The Daily Kos gang reacted quickly, and kept reacting, to last Saturday night's verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. A frequent theme was that both Zimmerman and those who endorsed his acquittal were motivated by fear and loathing of blacks.
"JPax" argued on Sunday that not only Zimmerman but also his diversity-hating sympathizers should have a certain candy repeatedly thrown at them:
...[T]his visual popped into my head that whenever George Zimmerman is in public, I'd like to see people pelt him with Skittles. Pelt that pr*%^ until he runs. I wonder how he'd like to be profiled, stalked and then shot at.
Taste the rainbow, mutha-f*&^%!
But it could be dangerous. Maybe Zimmerman would pull out his Kel-tec and shoot back. Yeah...and maybe then he'd actually get convicted of something next time.
But why stop with Zimmerman? This would be gratifying to see happen to lots of people who are against color and variety get a nice big dose of both, rapid fire and at high velocity. Yeah, I know, it'll all be fun and games until someone puts an eye out, but maybe then they'd finally be able to see clearly...
On Monday, "chaunceydevega" took the "a fish doesn't know it's wet" approach, suggesting that Zimmerman's defenders are so suffused with racism that they aren't even aware of it:
...The White Right's vantage point cannot escape the shadow of black humanity as something its sees as violent and barbarous. Racism is a mania which they have normalized as central to their cognitive map...Zimmerman's supporters de facto see black men as criminals until proven otherwise to the former's satisfaction...
It is difficult if not impossible to have a "teachable moment" about race when the parties most in need of being educated are content to remain ignorant--or have decided they know more about the subject matter than those who are unfairly asked to educate them.
"Sofarsogoo" opined on Wednesday that the GOP sees the acquittal as a rebuke to Obama, and that for Zimmerman, it's his chance to cash in by appealing to the racist demographic:
...The Republican Party is elated. The verdict is just as they ordered. And the message they see in the Sanford jury's decision is [that] "Obama may have won those two elections, but his victories are still hollow, just as we've been laboring with might and main to see that they are. Racism is the biggest and most heartfelt desire of this country. Racism still wins, and it still pays, and all that talk of an end to racism in the Obama Era and of something weird called "post-racialism" being at hand is just that -- talk. An end to racism? Not yet. Not now ...and not ever! Get used to it! We are just fine with it, for where would we, the Grand Old Party," be without it!"
...Meanwhile, so profitable is racial hatred in this country, especially against so-called "blacks," that [Zimmerman] now stands to become a very rich man indeed. The careers of the R. Limbaughs, the G. Becks, the Koch brothers, and many, many others absolutely guarantee that...
And on Thursday, "makr1964" declared that Zimmerman's bigotry was matched only by his cowardice:
...George Zimmerman is a racist. And Trayvon Martin is dead because of this racist. I don't care what the jury said, or the judge, or the prosecution, or the defense. If you don't see, this, then you yourself may be a racist. If George Zimmerman had not been a racist, the exchange between the two would have gone down like this: "Hi. My name is George Zimmerman, I'm a neighborhood watchman around here. I haven't seen you around here before. Where are you headed? OK, well let me know if you need anything. Have a good evening."
And Trayvon would still be alive.
When you feel such intense fear and hatred, to the point where you think you need to carry a gun to protect yourself, then I would prejudge you as being a racist, and a pussy...
