One of the most damaging moments for the prosecution in the trial of George Zimmerman trial was the inexplicable decision to lead with Rachel Jeantel, a friend of Trayvon Martin’s. Jeantel proceeded to admit to previously lying and then gave conflicted and at points unintelligible testimony. Her statement that Martin called Zimmerman a “cracker” further helped the defense in balancing the derogatory statements of Zimmerman. After the verdict, Jeantel has made statements that seem unhinged and again raise the question on why the prosecutors would place her so prominently in their case in chief. The latest controversy is a new allegation from Jeantel that she warned Trayvon that Zimmerman might be a gay rapist. She is not the only person associated with the trial who seems to be courting the press in the case with disastrous results.
In an interview with Piers Morgan, she said “People need to understand, he didn’t want that creepy ass cracka going to his father or girlfriend’s house to go get — mind you, his little brother is there. Mind you I told you, I told Trayvon, [Zimmerman] might have been a rapist.”
In a truly bizarre interview, Morgan asks Jeantel to school him on the correct spelling and meaning of such terms as “cracka” and “nigga.”
Jeantel called the verdict “BS” and said “Well, the jury, they see their facts. My thoughts of the jury, they old, that’s old school people. We in a new school, our generation, my generation. So –”
Morgan then appears to turn into a cultural anthropologist and asked clinically:
“Let’s talk about ‘creepy ass cracka.’ People have said that that is a phrase used by black people, cracka, to describe a white person. Is that true?
JEANTEL: No! Like I said —
MORGAN: How do you spell it, first of all?
JEANTEL: Cracka.
MORGAN: There’s no ‘e-r,’ right?
JEANTEL: No, it’s an ‘a’ at the end.
MORGAN: C-r-a-c-k-a.
JEANTEL: Yeah. And that’s a person who act like they’re a police [officer], who, like a security guard who acting like — that’s what I said to them. Trayvon said creepy ass cracka.
MORGAN: It means he thought it was a police or a security guard?
JEANTEL: Yeah, he acting like the police. And then he keep telling me that the man is still watching him. So, if it was a security guard or a policeman, they would come up to Trayvon and say, ‘Do you have a problem? Do you need help?’ You know, like normal people.
Once again, it is unclear why Jeantel did not emphasize the concern over a male rape on the stand. One could almost feel the prosecutor cringing at the interview with so many questioning their judgment in relying so heavily on Jeantel.
While on the subject of people behaving badly from the case (a rather long list), there is juror B-37 who announced in an interview that she was going to write a book and had enlisted an agent. She even named her agent as Sharlene Martin. After an outcry over the effort to profit from the case (not to mention a pretty limited foundation for a book). Martin tweeted that juror B37 had regained her sanity and dropped the plans for a book (that was going to be co-written by her attorney husband). She explained that the isolation of being sequestered “shielded me from the depth of pain that exists among the general public over every aspect of this case.”
Really? It took this long to figure out that there was pain over the verdict. What tipped you off after you arranged for an interview, went to the interview, and announced your book? Was it the mass protests in various cities or continuing coverage on television. Ironically, she actually proved the accuracy of West’s disastrous joke in his opening statement: “Knock, knock. Who’s there? George Zimmerman. George Zimmerman who? Congratulations, you’re on the jury.” The joke was bizarre first because you should never cut jokes in a murder trial opening statement with a dead teenage boy. Second, if the jury got the joke, they would realize they were the punch line. The point is that only morons or cave-dwelling recluses would not know anything about the case. Well then walked in juror B-37.
Source: Real Clear Politics
Are you going to call me Spock now, Elaine?
Just because some men choose not to lead with their emotions or to put them firmly in the backseat to reason doesn’t mean they don’t have them or are afraid to express them. It’s a choice. When I choose to let emotion lead, I’m usually very clear about it.
Elaine,
Don’t mistake taking a chance to expound as taking your joke too seriously. And much like the Deen case, I’m not saying that racism doesn’t exist and that it isn’t inherently wrong. I’m saying it really has little to do with the case proper here. It actually has far more to do with the Deen case than it really had to do with this case because the allegations are that she created a discriminatory work environment that displayed favoritism based on race. Ultimately her motive is irrelevant to whether or not she in fact created such an unlawful work environment. Just so, ultimately race has no bearing on the questions this case presented. Elitism in the form of Z’s initial preferential treatment was a far more serious social issue presented by this case than race ever was if we are going to talk social evils as was the culture of vigilante justice the Koch sponsored SYG laws engenders. Race became an issue after that preferential treatment was questioned and after the media used it to gin up ratings. It’s the sizzle. Not the steak.
