[berdyanskdotsu]

This discussion shows clearly that "White" is a losen term. This guy could easily pass in South Europe. No doubt.

Btw. Is he a Jew? Zimmermann is a very common name among Jews.

I think he is "hispanic", but the name does sound German to me, and possibly belonging to an Ashkenazi Jew. I figured maybe he is like Carlos Condit , who would also be considered "white" by law enforcement.

As for the loosening of the term "white", this is not new. Law enforcement usually calls you how they see you t first glance. There is no Meztizo category and you wont be hispanic unless you speak Spanish and they know it. When it comes down to it, regardless of his genetic background, "white" is a social term, and if he is considered "white", it doesn't matter how much non-White blood he has, and I'm not surprised he is. He is maybe an "off-white", so he's the insulation "whites" have against the non-whites. Anyhow, I'm not sure he himself is racist, but I don't see how he got away with what he did, I doubt a "black" person could get away with such little evidence, even a cop, he's not even that. I wonder if this happened to a "white" kid if we'd see the same response by authorities, Florida doesn't have the best record when it comes to "race-relations".

---------- Post added 2012-03-20 at 13:32 ----------

The more I have learned about this case the more I am convinced that the murder was racially motivated. The part that I can't get past is how so many people are conditioned to thinking of racism as being something exclusive to white people.

Racially this case has been a bit of a bait and switch. The crime was extremely tragic, but I feel that it got so much viral attention because of the original perception that this was a white on black hate crime. Now that the facts have come out I think this might be the first nationwide case to show the public that racism can come from anyone.



I like your humble, thought out approach to discussing the problems faced by the black community. I agree with you that there are serious social issues that need to be addressed. Like a guy being shot 41 times for pulling out his wallet. That's inexcusable. I think that you're probably right in that the black community has some right to feel paranoia when you're living in conditions like that.

In my own defense, I personally watch mostly left-wing, liberal commentator news shows. Many of the commentators and audience are white, and actually they are the ones who I've seen fanning the flames of racism with this case. There's nothing wrong with publicizing a news story with accurate information to bring attention to a social issue, such as racism. But that's what makes me so angry about this case. Calling this a white on black crime is not accurate and needlessly stokes racial tension.

I heard allot about it on the radio, in the recent days and the host Michael Baisden keeps repeating that it is not a "racial-issue" because "whites, blacks and latinos" are all coming out in outrage over the incident. I'm pretty sure he's "black", but I think it's unfortunate that it is being sold the way it is by the liberal news shows, and I'm not sure why it seems that way, but it seems pretty clear to me that racism isn't a "white" only issue, though if this Zimmerman guy is considered "white" by "the law", than I'd call him "white" unless he'd asked to be called otherwise. If he was mulatto, they'd probably call him "black", and I'd except that as well. It's an example of the polarizing nature of American racial views.

In certain circumstances though even the "whites" will be targeted for racism by "whites". And we know they are targeted for racism by non-whites as well, but first and foremost I think we have to face the case at hand before we get into how people are labeled by the media, because if we go down that route we'd have to consider so much that isn't exactly relevant to the case.