The Danger of Race
WRITTEN BY
JOHN CAILE ON JULY 2, 2013.
When it comes to the potential impact of race on any case involving the use of lethal force, the George Zimmerman trial tells us quite a bit about the current American landscape, and should serve as a warning to everyone in the concealed carry and firearms community.
Should you have the misfortune of being involved in a confrontation in which you wound or kill an attacker whose racial background differs from your own, it could become a huge problem for you.
The mainstream media's anti-gun bias is well-known, but even more damaging is their tendency to fuel racial animosity by
seeking to frame many confrontations in racial terms. In addition, the incendiary comments by professional "race hustlers" like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson only serve to inflame tensions even further.
In the case of Zimmerman, even President Obama was only too quick to jump into the debate, immediately (and unnecessarily) announcing that if he had a son "he would look like Trayvon," sending the unmistakable message that his sympathies were with Martin, even before any salient facts were available.
But even more illuminating, sometimes even frightening, have been the comments by the public, especially on websites (including this one) that run stories on the case. If you do a quick scan of these sometimes downright scary pronouncements, you can reasonably draw several conclusions.
First, it is abundantly clear that most of these arm-chair quarterbacks know almost nothing about the actual facts surrounding the case. They make categorical statements that have no basis or evidence to support them, and they persist even after testimony by witnesses has clearly shown otherwise.
Second, there is an abysmal lack of understanding of the complexities, and the uncertainty, of self-defense law. Note the endless stream of "bumper-sticker" length statements, declaring with absolute certainty that "Zimmerman is guilty (or not guilty)" because of some single, isolated transgression by one of the participants in the confrontation. They seem completely oblivious of the most important reality of the American legal system, which is that
no matter what YOU think the law says, it is the opinion of the jury that will ultimately determine Zimmerman's fate (and, as permit holders, potentially ours).
Finally, there are those postings (and "tweets") that take the race angle to an extreme. That so many people see the Zimmerman/Martin case as an issue of race is not surprising, given the fact that
the race-obsessed media made it so from the beginning.
But the most genuinely disturbing comments have been from those
self-identified as "black" or "African-American" that threaten violence if Zimmerman is not convicted. Some threaten Zimmerman directly, but others go further, saying they will "kill the first white boy I see." A sampling of these remarks can be viewed here.
The memory of the Rodney King rioting is still fresh in the minds of those old enough to remember.
The last thing this country needs is a race war.
But the more immediate danger of such racial tension is that jurors in the Zimmerman case will feel pressured to find him guilty of something. They could refuse to convict him of 2nd Degree Murder, but go with some level of Manslaughter, just to avoid being the targets of vengeful Trayvon Martin supporters.
This situation should be of concern to every citizen, not just gun owners. For
if the mere injection of race into a trial is sufficient to affect the outcome, we are all in trouble.
Source:
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/article-of-the-week/the-danger-of-race/