Life (or even death) is rarely a clear case of black-and-white: more like a vague grey!

I think enough contemplation time has passed on the outcome of the Trayvon Martin - George Zimmerman trial, and now I am ready to make some comments on this story - but it's not an easy one to deal with, it has been and is extremely polarising, and there are only truly two sides to choose from, and one to stand in line with - and neither feels completely satisfactory. A very rare murder case in that only two people know what happened, one of them is dead, and the other admitted to shooting the other fatally. 

I am not going to retrace the exact details of the story because unless you have been in a salt mine in Siberia, you are undoubtedly fully aware of the background and may even be sick of hearing about it. Quickly, George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, a teenager effectively a decade younger than himself, in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, on the night of February 26, 2012. Zimmerman was the neighbourhood watch coordinator in that gated community, and appears to have relished that role considerably, not least because he had ambitions of becoming a fully-fledged police officer. 

Well, the one thing that we can be sure of today is that he can forget that ambition, now.The fact that he was found innocent will make no difference - no police force in the land is going to risk the wrath of the public by hiring a guy accused of a racially-biased shooting, and giving him more gun powers, not less! Zimmerman is effectively a marked man today, and moving out of state and going into relative obscurity is the best thing that could happen to him. Even if this seems rather harsh, one must not forget that he shot and killed a teenage boy in a situation which he (Zimmerman) initiated and inflated, and for that you never truly get away scot-free. 

It's really a story of two sides, neither is fully complete without the other, and it was their combination that fueled the tragic events of that night. FIrst up we had Zimmerman, a gung-ho would-be wannabe policeman, out patrolling in the dark of night, searching for the "enemy", but with the legally sanctioned firearm that would ultimately kill Trayvon Martin. In the 18 months prior to the fatal shooting, Zimmerman called the non-emergency police like seven times to report suspicious behaviour, and he himself had had a few run-ins with the local police. 

Trayvon Martin was an African-American teenager, and one that appeared to have the usual teenage issues with school, truancy, some graffiti and marijuana problems, but hardly some hardened gang member from the 'hood. In fact, if we are honest, you can take almost any 14-17 year-old boy and dig up some dirt on them and make them look like a shady character, even over one incident in their young lives. But he did seem capable of looking after himself, and already close to six feet tall, it seems he even had boasted of some his fisticuffs conquests. 

The key, of course, is what exactly went down when Zimmerman and Martin made physical contact. After Zimmerman had called 911 and asked for police support, and in response to his statement that he would go after Martin, the operator can be clearly heard saying: "You don't need to do that, sir". Whether his decision to do so was a heroic act, a stupid one, or one with some other intent is at the very heart of this story. Why did he go after him? Why did he confront him if he knew that the police were coming? Was he hoping for a glamorous Hollywood scene with the squad cars screeching in, lights flashing, and he would be there with the "perp" already under citizen's arrest, and there would be high fives and back-slapping all around?

As we all know, this is nothing close to what happened. In court it was totally vague as to who did what, with one key witness saying that he saw Martin on top of Zimmerman raining blows on him, and another witness claiming that it was Zimmerman on top, not Martin. Both sets of parents were passionate about the fact that the voice crying out for help in the darkness was their child, not the other person. Race became a big part of the taking sides on this story, and how could it not - it began to feel like old OJ, all over again - albeit in an inverse form. But you know, if OJ could get off from the charges laid against him, then quite frankly, everyone should be worried about the justice system, and realise that anything is possible. 

The prosecution screwed this one up, and I think that's kind of obvious. For going in too hard on a second degree murder charge, they effectively snookered themselves. Bringing up manslaughter at the last minute was a clear sign that they were on their last legs, and had realised that they had not met the burden of proof, over a reasonable level of doubt, and the jury was going to acquit. As it did. Had they gone in at the start and stated that going after Martin with a loaded gun knowing police were on the way, confronting him, and getting into a physical confrontation that only he could win (by shooting) was a clear case of manslaughter - they might have had more success. 

