Aleigha Edwards

Prof. Presnell

English 1103

17 Nov. 2014

Neighborhood watch gone wrong

Zimmerman: Hey, we've had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there's a real suspicious guy-- it's Retreat View Circle. The best address I can give you is 111 Retreat View Circle. This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something. It's raining and he's just walking around, looking about.

Dispatcher: Okay, and this guy is he White, Black, or Hispanic?
Zimmerman: He looks Black.
Dispatcher: Did you see what he was wearing?
Zimmerman: Yeah. A dark hoodie, like a grey hoodie, and either jeans or sweatpants and white tennis shoes. He's [unintelligible] he was just staring...
Zimmerman: Now he's just staring at me.
Zimmerman: Yeah, now he's coming towards me.
Zimmerman: He's got his hand in his waistband. And he's a black male.
Zimmerman: Something's wrong with him.Yup, he's coming to check me out, he's got something in his hands, I don't know what his deal is.
Dispatcher: Just let me know if he does anything, okay?

Zimmerman: How long until you get an officer over here?

Dispatcher: Yeah, we've got someone on the way, just let me know if this guy does anything else.

Zimmerman: Okay. These assholes they always get away. When you come to the clubhouse, you come straight in, and make a left. Actually, you would go past the clubhouse.

Dispatcher: So, it's on the left-hand side from the clubhouse?

Zimmerman...Shit, he's running.

Dispatcher: Are you following him?

Zimmerman: Yeah.

Dispatcher: Okay, we don't need you to do that.

Zimmerman: Okay.

George Zimmerman called 911 the night of February 26, 2012. The black male he described as wearing a dark hoodie was later found out to be 17 year old Trayvon Martin. Shortly after this 911 call Martin lost his life. It is not clear what happened after Zimmerman got off the phone with the dispatcher. It is said that he followed Martin and there was a scuffle. Residents in the neighborhood reported that they heard screams, not sure if they were from Zimmerman or Martin, and then a gunshot. Zimmerman was scared for his life and thought that he needed to act in self-defense so he had no other choice but to end Martin's young life. There is only two people who know for sure what happened that night, and one of them is now dead. When Zimmerman was asked not to follow Martin he replied Okay. If he would have waited until an officer came and complied with the dispatcher would Martin still be alive today? Would Zimmerman be able to live a normal life, where he is not hated by millions of people?

At the time, this 911 call seemed to be like a regular happening. A man calling to report a young boy in a neighborhood where it seemed like he didn't belong, possibly up to no good. Maybe because he was a black male in a gated community or was it that he really looked suspicious? No one knows the answer to this except the only other person that was there that night, Zimmerman. I am sure at the time Zimmerman didn't know that the nation would know who he was just because of this case. No one knew that this case would explode across the country appearing on about each news station and on the headline of many newspapers. What made this case so popular among the American people? How did it end up in the homes of millions of people?

Life before 2/26/2012

Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts from CNN says that George Zimmerman was born October 5, 1983, in Manassas, Virginia. He is the son of Gladys Zimmerman and Robert Zimmerman Sr. Zimmerman is the third of four children, brother Robert Jr., and two sisters, Grace and Dawn. Zimmerman was raised as a Catholic and attended All Saints Catholic Schools in Manassas before going to a public high school. After graduating from high school, Zimmerman moved to Lake Mary, Florida where he got a job at an insurance agency. Zimmerman married Shellie Dean, a licensed cosmetologist in 2007. In early 2011, Zimmerman “said” he participated in a citizen forum at the Sanford City Hall, to protest the beating of a black homeless man by the son of a white Sanford police officer. During the meeting, Zimmerman claimed he witnessed "disgusting behavior" while in ride-along program with local police. Does this sound like a man who would stalk a young boy based on the color of his skin which would later end up in an altercation and the death of a 17 year old? Are there any indications that this man would be a murderer?

Trayvon Martin was the son of Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin says Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts from CNN. Trayvon had one brother, Jahavaris Fulton. Martin enjoyed playing video games and he washed cars, babysat and cut grass to earn his own money. Martin played football for the Wolverines in Miramar, Florida from age 8 to 13. Martin attended Carol City High School in Miami Gardens for his freshman year and most of his sophomore year, before he transferred to Krop High School in north Miami-Dade in 2011. Trayvon's life wasn't complete because of his sudden death at the age of 17. He didn't get the chance to go to college, get married, start a career and just enjoy life. Did Trayvon cause his own death on the night of February 26, 2012 or was the shooter Zimmerman to blame? The lives of these two individuals would soon become exposed to world for them to judge and make their own opinion. Many believe they were able to form their own opinion but was it adjusted because of the media?

