I have not yet written anything on the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial.
I had a bad feeling all day Saturday as the jury stayed out that they were going to come back in late Saturday. You see, that's sort of the way I look at things. Through deadlines. Our print deadline on Saturday night is just a bit after 11 p.m. So I was not exactly enthalled with the idea of a verdict coming in at 10 p.m., regardless of what it is.
As the hours went by after dinner on Saturday I started to relax just a bit in the idea that there was not going to be a verdict.
Then I heard the familiar - and hated - beep on my phone. Yes, that's where I get almost all my breaking news these days. The jury was coming back with a verdict. At 10 p.m.
A quick call to the office laid out our plans. I made the decision to lead the paper with the verdict. This might surprise some readers, since we had not really featured it all on the front during most of the trial.
I will admit that a big part of this was timing. The verdict came in late on Saturday night. It was one of the few times when I thought we might actually be delivering national news that people might not be aware of in the morning.
I scrambled to post material on our website through our normal protocol - text alert, Tweet, Facebook post, then put the verdict in our lead spot.
I had a bad feeling when I went to bed Saturday night.
I wondered about the reaction. I was somewhat surprised Sunday morning that the verdict - not guilty on all the charges - seemed to be muted.
I am not a lawyer. I knew that the prosecution was going to have a tough time convicting Zimmerman, but maybe not for the reason you think. It has to do with Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, which gave Zimmerman the legal threshhold to protect himself. The defense did not use that, however. They went strictly with self-defense, and the jury clearly sided with their argument.That said, I'm not sure anyone is innocent in this affair. I certainly don't think it's something that should have caused the death of a 17-year-old kid.
And it tells me something else. I remain unsure of exactly how far this country has come in terms of race. Granted this trial is something of an extreme example.
But you don't have to look that far.
Just look at this website, pick any story and scroll down to the comments, especially involving any story from the city of Chester.
It's obvious to me we still have a long way to go in terms of race relations in this country.
It's a conversation we need to have. But that's just it. Most people don't want to have a conversation. They want to win an argument. I'm past that. I'm not looking to make accusations. I'm looking for solutions.
Who's with me?
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