The verdict was given at a time when most were already winding down their evening, and it did not hit most people's world until breakfast on Sunday morning (July 14), which was probably a good thing. Of course we now have the predicted protests and outrage at the verdict, and we can only hope that cool heads prevail and we don't get to see anything reminiscent of what happened when OJ was set free. There is talk of the Martin family pursuing Zimmerman in civil court, but a Zimmerman lawyer said he did not believe that will happen "because all of the stuff you didn't hear about Trayvon in the criminal trial will now be allowed in a civil court, and the family surely don't want that." Hmm, interesting.

It was inevitable that Obama would enter the fray, but not quite as he did. Informally coming to the podium at the White House and not so vaguely taking Martin's side, even going so far as to state that thirty years ago, that could have been him. A tall, lanky, African-American teen who was into dope smoking and being a bit of a handful- hell, yeah, I do see the similarities! But we do all know that marijuana is an illegal drug substance, right? And one should never vote in a (black) President who had admitted to participating in illegal and nefarious activities, right? Choom Gang stories, anyone?!

I don't think Mr. Obama's assimilation of the tragedy of this entire case into his own personal history or tragedy is helpful, at all. What are you saying, precisely, sir? That you have lost faith in the justice system in a superpower country over which you preside? Or that you no longer believe in the justice system when it comes to minorities? What's the opinion on old OJ getting off? How does that compare to this case? Wasn't that a case of a black man going free after allegedly murdering a white woman in Brentwood, California? How does that speak to you, sir?

It appears to me that Obama let his personal emotions and his own history of being a black man in America get in the way in the statement that he made, and he should have reserved those comments for when he was a civilian again, not the so-called leader of the so-called free world. And of course, none of us are cynical enough to suggest that he is using this tragedy as a way of distracting any of us from his own job woes vis-a-vis the IRS scandal, the NSA scandal, the DOJ scandal, the Benghazi scandal or the Detroit-declares-bankruptcy scandal - right?!

Stirring up a race debate and even implying between the lines, hell no, in the lines, that he, beloved President of the USA, could easily have been Trayvon Martin - well, that's really stoking the fires in my opinion. If there are race riots in city streets following this, look to the White House to place your blame, not just George Zimmerman. I even feel he is guilty of something that I read about on a blog recently, wherein celebrities use tragic events to whip up a massive outpouring of love and support when an event occurs that "could have happened to me!"

A plane going down, a derailed train carrying 74 tanks of gasoline that barrels into and explodes a small town into oblivion, a cruise ship overturning in deep waters, etc. etc. Wow, I was supposed to be on that plane, on that train, on that boat - I almost died people! Cue millions of responses on Twitter in support, because the celebrity life is so much more important to us all than the poor nobodies who actually did get nailed, and who the celebrity conveniently draws all the attention away from - onto themselves. Well, of course: they are attention-seeking fame-hugging stage-hogging celebrities - it's what they do!

Obama's transposing of the tragedy that befell Trayvon Martin onto his own historic shadow simply left me frigidly untouched - in the extreme. It felt like a big serving of self-serving unhelpful rhetoric, with the usual total lack of apparent desire to do anything about it - that's too much work and will lead to more pressure in Congress - but he will stand up and turn the tragedy onto himself as it will get the required emotional impact from Joe Public. Who will feel even more disadvantaged hearing that the President effectively agrees with them that the system is inherently racist and justice is most certainly not for all. 

In any and all cases, there are only two people who know/knew what transpired that night, and one of those two is dead. Trayvon Martin is dead and it was totally, totally unnecessary. It's a tragic loss of a young life. George Zimmerman knows what happened, and none of us know whether he told the truth about it, or not. But he did admit to shooting Trayvon Martin. His own life will be marked more or less forever for what he did, and it comes down once again to what happens when civilians are allowed to have and be set loose with guns. Maybe especially those who feel they are part of the law and enforcement system, as part-timers. 

Anyway, enough of this seriousness for now - it's a gorgeous, glorious Sunday morning here on the terrace, so I will be off now and I can smell that toasted nut and dark chocolate aroma bubbling from the grounds of my new Sicilian Espresso Deluxe breakfast blend. Must dash, chaps! ;) - Kevin Mc