It’s bad enough that Fox has chosen Mark Fuhrman to be one of its primary commenters on the George Zimmerman trial – while neglecting to tell any of its viewers of Fuhrman’s disreputable record on race matters. But this morning, Fox stuck another thumb in the face of African Americans by calling on him to analyze the testimony of Trayvon Martin’s young African American friend, Rachel Jeantel. Even worse, Fuhrman reached across a cultural divide to condescendingly criticize Jeantel’s manner, her words and her credibility in a fashion that could only be described as “mansplaining.”
“I think it’s hugely helping Zimmerman’s case,” Fuhrman began in describing Jeantel’s testimony. Yet, despite his pronouncements, Fuhrman is not a lawyer. Fox News says he serves there as “a forensic and crime scene expert.” So why on earth did Fox choose him to comment on the credibility of a young, African American teen who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin during his confrontation with Zimmerman and in the final moments of Martin’s life? Unless you think Fox News producers are naïve enough not to understand the signal this sends, the only explanation is a wink-wink to its white viewers about where the "fair and balanced" network stands on racial matters.
Still acting as if he were some kind of trial attorney, Fuhrman continued:
I think this witness is so done. I think the jury is going through pains just trying to keep up with which story, which name, which phone number, which explanation, which statement – the jury has got to omit it all because they can’t believe - they just can’t pick and choose and she seems deceptive or unsure about every single thing.
…You have to understand that she talks to Trayvon Martin but outside of what is consistent with Zimmerman and Martin and from the beginning, everything else seems to be up for grabs as she sees it, when she wants to change it.
The other guest, Lis Wiehl - a real attorney - disagreed. She pointed out that Jeantel is young (19 now, 18 at the time of the shooting) and under pressure and that the jury will probably take that into consideration.
But nobody challenged Fuhrman’s “credentials” to make such judgments about Jeantel and the trial in the first place.
It’s interesting that nobody other than Zimmerman has made the argument that Trayvon Martin was “slamming his head into the concrete”, as Zimmerman tried to allege. Even Fuhrman has admitted that this is a false statement by Zimmerman.
The witness testimony today confirms what we’ve already heard from multiple witnesses over the last year – that after Zimmerman started the fight, he wound up losing it, with Martin on top of him. Zimmerman’s response to losing the fight he had instigated, was to pull a gun and kill Martin. I agree with you that the collective testimony about this will likely seal the deal. But I don’t think you may realize what deal is being sealed here…
Which is a key admission. They’re conceding that Zimmerman profiled, stalked and confronted Trayvon Martin. But they’re hoping, a bit desperately I might add, that this won’t be a factor in his conviction. Which is frankly ridiculous. They’re also trying out the balloon of “Zimmerman HAD to follow Trayvon since that’s what Neighborhood Watch people do.” Unfortunately, that’s actually false. Zimmerman did not need to follow and stalk Trayvon Martin. He had already called in the issue, and he had already made eye contact with Martin, who was trying to get away from him. Zimmerman was told to back off, and instead chose to continue stalking Martin. That’s not the responsible act of a Neighborhood Watch guy. And if he then initiates a fatal confrontation, he doesn’t get to then say “Hey, I was just defending myself!”
None of that changes that her testimony has been pretty consistent. She talked to Trayvon, who was worried about the guy stalking him. She told Trayvon to run away from him. Trayvon told her he momentarily evaded Zimmerman but then Zimmerman found him again. She heard the beginning of their confrontation, which ended after it turned into a fistfight. In spite of all the attempts by Zimmerman’s attorneys and by AM Radio and Fox News, she did not suddenly change her story or get tripped up in court. She did apparently get annoyed at Zimmerman’s attorney West for trying to either lead her testimony or get her to say things she wasn’t about to say. She was particularly firm when West tried to get her to say that Martin was somehow moving toward Zimmerman, when she’s been consistent that it was the other way around.
From the sounds of it, AM Radio and Fox News are becoming a bit panicked now. They’ve clearly realized that Zimmerman is looking at a very real possibility of a 2nd Degree Murder conviction. They’re doing anything they can to try to confuse the issue and to attack both Trayvon and any witness that gives testimony that confirms Zimmerman’s stalking, attacking and killing of Trayvon.
It’s interesting that they’re trying to make hay out of what phrases Trayvon Martin or his friend Rachel used. It’s interesting that they’re trying to make hay out of the woman’s Twitter account – except that there’s nothing in there that shows anything that changes the facts of this case. Trayvon could absolutely have been a racist. He could very well have been a juvenile delinquent. Heck, he could have been in trouble with both of his parents at the time that this happened, and he might have smoked pot at some point during the week in question. None of that is relevant to the basic facts of this case. None of that changes the fact that, as mj reminded everyone, Zimmerman, profiled, stalked, confronted and killed Trayvon – and that Zimmerman did so even after he was told to back off. AM Radio and Fox News can cheerlead for Zimmerman all they want. KFI in Los Angeles is working particularly hard to assassinate Trayvon’s character, so as to present a “plague on both your houses” idea wherein the killing is just the result of two guys who didn’t like each on sight other getting into a fight that ended badly. This would be fine except for the part where Zimmerman stalked Trayvon and initiated the situation after being told to stay out of it. The notion that Zimmerman somehow had no choice but to kill Trayvon forgets that Zimmerman could have waited in his car and let the police deal with the situation. When he chose to take the law into his own hands, there were fatal consequences – which he won’t be able to walk away from when this is done. It’s interesting that O"Mara’s comments on Fox News were that he’s “scared” that he’s going to go to jail for defending himself. Nonsense. Zimmerman is justifiably scared that he’s going to be convicted and sent to prison for 20 years because he killed an unarmed teenager he was told to stop following.
- profiled Martin
- stalked Martin
- confronted Martin
- then killed Martin
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No, Fuhrball, they don’t.
All they have to do is keep in mind the following:
- Zimmerman was armed with a gun.
- Martin was armed with Skittles and MFing iced tea.
- Zimmerman stalked Martin — for no other apparent reason that Martin was black in a white neighborhood.
- Zimmerman was told by a 911 operator to stop following Martin.
- Zimmerman did not comply with that order.
- Martin is dead.
- Zimmerman is not.
See how easy that is to follow, Fuhrball?
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Of course, this is the network that re-hired Sarah Palin.