The defense is preparing to rest its case in the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman. At issue is whether Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, in self defense.
Initially, many commentators thought the shooting was racially motivated, and the trial has had racial overtones, as in the witness questioning of Martin’s friend, Rachel Jeantel.
Author Rich Benjamin says the case is being watched closely by both whites and African Americans, and will have a big impact on our racial future.
Transcript
JEREMY HOBSON, HOST:
This is HERE AND NOW. As the defense prepares to rest its case in the trial of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin, we want to look at how the trial is reverberating in the black community.
In Sanford, Florida, barber Shawn Wood says he and his customers have been watching the trial closely on TV. We spoke to him today from the shop, and he said he’s had his 18-year-old son in mind as he’s watched the trial.
SHAWN WOOD: You know, it’s a young kid that really wasn’t bothering anybody, just going through a neighborhood, and he got killed. And a lot of people, I believe, feel like that could have been their kid, you know, because I can see my kid walking through their neighborhood, coming from the store, not bothering a soul, and end up dead for no reason.
HOBSON: That’s Shawn Wood in Sanford, Florida, where we’re joined now from New York by Rich Benjamin. He is the author of “Searching for Whitopia.” And Rich, do you see parallels between this trial and, say, the OJ trial back in 1994?
RICH BENJAMIN: Very much so, and the reason I say that is because here we have two criminal trials that are taking place against a racially heated atmosphere. In the case of OJ Simpson, we had just had the earthquake in the L.A. area. There were accusations of looting. It was a racially charged atmosphere because of several ballot initiatives that had gone through the California system.
And here we see the same thing again. We’re in a racially charged atmosphere to the extent that VRA, the Voting Rights Act, has been voted down. We just had the Paula Deen affair. Affirmative action is front and center on many people’s mind. So on the one hand a lot of black people I’m talking to are concerned that on the one hand people want a race-neutral law, they want a quote-unquote colorblind society but all the while reality, particularly this trial, is telling us that that’s not how things actually exist.
HOBSON: But many people would say we’re in a very different place than we were in the early ’90s. I mean, we’ve got an African-American president.
BENJAMIN: Yes, we’ve made a lot of progress that we should be proud of since the early ’90s, but at the same time, for example here in New York we have a stop-and-frisk policy that allows the police to racially profile me – I should mention I am black – even though I work as hard as any other white citizen of New York City.
And so while we’ve made progress, we have a lot of laws – stand your ground, stop and frisk – that codify George Zimmerman’s behavior. And by the way, if he’s acquitted, the devastating effect is that feels like a green light to every vigilante justice idiot who feels like they have the right to chase down black youth.
And so the undifference, the similarity, is that the law is supporting a lot of this racist treatment.
HOBSON: How much do you think that this case is about race versus let’s say gun laws and self-protection laws, et cetera?
BENJAMIN: It’s about both, and I’m glad you asked that. This isn’t simply a racial issue. This is about privatization. This is about how in the absence of effective policing in some parts, in the absence of many public institutions, we’ve privatized our criminal justice system from private police forces to private vigilante groups to private prisons, and this is about a form of paranoid gun culture that exists in this country independent of race.
So I very much agree with a premise that it’s about poor gun laws, it’s about the gun lobby industry writing our laws. And by the way, youth in this country have to feel safe. Did the kids in Newton feel safe? Did Trayvon Martin feel safe? It’s not just that black kids are victimized by poor gun laws, the lack of safety for both types of youth, whether they be innocent white kids in Connecticut or innocent brown kids in Florida, is just horrific and terrifying.
HOBSON: So if you saw two people watching this trial, and, you know, it’s on CNN, all over, at airports and supermarkets and wherever there are televisions, if you see two people, one’s white, and one’s black, how are they viewing it differently?
BENJAMIN: I believe black people are viewing this differently knowing that often the law is predisposed against them. For example after the altercation, a dead 17-year-old corpse was checked and tested for drugs, where as the live adult’s body was not checked for drugs. How is that possible? That’s an example of the black person in the airport lounge is watching CNN differently, knowing just one minor fact like that, knowing about stop and frisk, knowing about stand your gun law, whereas many white people, well-intentioned, good-minded white people, will be watching the trial, quote-unquote, at face value and saying oh, he was acquitted, and therefore the law was served.
But, you know, people are looking at the law differently.
HOBSON: We remember that right after Trayvon Martin’s death there were big protests in Sanford and across the country. I remember driving through a neighborhood, a black neighborhood of Los Angeles, and there were big memorials for Trayvon Martin up there. What do you expect after the verdict comes down on this trial?
BENJAMIN: Well, I hope that we have proper thought, proper reflection, proper debate about our laws. I hope we pressure our lawmakers. I don’t have any expectations one way or the other. I’m focusing on my hopes.
HOBSON: Well Rich Benjamin, how important do you think that this trial is for race relations in the United States in 2013?
BENJAMIN: I think the trial is very important because we are approaching a society where white people in not the too distant future will be a minority. And in order for such a society to actually work, everyone has to be invested, and everybody has to be trusting of the law, that the law serves us equally.
Now if George Zimmerman is acquitted, that is a negative impact for race relations because black people think that the law is not applied equally. I am horrified to imagine a situation where in my community there’s an altercation, a dead minor is on the scene, his corpse is tested for drugs, the live adult is not tested for drugs.
And so I think the trial will be important for race relations, and I hope whatever the outcome we make the best of it as a lesson.
HOBSON: Do you think that things would have been different if George Zimmerman were black?
BENJAMIN: Yes, I think it would be radically different. I think the law would have reacted differently, more effectively in the critical moments after the altercation. And frankly I’ve never – of course there’s black-on-black crime, which is another HERE AND NOW episode, but I’ve never heard of a black adult chasing down a black minor, despite the police’s warning, getting into an altercation and killing the minor and then saying oh, well, he was a suspicious suspect.
That doesn’t happen because when you see Trayvon Martin, when I see Trayvon Martin, I see my cousin, I see my nephew, I see my neighbor. I don’t see a suspicious person.
HOBSON: Rich Benjamin is author of “Searching for Whitopia.” Rich, thank you so much.
BENJAMIN: Thanks, Jeremy, thanks for having me.
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HOBSON: And if you’ve got thoughts on this, the conversation continues at hereandnow.org. We’re also on Twitter, @hereandnow. I’m @jeremyhobson. Robin is @hereandnowrobin. Still ahead today, there are more refugees now than there have been at any point in the last 20 years. We’ll look at what they face on their long and winding journey. News is next, HERE AND NOW.
Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Guests:
- Rich Benjamin, senior fellow at Demos and author of “Searching for Whitopia.” He tweets @richbenjaminusa.
- Shawn Wood, barber and owner of Shawn’s Hair Care in Sanford, Florida.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDA4NjIwNTkwMDEzMjI4NDY0MjY4ZTBlNA004))