This week, following the verdict in the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin trial in Sanford, Florida I’ve heard a plethora of commentary, both “official” and comments from listeners, as I drive around listening to “talk radio.”  Usually, due to an issue that I may share in this post, I’m listening to XM radio because the “progressive” station in my area was shut down.  (The closing of the progressive talk radio stations is part of the bigger picture that I see emanating from the verdict “exonerating” Zimmerman from murdering Martin)  However, what caught my attention was a short period I listened to a “conservative” station I happened on by accident (don’t know what program it was – I have to force myself to listen to their “stuff” occasionally so I have some idea of the latest set of “talking points” their minions are putting forth – not sure what I’m talking about?  Read one of my posts connecting the Goebbels’ “Big Lie Theory” to the republican [“conservative”] philosophy of media strategy).  To my surprise, a person claiming to be (and his conversation led me to believe him) an overseer of medical examiners in the state of Texas phoned in and broke down the evidence that is public record in a way that was astonishing to me.  Frankly, I was surprised the moderator (again, don’t know who it was) allowed this person to give his entire “testimony.”  In fact, he (the caller) pointed out the “expert witness” (medical examiner) that the Zimmerman defense relied on (and, which evidently helped sway the jury) was unprofessional and would be facing disciplinary action back in Texas due to his actions in this case.  Of course, the details of this all went over my head, but the point the man made was clear – there was no intention on the part of either the defense OR the PROSECUTION to get a guilty verdict for George Zimmerman.  Based on the information of this man, the trial was a sham designed to diffuse the negative national attention brought to their area due to the obvious racial profiling that led to the death of Mr. Martin.

According to what this person said, much of what Mr. Zimmerman’s defense relied on was not credible and there was EASILY evidence that would refute his claims of “self defense” that the prosecution chose not to use.  I don’t remember all of what was said in this particular phone conversation, but as I’ve listened to the blow-back from multiple sources since the end of the trial, it’s clear to me that justice was NOT carried out in this case and the issue of race, that I’ve been writing about since Barrack Obama won the presidency, is a MAJOR issue in America and we need to deal with it SOONER rather than later.  While this case was in progress I started and finished a very interesting book titled “Red Summer – The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America” which details the struggle of Blacks in America during the summer of 1919 as racial tensions exploded into mob violence leading to Blacks being murdered, tortured, and lynched in DROVES with little to no consequence for the violators of their civil rights.  In fact, many in America, at the time, didn’t believe African Americans should have civil rights.  As I read more about Black History in America (I have to mention that when I got the XM radio in my car I started listening to a program called “Make it Plain,” hosted by Mark Thompson, which is “progressive” talk from the perspective of those in the Black Community in America – it’s spurred me to read more about Black History including the biography of WEB DuBois who was one of the leaders of the NAACP as Blacks began to “fight back” during the “Red Summer”) the Zimmerman acquittal helps me to understand what must be extreme frustration from the Black perspective and a FEAR that the people I’ve been railing about for the past several years might be succeeding in pushing the “clock” back to the days prior to FDR and the “New Deal.”

The idea that the prosecution in this case had no intention of “winning” makes my stomach uneasy.  I’m really starting to question how deep is the infiltration of our justice system of the “loyalists” that were hired during the reign of George W Bush and Dick Cheney.  (Remember, it’s a FACT that new hires at the Justice Department, during the Bush/Cheney regime were forced to take a “republican” loyalty oath as a condition of employment – despite the FACT this would be a FELONY – and this went on until someone “leaked” the information to our “liberal media” and it was presumably stopped.  However, I’ve never seen evidence that one “impartial” member of the Justice Department who took that absurd oath was ever fired, the person administering the oath (and her superiors) never faced accountability, and also, all the lawyers who quit in protest of that policy are presumably working elsewhere.  The evidence that our “IMPARTIAL” Justice Department is tilted HEAVILY to the right seems to show its ugly head repeatedly.  Now, I realize that the prosecution in the case against Zimmerman was local, but I honestly have little faith that the Justice Department will intervene based on the very REAL probability that Trayvon Martin’s Civil Rights were PERMANENTLY violated.  This was such a “slam dunk” case against George Zimmerman that it has to raise eyebrows from anyone who believes in a fair justice system, and – from the perspective of Blacks in America – I can only surmise that the feeling would be more of a sense of deja vu all over again horror.

I was listening today to a caller (presumably a Zimmerman defender) on the Thom Hartman show complaining that in Texas two Black youths shot and killed a white person and there’s no national media following of this case.  Of course, I’m not familiar with the case, but Hartman suggested this was a case that was brought to the public via Sean Hannity – presumably suggesting that the “liberal media” is showing its bias by focusing on the Zimmerman case.  Again, I don’t know the details, and the reality was the caller to Hartman’s show was attempting, evidently, to suggest that the only reason there’s so much publicity in this case is because Zimmerman is white.  And, I don’t know the details of the other case, but I would suggest that if the caller’s information was correct and if two Black youth killed a White person in cold blood and then claimed to be innocent because they were acting in self defense (they felt their lives were in danger) there would be a lot of attention on the case – for example, if there was a “Stand your Ground” law defense – especially, if there was an all Black jury that acquitted them in the face of overwhelming evidence they were guilty. (as in the case of Zimmerman, there has never been any question that he shot Trayvon Martin right through his heart).  That kind of blow-back from the “right” (Hannity, Limbaugh, Fox “news,” Wall Street Journal, etc., etc.) is part of the LARGER picture that I see as the real PROBLEM here.

