The shooting death of unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin by a fat-faced, ranting cop wannabe “woke” me — as it did many others in white America — more than six years ago in February 2012. Trayvon, a 17-year old African-American was walking along a path in a gated community in Sanford, Florida where he was visiting with his father when George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer shot him through the heart.
Must-Must-See-TV
This tragedy, and its attendant scandals (the time it took for local cops to charge Zimmerman, and then his subsequent acquittal at trial) is the subject of a six-part docuseries produced by Shawn Carter (that’s rapper, Jay-Z to you) airing on Monday nights at 10pm EST on BET TV and the Paramount Network. The double “Must” in this blog title is not a typo. It is my recommendation after watching Episode One.
What “Suspicious” Activity?
I didn’t need to watch this episode to remember the bare facts of this appalling, shocking shooting death. A kid wearing a hoodie, and walking back from the neighborhood 7-11, carrying nothing but a cellphone, a packet of Skittles and a can of Arizona iced tea was targeted by Zimmerman, a self-appointed captain of the neighborhood watch on patrol in his car that night.
In Episode One, we hear the tape of Zimmerman’s 911 call in its entirety which establishes that the mere sight of a young black man wearing a hoodie and walking in the gated community was deemed by Zimmerman to be a “suspicious”activity (“the guy looks like he’s up to no good, he looks black.”) He then adds: “these assholes, they always get away […] fucking punks.”
On the tape, Zimmerman is asked by the dispatcher “are you following him?” and when Zimmerman answers, “yes,” the dispatcher states quite clearly : “We don’t need you to do that. Help is on the way.”
Yet, 71 seconds later, Zimmerman was out of his car, and Trayvon lay dead on the grass, and Zimmerman told the cops that he shot Trayvon in self-defense.
“Avoidable” Killing
In notes which I made in July 2013 at the time of Zimmerman’s trial on second-degree murder charges, I wrote: “Zimmerman claims he got out of his car to see the road signs so he could tell the cops where he was located.”
And then I wrote: “Duh?????” He was the neighborhood watch captain; he’d been patrolling the development for several years; he would have surely known every inch of that complex without looking at the road signs; he did not need to get out of his car to read the road signs.
I never understood (maybe I will after seeing more episodes) why given the fact of being told to stop following Trayvon, Zimmerman was never adequately challenged on why he was out of his car and virtually face-to-face with Trayvon when he shot the teen? Indeed, even the police at the time described Trayvon’s killing as “ultimately avoidable by Zimmerman, if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and awaited the arrival of law enforcement.”
Walk-through of Execution
What is new for me in this docu-series is the videotape of Zimmerman with the cops at the scene the following day in which he gives them a walk -through, and his side of the story, of what happened between him and Trayvon. The scene of the crime is along a path between townhouses. We get to hear the recordings of the 911 calls made by neighbors as someone calls “help, help me” in the background. Zimmerman told cops that the cries for help were his; Trayvon’s father later identified the cries (clearly of a boy) to be those of his son.
Most Heartbreaking Moment
Also new is Trayvon’s father, Tracy, describing how he found out his son was dead. We hear the recording of Tracy reporting Trayvon as missing. Tracy’s voice is interwoven with that of a Sanford police officer telling how he came in for duty and saw the missing persons report and then the photos of an unidentified teenager shot to death at the gated community.
And, of course, watching this unfold, as it did in real time, we already know the awful heartbreak that is about to descend on Tracy Martin even as he is being asked what his son was wearing when he went missing. Then, Tracy tells us: “an officer pulled up in an unmarked vehicle, he told me to sit down.” It is one of the most heartbreaking moments I have ever seen on TV.
Guns & Racism
The chain of events that led to Trayvon’s killing started in the despicable, sick, racist mind of George Zimmerman, but the shocking acquittal for the killing of the unarmed teen must be laid at the door of the equally sick and despicable National Rifle Association which pushed for the adoption of the Stand Your Ground law in Florida. This is a law which provides justification for defendants to use force without retreating in order to protect and/or defend themselves against threats or perceived threats of serious bodily harm or death. It is also a law that heavily favors white shooters of black people.
However, one of the two Florida legislators who co-sponsored the bill was quoted at the time as calling for Zimmerman’s arrest because “there’s nothing in this statute that authorizes you to pursue and confront people particularly if law enforcement has told you to stay put.” All the more shocking, then, that a jury acquitted Zimmerman — a verdict which led directly to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In The Trayvon Martin Story, future episodes will shed a light on how lax gun laws and racism — the very worst of America — came together in a perfect storm. These are the issues which the docu-series promises to explore even as it shines a spotlight on a boy, who was neither a goody two-shoes nor a punk , but just a regular American boy shot in the heart as he was walking home, talking on his cellphone to a girl, and looking forward to watching a game on TV.
As the U.K.newspaper, The Guardian observed in a review: “the story gets worse the closer you zoom in.”
Sickening.
Absolutely is, Greg. I watched episode two last night, and nothing I’m seeing makes it any the less sickening after all these years.