Victim Blaming and Shellie Zimmerman

Over the weekend I listened to a woman whose rapist went free after raping her repeatedly for hours, telling her his name, and not destroying the evidence because she didn’t look and sound like a victim. So Monday when everyone was dancing dangerously close to victim blaming Shellie Zimmerman I just couldn’t. Of course as of Tuesday morning it was all over the news that once again, George Zimmerman will not serve time. Now, I empathize with the anger from the black community about George Zimmerman. I can’t fully understand it, and I can’t fully understand Shellie Zimmerman’s thought process either. I do know how my friends of color felt about Zimmerman, and rage is the only word to describe it and a sense of fatalism that this is the world in which we live. I’ve seen family and listened to friends recount intimate partner violence, and I do know what it is like to be afraid of a partner. And the sentiments were similar, how did I or we get here? How do I exist is a small world where I have little power and control?

From CNN and Vivian Kou, Shellie Zimmerman filed for divorce from George Zimmerman. She called 911 after he allegedly threaten her and her father with a gun, though there seems to be some controversy as to whether a gun was present. Zimmerman was denying he had one. No charges were filed against George Zimmerman. ABC and CNN noted that Police Chief Steve Bracknell stated, “Shellie Zimmerman has declined prosecution (after consulting with her attorney).” However, in Florida during domestic disturbances the police reserve the right to file charges regardless of the victims, which is obviously problematic. The police are reviewing security footage from the home. But this is what Bracknell had to say, “We did not take a gun at all, because there was no reason to take a gun, because was in his truck.” Here I thought he threatened Shellie Zimmerman and her father then went back to sit in the truck and wait, but silly me, how could the gun have traveled between those two placed? Shellie Zimmerman later said she hadn’t seen a gun, but George Zimmerman kept reaching for where he normally carries it. George of course is claiming self-defense again.

George Zimmerman went to Shellie Zimmerman and her father where there was an altercation. Shellie Zimmerman called the police while George Zimmerman sat in his truck with a friend. Shellie Zimmerman was breathing heavy on the phone while speaking to the dispatcher, saying, “He’s in his car and he continually has his hand on his gun, and he’s saying, ‘Step closer.’ He’s just threatening all of us with his firearm.”

Shellie also said, George Zimmerman punched her father in the nose and broke her iPad. She continued on the 911 call to say, “I don’t know what he’s capable of. I’m really, really scared.”

According to the Chicago Tribune, Shellie Zimmerman says on the 911 call, “Dad, Dad, get inside the house. George might start shooting us,” she was shouting, then breaking down in tears, “Oh my God, on my God.”

Now, we all know George Zimmerman is a violent child murdering monster. I won’t go over that again. The CNN article goes on to try to discredit Shellie Zimmerman because bitches be lyin’ I guess. After all she lied about their finances back in April 2012 when the couple received more than $135,000 in donates because we live in a world that wants to pay the man who murders an unarmed black teen. It is kind of amazing, she’s a liar, but the first thing CNN says about him after the acknowledgement of Trayvon Martin is about how he saved a family from an SUV accident, and then two traffic violations, where he was very cooperative.

I want to note that Shellie Zimmerman claims George Zimmerman feels invincible now. Additionally, Shellie Zimmerman was quoted as saying, “I think I’m realizing that I have been married to a person for almost seven years, and I don’t think that I ever really knew him at all.”

I want to take a moment and mention that many victims of intimate partner violence feel this way. Because often the abuse is gradual and develops over time until it is a normalized part of the relationship so you wake up years later thinking, this isn't the man I love, but it is the man I love.

She was also quoted as saying, “I stood by my husband through everything and I kind of feel like he left me with a bunch of broken glass that I’m supposed to now assemble and make a life…It’s just heartbreaking…I have a selfish husband. And I think George is all about George.”

Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s attorney confirmed George Zimmerman was armed, but he was only checking to make sure it was holstered because he’s responsible.

A few months ago, Salamishah Tillet wrote about the domestic violence angle and the Zimmerman case for The Nation. Tillet notes the similarities in poll findings for the Zimmerman trial and the Simpson trial, but Tillet was more interested in the domestic violence accusations both men faced before their trials rather than the racial breakdown. We all know that violence against women and girls is often overlooked by authorities and the media, but also we know that accusations like these go unchecked and are often indicators of future violence.

