“THE VERDICT”…WHAT SAY YOU?

There are times I feel I get caught between a rock and a hard place.

Over 4 years ago when Ricky Cash & I launched our Internet radio show, Vegas Unwrapped, we wanted to provide the best “info-tainment” on the radio “unwrapping” how much more Las Vegas has to offer outside of the casinos.

We felt in order to do that, we pledged to stay away form to topics: religion & politics. Once you get labeled something in those areas, it can be difficult to shed those labels and move on.

Although the George Zimmerman verdict is not a political “issue”, it certainly does have “political” & social issues connected regardless of which side of the verdict one may stand on.

After watching much of the news on tv and reading the posts on most of Social Media, I have come to this conclusion. If you agree with the verdict you are a racist. If you don’t agree with the verdict, the Justice System has thrown our country’s clock back 100 years because of THE senseless loss of a 17 year old, not self-defense.

Let’s not lose sight of how the justice system is supposed to work: criminal act, prosecution, defense, evidence, judge and a jury of peers. The jury’s job is to decide the outcome of a trial, based on “a shadow of a doubt on the evidence presented, NOT PUBLIC OPINION OR SOCIAL PRESSURES”, of one’s guilt of presented charges, otherwise they MUST vote not guilty. Having sat on a jury in the past, that seems to be what the 6 female jury members did in this case. The result may have failed Trayvon Martin, but did the system itself fail? If you believe so, you only have the Prosecution to blame, not the justice system or race issues.

Here’s the rock & hard place. Since I am in the “media”, I choose to filter my opinions and thoughts so as not to jeopardize the good standing of Vegas Unwrapped and my reputation. I don’t want to risk putting something out there and being labeled as something that I am not. There are just too many time bombs that could go off.

Some will tell me that I have the right to my opinion and should voice it. Opinions are voiced often, but rarely is it ever left as simply accepting someone’s opinion and leaving it at that.

There are 3 sides to this story. Trayvon’s, Zimmerman’s and probably somewhere in between lies the REAL truth. Unfortunately, we will never accurately know one side of this which will always be left untold.

Although George Zimmerman did not get traditional jail time, he will be in jail in the court of public opinion for the rest of his life. At 29 years old, he may never get work again, have a significant other, be able to buy a car, etc. Plus he will have to live the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. That doesn’t sound like a “free” man to me.

I know this much, anyone who feels that they are in danger and have to put themselves in a “self-defense” mode, may think twice. That hesitation could cost them their lives. I would like to believe that if my life or my family’s life were in danger, I would do anything I had to in order to protect them, REGARDLESS of the race or creed or color of the person who is trying to do harm unto us. Do I get special treatment as a “white Jew”?

Have we re-defined what we are able to do in “self-defense”? So many questions, so many opinions to come.

Until next time….