Gene,
Mike is more than a guy. He’s a man who isn’t afraid to express his feelings and emotions.
Gene,
I see you prefer to take my joke a little too seriously. So be it.
Some of us may see/perceive racism and bigotry where others do not.
Gene,
Wasn’t zimmermans dad like a retired magistrate for Virginia or some place like that…..
Elaine,
I won’t disagree with that either, but he’s still a guy.
Which was part of the point I was making on the Deen thread, btw. Whether or not Deen is in fact a racist is at best only tangentially related to the real issue before the bar: did she or did she not create a discriminatory work place.
Gene,
Regarding Mike S.: I’d say that he is one of the most empathic people that I know.
Most certainly, but sarcasm has a point, Elaine. Sarcasm or not, the idea that sexism plays a part in noting a social dynamic fed by media coverage (as was the racism angle in the Martin case) is simply misplaced. Value loading an argument, be it by simple language choice or by deliberately injecting an ancillary and only marginally relevant (if it isn’t totally irrelevant – and I think it was to the matter at bar) topic like racism, has nothing to do with gender as a general rule (although it can depending on the subject matter). If the race angle hadn’t been played up by the media (and initially given more heat by Zimmerman’s father’s letter), the outrage at this case would have strictly been confined to Zimmerman’s initial manifestly preferential treatment and the wisdom (or lack thereof) of SYG laws. Race added nothing of substance to the legal analysis of this case and in fact created quite a bit of distraction from the real tangible issues: was the killing manslaughter and did the policy of SYG laws contribute to creating this situation. Value loading isn’t just the province of propagandists. It’s used all the time by the media in fostering sensationalism in the name of ratings/readers.
Blouise,
🙂
I love The Big Bang Theory.
As Bob Esq has restated this is about a manslaughter matter. Race had nothing to do with it…. Make it all about race all you want it still won’t change the facts of this case… A young man is dead…. You don’t like the laws… Write to the legislature and send Jeb Bush a note as well….
sarcasm?
Elaine,
My mother-in-law was first generation Polish and she suffered a great deal from bigotry. She was a superb teacher and filled with empathy for anyone who suffered at the hands of bigots. She bravely stood many times.
Gene,
I assume you recognize sarcasm when you read it.
😉
SwM,
lol … I was going to suggest that too but Paula Deen was fru-fru compared to Martin.
leejcaroll wrote something the other day about how certain events cause a swirling up of public opinion … I can’t remember the quote but it was superb … I’m going to have to go on a hunt through all the threads … I should’ve bookmarked it.
I can truthfully say that the only place I have gotten any news on the Zimmerman matter is right here. I don’t watch news on TV and I got bored with Stewart/Colbert and like minded shows so this blog gave me all I know about the Zimmerman matter. I’ve read the posts, followed the links, watched the videos … this is the sole site that informed my opinion.
Besides, Mike S. was “on your side” on the Deen thread and I’m pretty sure Max would have noticed by now if he was a woman.
Much like the Deen thread, this isn’t about sides.
It’s about social psychology.
Elaine,
You need to carefully read what I wrote. The topic of race relations has an inherent emotional charge that can color clinical analysis. I didn’t say anything about women being highly emotional. I will say your straw man was very fashionably attired though if you just want me to make a sexist comment to attack. 😀
Gene,
Yes, we women are highly emotional. It’s hard for us not to join the “mob mentality” when our lady hormones start to rage. Pity us poor females who can’t examine things clinically like you and Bob.
P.S.
My opinion of this case has nothing to do with media hype and coverage. Give those of us who disagree with you a little credit.
Swarthmore mom,
“Kind of lining up like the Paula Deen thread.”
*****
I guess it has. I’d say some of us view things differently. As I wrote on an earlier thread, my life experiences have made me very sensitive to issues of discrimination and bigotry. I witnessed a lot of anti Semitism, racism, and bigotry when I began teaching in an affluent, mostly White Anglo-Saxon Protestant community in the late 1960s. I was one of their first “ethnic” teachers. I’m happy to say that the town where I taught has evolved a lot since that time.
Smom,
Yes, it is. Much like the Deen thread, the emotional charge of injecting race into a clinical examination of the law and the facts is creating an atmospheric mob mentality when personal mores are challenged by facts and/or outcomes. Both stories are an interesting study in group/social psychology. But for the victim and the defendant being of different races and an early onset of the media playing up the racial angle for ratings/readers, this would simply be another manslaughter case but for the exceptional circumstances of Zimmerman not being arrested and thoroughly investigated at the onset due to political pressures created by his father being part of the local judiciary.