The media at its worst?

George Zimmerman is guilty. He followed Martin based on the color of his skin and shot him. There is no way he could be innocent. There is a dead young man, someone has to be at fault and it is Zimmerman. After watching the news coverage each night these were my thoughts. From the news, I was able to form my own opinion, and at that time it couldn't be changed. After two years have went by the case of Zimmerman vs. Martin has died down. I still believed Zimmerman was guilty and had essentially gotten away with murder. The matter of this case didn't come back to me until the fall semester of my freshmen year in college. In my English 1103 class we were asked to pick any topic that we wanted to find out more about so I chose the Trayvon Martin case. I exclusively wanted to learn more about the media involvement of the case. I was curious as to how I was able to form an opinion so quickly and why I was so dead set on one side. How was the media able to affect the opinions of millions of Americans and was it done without any bias? And what made this case go from another local crime story to a national one?

Caroline O' Donovan, author of How a Crime Becomes Political, names “The shooting of Trayvon Martin one of the biggest stories of 2012. But it didn’t start out that way, it began as just another local crime story, and without a number of key points of amplification along the way, it could have easily remained one. How did the death of a black Florida teen become the most covered news story with a racial component in the past five years?” Since the very beginning news coverage of the shooting to the trail I always wondered how was this case able to amplify across the nation? The case seemed pretty typical and it is not an incident most people haven't heard of before. It's sad that I can even say that. A young boy getting shot is something that in reality occurs a lot in America. O'Donovan says that the amplification of the Martin and Zimmerman incident across the nation occurs in five acts.

The first act of how the case was able to spread was from February 26 to March 6. During this time the story did not even make it beyond Florida media coverage. When the story reached The Orlando Sentinel and The Miami Herald writers said that “The news story, initially framed as a fight between two people in an area known for occasional violence, stood little chance of attracting significant media attention.” Thinking back on this statement, if this was the initial thought of this news story then there needed to be a lot of juice added by the media. Whether it is the cold hard truth or parts of the stories pieced together in order to fit the audience of the media source.

The second act is where Benjamin Crump, the civil rights attorney Martin’s family retained, and Ryan Julison is introduced to the public. It was through Julison’s efforts that national news outlets, including Reuters and CBS, got wind of the many concerns over details in the case. Lisa Bloom writer of Suspicion Nation quoted Crump as saying “The case shouldn't be about race though if the roles were reversed an arrest would have occurred quickly.” This statement brought a new aspect that he news media could take on. The media that now reached national headline could be spun even more for the nation to relate to it.

The third act, from March 16 to 22, is the release of the audio file revealing the last few moments before the death of Martin. The audio file was the 911 call between Zimmerman and the dispatcher. O'Donovan says “That audio provided what the authors call an “actuality” for TV and radio broadcasters to build a story around, which is why mainstream media is the central focus of this phase.”

Then comes the peak of the Martin coverage in Act four. This act spans from March 23 to April 10. It was during this period that President Obama weighed in and made a personal comment on the case. On March 23, President Obama said “when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. And you know, I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this.....If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.” From this statement many news sources thought President Obama was making a statement on racial profiling. Since President Obama is part African American his son would be of a darker skin color, so many implied that even President Obama thought Trayvon was shot because of being black. In reality, he was just stating the obvious.

The last act, five, pressure from across the media led authorities in Florida to take Zimmerman into custody. This story was on every media source and was talked about in every home. In my own home it was discussed every night? Why was Zimmerman not arrested? A young boy is dead for doing no serious crime so shouldn't someone be at fault? Since this story is now widespread, it was fair game for it to be molded to fit the beliefs of the news media outlet. Will this distortion of the news affect the case in the end?

“The news media prefer straightforward narratives, with good guys and bad guys, heroes and villains” says Rem Reider author of Media Went after Best Story. Stories that incorporate a good and bad guy are easier for readers and viewers to relate to. The question now is who do we make the good guy and bad guy? And what do we do to prove it? The story of Martin vs. Zimmerman developed a good guy and a bad guy early on. Zimmerman was the "wannabe cop" who racially profiled and ultimately killed Trayvon, an unarmed, hoodie wearing black teenager walking the streets of the gated community. Or was it a neighborhood patrol man was out to protect the neighborhood from thugs because of recent break-ins? You could look at the situation either way, it was either one way or the other, no in between.