Nicole Brown Simpson had a long history of documenting abuse. In the Zimmerman case, two pieces of evidence never made it to the trial. The first being a statement from Witness No. 9, was Zimmerman’s cousin, she claimed he molested her for ten years when they were children. The second piece of evidence was a report filed in 2005, Zimmerman’s former fiancé sought a restraining order against him for domestic violence. Put that in perspective when Zimmerman claimed self-defense against Trayvon Martin. Another former partner of Zimmerman claimed he was trolling her neighborhood to check on her. She asked him to leave, and there was pushing. Her dog bit him, and he filed a petition the next day painting her as the aggressor. She claimed he struck her as well.

I want to state I don’t have strong feelings for Shellie Zimmerman except empathy. I don’t know her. I didn’t know much about her until I started reading for this post. What I do know is while, you should be innocent till proven guilty, I also think we should believe the accuser until we know all the facts.

So Monday and into Tuesday we saw a lot of tweets about the statement “I don’t know what he’s capable of. I’m really, really scared.” Mostly comments that came very close to victim blaming because he did kill a child. But she also lived with him. She saw him when we didn’t, before we knew who he was, and after the media turned away. What we do know is that he committed violent acts against at least three other women. The victims of intimate partner violence often internalize it. The abusers isolate their victims and become their world, before the abuse begins, then after it starts they have no options for help.Yes, victims of intimate partner violence stay, they stand by abusing partners during trials if the state intervenes, they refuse to press charges, and they recant sometime. Because like during a rape, women are told surviving it the first priority. And because they might not know what life is without their partner. That is the way this works. This is a take on some other reasons the abused don't press charges.

A little more information? Firearms are the most common weapon used in intimate partner homicides, and internationally, one-third of women are likely to be murdered by a partner (June 2013). Domestically in 1998, 3 of 4 of women murdered were attributed to partners (BJS, 2000). A friend of mine doesn’t lock her door at night. It drives me crazy, and has become a running joke for us. Her reasoning, she more likely to be raped, murdered, attacked by someone she knows than a stranger. And while that is true, if that guy, the guy she knows, knows she doesn’t lock her door she’s an easier target. Yeah, that’s a thing we talk about. I girl I grew up with expects her relationships to be violent. I don’t know that’s she ever been in one that wasn’t. I mention this because I’ve said it before, men of color and women are people, and too often, it is the differences that divide us rather than the similarities to bring us together. Fear walking while being you, fear the state is going to come after you because they can, and fear someone you know is going to kill you.

But right now, Twitter is blaming a potential victim of intimate partner violence in a way the bad guys blamed Trayvon Martin. I’m not saying these people are bad mind you, the race baiters at Fox News, the NRA, and the insanity out of the conservative right are bad. These people on Twitter  feel passionately and felt slighted by the Zimmerman verdict, and that I can empathize with. I too saw a murdered get a pass. However, maybe a little empathy for Shellie Zimmerman, a 26 year old woman attacked by someone who was supposed to love her in a place she was supposed to be safe? 

This is what we do to victims though, we try to make it their fault. I've also seen a lot of tweets about the police only responding because Shellie Zimmerman is white, and while that might be part of it. I sincerely doubt that is the whole reason because she is a woman, and most police forces grossly mishandle domestic violence cases. However, he husband did just get off for murder while claiming self-defense so the police might be hyper aware of him. Below are some tweets I thought might be relevant.

@LOLGOP @ClinicEscort don't forget what she was wearing. I'm sure she was dressed like someone who wanted to be shot.
— Kari O'Donnell (@KariODonnell) September 9, 2013

This is how @colorlines prefaced this story (http://t.co/ZvaAGSMDfJ) on FB: "Hmm. Shellie Zimmerman recants her story."
— Jessica W. Luther (@scATX) September 10, 2013

I don't know. That is strange word choice considering everything here points to a typical DV situation.
— Jessica W. Luther (@scATX) September 10, 2013

And first comment on that @colorlines FB post: "Not shocking she wants the movie rights and book rights revenue he's got coming."
— Jessica W. Luther (@scATX) September 10, 2013

@slb79 I realize. Maybe coupled with the "hmm" - people want to hate her and I just worry about the discussion around this.
— Jessica W. Luther (@scATX) September 10, 2013

Don't be black in Florida

I didn’t know how to begin. I blog in advance, so I had Monday’s post written and ready to go by Friday evening. It is on Ohio’s Democratic challenger to Gov. Kasich and women’s rights. That post will go up on Wednesday.