Of course, before I get to that, just take a moment and picture in your mind how this story would have unfolded had Zimmerman been Black and Martin White.  One more thing, I seem to remember when this case was unfolding that George Zimmerman, at the time of his arrest, had no visible marks on his head and/or face.  That was one of my curiosities as I tuned in to a small segment of the trial.  The defense was talking about all the wounds to his head as the result of Trayvon Martin’s violent attack.  I was wondering why the prosecution didn’t post the pictures I saw at the time that showed NO marks on Zimmerman’s head?  Back to this bigger problem – and, I believe it is what will keep the Justice Department from intervening in this case on behalf of Martin.  I’ve shared in previous posts that the local “progressive” talk radio show was shut down just days after Barrack Obama won his second term by defeating Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.  What I didn’t know until just recently is that “Clear Channel” – the station which was airing the “format” was bought out by Bain Capital (Romney’s Bain Capital) a year or two prior to the election and their claim was that KPOJ’s progressive format was losing too much money due to a .08 “market share” of the local radio market.  (This is in Portland, Oregon)  The progressive “voices” were replaced with a version of FOX in the form of a sports channel.  Since that time, it has been reported that the LIBERAL talk format had an audience almost TEN TIMES larger than the replacement.  I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that “evidence.”

Knowing this only confirmed my suspicions (and fears prior to the shutdown) that “conservatives” would be willing to “invest” in the closure of progressive talk radio as a way to cement their stranglehold on our “liberal media.”  As I read more about the demise of KPOJ I saw that several other cities have suffered the same fate.  Prior to this assault on LIBERAL talk on the radio airwaves the conservative point of view occupied over 90% of the air space.  Evidently, that wasn’t enough for them.  So, how does this connect with the Zimmerman/Martin case?  Well, I believe the politicians in Washington, including our president. are political creatures who just don’t want to take on this “liberal media” – you know, like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Lars Larsen, and the rest of the people who are willing carry the “torch” for the Koch Brothers, Rupert Murdoch, and all the other corporatists who pay for their message to dominate the air waves.  This brainwashing has been going on for so long that many Americans just assume it’s “news” because there’s very little “blow-back.”  Many in America’s unsuspecting public actually believes, for example, that Fox is “fair and balanced.”  So, for some reason, the “right” took up the cause of racist killer George Zimmerman and if the Justice Department attempts to “jump in” all hell will break out in the right wing – oops – “liberal media.”

I’ve been pointing out on this site since the day Obama was elected that the racists in America were/are coming out from under their rocks in droves.  As long as we had White people in the “White House” it seemed as if the racial divide in this nation was diminishing.  I remember still getting tears in my eyes as I witnessed a Black (actually half Black) person winning the White House – as something that seemed inconceivable in my lifetime.  Well, that event has certainly “triggered” a reaction from the “right” that I really didn’t think would happen.  The overt racism on places like Fox and with the “talkers” like Limbaugh and Hannity has been over the edge for me.  I’m still wondering how they’re getting away with it.  For example, Limbaugh has made NUMEROUS comments much more offensive than Don Imus – Imus was FIRED but, evidently the entire world is afraid of Rush Limbaugh – because he just keeps spouting his hate and seemingly gets away with it. (I have heard that many sponsors are abandoning him, but whoever he works for obviously does not have the “stones” – in the words of Bill Clinton – to fire him as he deserves)  Hannity is the master with the “code words” along with other talkers and many of the leaders of the republican party.  Their “opinion” of Blacks in America, to be sure, is no secret to anyone paying attention.

So, what happened in Sanford, Florida didn’t surprise me all that much (although, in my mind is was a “slam dunk” case for a guilty verdict right from the start).  Florida is in the South and let us not deceive ourselves on what that means to persons of color.  Blacks are profiled ALL THE TIME (not just in the South) and the calls for immigration reform (from the right) want to extend that profiling to Hispanics.  I’ve only heard about what’s going on in Arizona, but it appears that if you’re of Latina descent you’d better be careful when around a police officer.  This case (Zimmerman/Martin)  should be (ANOTHER) wake up call to all progressives in America that there’s a WAR going on for the heart and soul of this great nation.  The Koch’s and their ilk have UNLIMITED funds and they will not stop – they can’t take NO for an answer.  (for example – the “Tea Party” controlled House this week made something like their 38th attempt to block the so-called “Obamacare”)  If they win we will get more right wing media, more right wing Court decisions (like Citizens United and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act), more fossil fuel welfare in Congress and less support for alternatives, more anti-Black and anti-Women legislation, and ULTIMATELY more CORPORATE control of America’s government.  The only people who could possibly make George Zimmerman out to be a “hero” are the “Tea Party” supporters of the republican party!  They shout REALLY loud!  It will take a ground swell of populist revolt to stop this right wing republican takeover of our government which includes this assault on Blacks and Women  – and, I hope and pray it happens SOONER rather than LATER.

Finally, just a reminder – the Supreme Court bludgeoned sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act and the longer it takes Congress to “fix” that decision (and remember, the Tea Party won’t be agreeable to fixing it) the more damage will be done in the form of disenfranchising voters who will be key to stopping this corporate takeover of our government.  We really DON’T want this Zimmerman verdict to somehow become “precedent” in our justice system.  Should that happen, I would advise you to read “Red Summer” to see how bad you want these people (the Koch’s, etc.)  to be able to take us back to the twenties!