Media bias began almost immediately. When photos of Zimmerman and Martin were released and placed side by side, you probably would not have thought anything about why these specific photos were chosen. I was able to look at the photos and feel that they were an accurate depiction of the two individuals, possibly because I was on the side of Martin. A sweet-looking photo of a several-years-younger Martin was released by his family, and a mug shot of Zimmerman from a previous arrest in which he looks puffyand downcast is put side by side. (To the left) When you look at the two pictures, who do you believe is at fault? Zimmerman right? This shows that he has had a previous arrest so he could easily have been at fault for this crime.

On the other hand a picture of Martin from his social media account sticking up his middle finger and looking like a young thug is put beside Zimmerman in a suit.(Below) Now who do you feel is at fault for this case? Maybe Martin was really up to no good that night and Zimmerman did what he had to do to protect the neighborhood. The picture of Martin looking innocent would most likely only appear with media outlets that was in support of Martin and a guilty verdict for Zimmerman. While the picture of Zimmerman in a suit, would appear with media sources who are rooting for Zimmerman innocence. The contrasting images powerfully reinforced the images of the menacing bully and the innocent victim.

Depending on the news station and the type of audience it attracted the story changed to fit the mold of that news station and the story they were trying to portray. The more democratic the station, the more support they put behind justice for Martin. Vice versa, republic stations were in support of Zimmerman and his right of “self-defense”. News stations such as Fox news were airing mostly pro-Zimmerman interviews and MSNBC appeared to be in total support of a guilty verdict. Reider states that, “ABC News broadcasted a story reporting that a police surveillance video showed no evidence that Zimmerman suffered abrasions or bled during the confrontation with Trayvon”, when in reality he did. It was then evident what side of the tracks that ABC news fell on. NBC News edited Zimmerman's comments during a phone call to inaccurately suggest that he thought Trayvon seemed suspicious because he was black. And as CNN continued to cover the pro-guilty verdict crowd, the casual viewer would have never known that there were also anti-guilty verdict protesters in the immediate area. One story then turns into ten different ones. No media source is reporting complete lies, because I'm sure that is illegal. So how is this story turned around in so many different ways but yet still reporting the facts and still being fair to both Zimmerman and Martin?

While the news sources used the facts of the shooting to support their views, they also pulled in the character of Martin and Zimmerman to prove their case even further. The media raised Trayvon's three school suspensions in the months prior to the trial in an attempt to show he was the violent, aggressive type who would start a fight with a stranger, as Zimmerman said happened. The media extensively tried to portray Trayvon as a “bad kid”. This proved to most that Trayvon was in fact a thug and could have been up to no good that night he was followed by Zimmerman. Zimmerman participated in a citizen forum to protest the beating of a homeless black man by the son of a white police officer in Sanford, Florida. This brings up a side of Zimmerman that most did not see in the media. It backs up the point that Zimmerman is not a racist and does well in his community, which is not shown with Martin. However it was later brought up that the police department said it did not know when, if ever, Zimmerman participated in that forum. So what side of the two do you believe? Is Martin a thug? Is Zimmerman a good citizen trying to “clean up” neighborhoods? There is not one prominent story throughout this case, so it is just up for you to come to your own conclusion. Also playing a huge part in the media was the involvement of many big celebrities. Celebrities such as Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, and the entire Miami Heat basketball team wore hoodies in support of Martin. There were plenty of more celebrities who wanted justice for Martin rather than Zimmerman. A celebrity that you followed regularly touching on a case you related to would in a way convince you to think the same way. Now which media outlets and celebrities did you follow? Did they influence your opinion?

Black vs WHITEhispanic

“Don't ever go into the store or anywhere with your hoodie on son, you just don’t know what people are thinking now a days just because you're black,” says my mother. Each night she watched the case unfold. She felt for the Mother of Trayvon because she too had a 17 year old African- American son. Trayvon could have easily been him. My mother couldn’t imagine the hurt and agony the family was going through but one thing she did know was that she couldn't go through it. Being an African- American family we were able to relate to being looked at differently or targeted because of your skin color. Throughout the case there was always the question if race was a factor. Being the same color as Trayvon, I could have been easily blinded by if it was or not. I was able to relate more to Trayvon, so I could see it being a reason for Zimmerman to follow him. Other races on the other hand, who are not usually negatively stereotyped because of their race wouldn't be able to relate and don't feel as if race was a factor at all. Martin's black grandmother, who Trayvon lived with 85-95% of his life, said that she did not think Zimmerman followed Martin because he was black. She did not provide a reason as to why she thought Zimmerman would think Martin was suspicious either. Two sides are conflicting and there is still the same question two years later, was race a factor in the Zimmerman and Martin case?