On Friday evening we found out Texas passed HB2, which is brutal and lethal legislation. Then on Saturday, we heard that George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murdering a black teenager. I see a very simple connection between these two issues. It is that the value of “life” decreases after birth, and at a more alarming rate if you are black.

First, let me say “stand your ground” legislation, which has been up in multiple states, is bullshit.  Stand your ground or as I call it “Kill at will” is more often enforced when it is white men shooting other people. The assumption is white dudes have something we all want, and they need the option to kill to protect it. They are right. It is called privilege, and we see them killing people all the time to protect their privilege. We see it with the death penalty, mass incarcerations, forced pregnancies, which can result in death, lack of funds for domestic violence issues, and even one woman is still in jail after shooting a gun in self-defense at the ceiling to scare off an abusive partner and she invoked stand your ground, which goes to show who this legislation is for. However, this post is about the Zimmerman trial.

Zimmerman was found not guilty by six women, five of them white. I don’t know if that is relevant. I don’t know if these women were taught to fear black men the way most women (or people) are. But is a fact so do with it what you will. They didn’t convict Zimmerman of second-degree murder or manslaughter.

Zimmerman’s attorney said this following the verdict, “I think the prosecution of George Zimmerman was disgraceful. As happy as I am for George Zimmerman, I’m thrilled that this jury kept this tragedy from becoming a travesty. For that, we are eternally grateful.”

Happy? Thrilled? Really? Maybe relieved? But happy and thrilled. This man is an idiot. It was his job to get Zimmerman off, but why not use better language? You know, demonstrate you're not a heartless bastard. A teenage boy is dead. An unarmed teenage boy is dead. Naturally, the supporters of Martin’s family felt failed by the system that so often fails people of color and the low-income.

Zimmerman claimed self-defense, though I’m still confused how it is self-defense when you follow a boy. Zimmerman had a bloody nose because Martin defensed himself after Zimmerman followed Martin for several blocks. Zimmerman was stalking Martin on his way home. Martin defends himself, but obviously stand your ground can't be applied here because Martin is black. Then Zimmerman killed Martin.  

NAACP chairman, Roslyn M. Brock said the case had “reenergized the movement to end racial profiling in the United States.” Best of luck on that. I’m pretty sure this case created more Zimmermans. It is worth mentioning that Zimmerman was charged after 44 days of nothing as an attempt to quell the public outrage, but he may actually be innocent by Florida state law, which is stand your ground. I'm not really sure because I haven't read the entire case, and I'm not completely clear on stand your ground after all I have no idea when it can and can't be applied except women and black males can't invoke it. What we know, is the community where this went on is 80% white, and they acquitted Zimmerman.

However, the message here is clear: the lives of black males aren’t worth the freedom of their assailants. There is no doubt who was the aggressor here, and who is responsible for the murder of a child. But this is what conservatives (largely white men) want. They want children, people of color, and women to be in fear. Fear of what rights they can take next, and in the case of black children that right is their lives. 

I would like to close like the Guardian article by Gary Younge, "'Fucking punks,' Zimmerman told the police dispatcher that night. 'These assholes. They always get away.' So true it's painful. And so predictable it hurts."

It is true, these assholes get away with murdering black children. I'm not outraged. I feel like I should be, but I'm not. I'm not shocked. I am at a loss for words. And I'm tired. It has been a long, rough couple of weeks. But nothing that has happened in particularly shocking or surprising. This is how things are, and I'm beginning to wonder if anything will ever change that. 

Poverty, blackness, and the Zimmerman Trial

I’ve been avoiding the Zimmerman trial. I can’t bring myself to watch it. This man is a murderer who thinks a perfectly good defense is “my victim was a black man.” I have a sense of dread for how this is going to play out…the intersection of poverty, race, gender, and violence on the national stage.

Melissa Harris Perry’s segment below touches on how poverty comes into play here, specifically during Rachel Jeantel’s testimony. Perry and her guests discuss how Jeantel has been criticized for being a detriment to middle class blackness (the black lady archetype) and her speech patterns/poverty make her an unreliable witness. Poverty, it will be used to silence you know matter what. I want to mention again that I’m no authority on race…I am constantly learning more, which is as far as I’m concerned what everyone should be doing especially those classified as white by society at large.

