessary escalation of events resulting in the death of a young man. No assumptions required of whether he was profiling, whether Trayvon had the intention of doing something illegal or not, whether Trayvon was a nice young man or a troubled teen, whether Zimmerman is a bigot or a racist or whether he felt his life was in danger; no assumptions required. He failed to follow instructions and this failure on his part ALONE resulted in the death of a person.  PERIOD. 

Why shouldn't we question the objectivity of the proceeding when the obvious was not done?  Why shouldn't we be concerned when the brother of the accused deserts the court house the day before the verdict and publicly stated that he did so to be prepared for the media because they had received a good indication that the verdict would be "not guilty"?

History has proven that we are a brave and just society that faces our shortcomings with wisdom and courage and makes the corrections that are required to truly live up to the ideals of  being the "land of the free, sweet land of liberty." Citizens of all ages, of all races and political convictions are waiting for some serious answers.  The questions are all too apparent.