Ye Kim Park

Staff Writer

Many have heard of the tragic incident that took place on Feb. 26: A young, unarmed, 17-year old African-American boy named Trayvon Martin was  shot and killed in Florida.

Recently, the shooter, George Zimmerman was released on bail. Many have cried foul at the court system for allowing a murderer to go loose, especially someone who killed an African-American boy for wearing a hoodie and being suspected of carrying drugs, which were really just Skittles.

But these accusations of Zimmerman practicing racial profiling are unfounded, and fueled by a public not completely aware of the events of the case.

Zimmerman may have suspected Martin of holding drugs just because he was black, but there is no evidence of that. The police was unable to collect any evidence of this.

A common misconception was that this was the act of a  paranoid white man unreasonably suspecting a black person being up to something, like during the Rodney King incident in 1991, or the more recent incident of BART Police officer Johannes Mehserle shooting Oscar Grant in Oakland in 2009.

But most don’t know that Zimmerman was actually half-Hispanic.

Many also suspect the Florida court system is also racist, to allow Zimmerman to leave on bail.

But it’s the legal right of any citizen to leave jail if they post bail.

“Well to me it’s honestly just a question of obeying the legal system. He paid the bail we give (his release),” says  freshman Daniel Cox. “In the grander scheme of things, a few months of being released on bail is no big deal if he goes to jail for 20 years.”

Despite people’s accusations of Zimmerman and the courts being prejudiced, the more likely scenario was that he just acted out of self-defense.

According to Florida’s “stand your ground” law (passed in 2005), a citizen “has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.”

The court was acting on a perfectly justifiable reason. Zimmerman claimed that he shot Martin because he feared for his safety, and according to Florida’s “stand your ground law,” he is to be excused as long as his actions were driven by self defense.

Since no one actually witnessed the shooting, no one can hold any evidence against Zimmerman acting out of self-defense.

“I think now that people are able to see the justice system taking place, even though they understand it’s going to be quite slow, people are willing to just remain calm and really we’re all getting back to our daily routines,” said Sanford, Fla. Commissioner Patty Mahany.

I’m not saying Zimmerman is totally innocent or free of blame because he still did kill another human being.

But it’s completely unreasonable that the public is blaming the situation entirely on racial profiling, without being aware of the details.

It brings back some faith in humanity to see people so concerned about racism in the justice system, but sometimes, knowing the whole story helps.