Jeantel was criticized for her behavior (not calling the police when she was on the phone with Martin) and her language (slang, raced diction, which is often perceived as ignorance and a lack of intelligence). While, we’re going to discuss blackness, violence, and masculinity, let’s table that for a moment and discuss poverty, blackness, and femininity. Some of the more straight-up racist descriptions of Jeantel include emphasizing her weight, dark skin tone, and language. The “black lady” and respectable black womanhood are stereotyped as church going, polite, often matriarchs, etc. This is an impossible standard and the least threatening to whiteness (except the Mammy figure, which some argue has morphed into the black lady). Jeantel however, is classed by her poverty much in the same way she is raced by her blackness. Jeantel is immediately not a good representation of middle class blackness, and thus is less credible. Now, whether this is because the black community says so or because people in power (white people) prefer only to deal with the forms of blackness we deem non-threatening, I do not know. Jeantel was also called a liar, for lying about why she didn’t attend Martin’s funeral…She did lie, but she didn’t want to see her friend dead. That seems perfectly reasonable to me, but of course is being used to demonstrate that Jeantel can’t be trusted. Question, did she ever have a chance to be trusted?

In addition to Perry, Mychal Denzel Smith wrote a piece for The Nation on Trayvon Martin and black manhood, which is insightful and wonderful as always (Smith’s work is excellent on blackness and masculinity). Smith points out what the trial is coming down to is Zimmerman’s right to self-defense (stand your ground) vs. Martin’s right to walk alone and defend himself. Zimmerman ignored the 911 operator who told him not to follow Martin. We know Martin hit Zimmerman, though not to the degree that Zimmerman claims, most likely in self-defense. We also know that Zimmerman shot and killed Martin. Zimmerman claims Martin was the aggressor, while Jeantel’s testimony directly contradicts this. So it is up the jury to determine who they believe in that moment.

Smith points out that Perry and her guests, specifically Amy Goodman explain why this case is of national importance, Perry said, “It does seem like part of what hinges here is whether or not Trayvon Martin hit George Zimmerman and whether or not he did so first…but why is it that if this person hit someone who was prepared to use lethal force against him…why wouldn’t he have a right to stand his ground? Is that not radicalized?” Preach.

The question is, do black men have the right to stand their ground? And the obvious answer is no, not in this post-racial American. That was a little tongue and cheek given SCOTUS’ gutting of the VRA. The lead investigator asked Zimmerman if he thought Martin was scared of him, but Zimmerman had trouble answering the question because our society says, no, black men are never afraid. Instead they are always the cause of fear. They are dangerous so what could possibly scare them? Zimmerman, and many other people, believes black men are inherently violent. Because of this mistaken belief, black men will always be targets for “preemptive violence.” Martin was perceived to be a criminal and violent because he was a black man, while Zimmerman is cast as the victim. This is what the trial is about, whether six people believe Martin was a criminal or not. It isn’t difficult to imagine that six people can see a young black man as a criminal regardless. 

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Zimmerman to be charged...

So, I've been quiet on the murder of Trayvon Martin. That being said, I think what happened to him was a hate crime and that Martin was only guilty of walking while black.

According to Florida Special Prosecutor, Angela Corey, she is charging George Zimmerman with the shooting of Martin. At this point, we're not really sure what the charges are going to be. Zimmerman claims to have been acting in self-defense when he gunned down the unarmed Martin, who was only 17 years old. Zimmerman was not charged yet because of Florida's "kill at will" law or "stand your ground" law depending on how you view it.

This comes the day after Zimmerman's attorneys step down; they claim they haven't been in contact with Zimmerman.

Essentially, Zimmerman killed a black kid, and the police were taking his side. After realizing that Martin was a cute kid and quickly becoming the poster child for violence against unarmed black men, the Florida Prosecutor's Office changed their minds.

There has been a lot of "extra" information circulating, my favorite of which being that Martin had an empty plastic bag on him that once carried pot. I guess the logic here is that as a country we're ready to execute kids smoking pot or carrying anything that may be used or has been used for pot. What do you think they'll do over prescription drugs? Probably nothing, because like all US drug policy it will be heavily raced.

The charges are manslaughter in the second degree.