The Zimmerman case: whose verdict counts?

After one day of deliberating a Florida jury has not yet decided whether George Zimmerman should suffer a criminal penalty for shooting Trayvon Martin to death in February 2012. They have a number of crimes for which they might convict Zimmerman, or else they can find him guiltless. The jurors may be the only people in America who have not yet drawn conclusions from the incident. The fatal encounter is one of those national ink blots where what you see tells more about you than about the event. For some, Martin was necessarily an unoffending innocent marked for death because of his race. For others, Zimmerman is suffering persecution in the name of political correctness for doing his duty and exercising his right to self-defense. For some, Zimmerman is a plain and simple thug; for others, Martin was. Viewed objectively, it looks like a confrontation between two stupid people ended fatally if not tragically. Few view the Martin killing that way. For many, it is inescapably a political event because the shooting of a black man always is. For others, a simple case has been unjustly escalated into a political event because black people politicize their every misfortune, blaming whitey instead of themselves when things go wrong. For some, Martin is a martyr. For others, Zimmerman may become one even though his life is not in jeopardy. The national news coverage of Zimmerman's trial is probably a better illustration of the still-combustible state of race relations than the actual shooting. That so many across the country can't view the case with indifference tells us more than many of us want to know. Some may wish we could view it with indifference and blame those who, in their minds, supposedly forced the case on our attention for political reasons. Unfortunately, the outrage over Martin's death and the desire that Zimmerman pay some penalty seem sincere rather than cynical. Some would like it proven insincere because that would prove that there isn't really a race problem anymore, only political race baiting or race-card playing by so-called race hustlers. But they can't control how other people perceive a white-on-black shooting any more than the other side can. In turn, we can ask whether some people's fear of black rioting should Zimmerman be acquitted is sincere or not. Sadly, it's probably sincere in most cases, regardless of whether it's justified or not. Those who presume the worst of Trayvon Martin will presume the worst of others like him. Those who presume the worst of George Zimmerman may take it out on innocent people. The same suspicion that was in the air in that gated community pervades the nation. The impulse to take sides in this petty affair is the problem. We may have been better off with both men dead.

UPDATE: 13 JULY. The verdict has come in tonight; Zimmerman is acquitted of all charges. It would be great if the more racist predictions about the response to an acquittal are proven wrong, but we'll see....