People are forgetting: George Zimmerman is not a white man (no more than Barack Obama).

People are forgetting:  George Zimmerman is not a white man (no more than Barack Obama).

Whatever you think of George Zimmerman--his culpability or his innocence--, it is a curious fact that while African-Americans have been extremely vocal about their feelings about Zimmerman and the killing of Travyon Martin, the Latino or Hispanic community in the U.S. has been strangely silent.

In fact, members of the African-American community have decried the outcome of the trial as an example of racism perpetrated against a black man.  But it is not a white man who has allegedly murdered a black man (and not in self-defense).

Zimmerman, despite his surname, is a Latino, and certainly from his physical appearance, no one would mistake him for a white man.

(In Europe, news broadcasts mistakenly spoke of him as a white man, perhaps dueto the fact that U.S. media downplayed his being Hispanic/dark-skinned).

Why won't Latinos support George Zimmerman?

So will the members of the African-American community blame (all) Latinos for what they see as a racist murder?

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Only one man knows for sure what happened the night Trayvon Martin was shot:  George Zimmerman, even though millions have already judged and condemned him.   President Martin has likened himself to Martin on at least two different occasions.

No, I don't think the reason Martin lost his life was that he was wearing a hoodie and that he was black.  He and Zimmerman were fighting--desperately for his very life, Zimmerman asserts.

Zimmerman faces an even greater ordeal/hurdle when he will have to face a civil lawsuit against him brought by Al Sharpton, the parents of Martin, and others.  It's hard for me to believe that he intentionally killed Martin.  Anyone with a brain would have known that killing the young man would bring with a firestorm of protests and an unending series of legal battles, as well as condemnation and intense guilt (which he has already publicly expressed).

No, white people who kill black people do not get off scot-free, with impunity, contrary to what many believe.

(Hispanics are now the largest minority in the United States and their numbers continue to grow at an astonishing rate).

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Charles Mudede in The Stranger (July 17-23, 2013) bemoans the "fact" that "if Travyon Martin had been white, he'd have made it home alive."  Mr. Mudede has a right to an opinion.  No one knows with certainty what might have happened in that case.  If Martin had been white and had Zimmerman on the ground and was punching him, I believe that it would NOT have made any difference.

Perhaps Mr. Mudede could be persuaded to comment on what might have happened if James Paroline, Danny Vega, Tuba Man, and others had had a gun when they were beaten to death by young African-American men.  Or the Buddhist Dinh Huyn in Tacoma chased by some young black men, who, when they caught up with him outside his own porch, repeatedly struck his skull with a hammer.

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Sometimes I think that people like Mr. Mudede simply will not or cannot see beyond their own the tip of their own prejudices and ingrained beliefs.  He cannot see the irony in his constant reiterations that he, like most African-American men have a fear of  (white) police while conveniently forgetting the murder in cold blood of four white Lakewood policemen in the Central Area a few years ago.  (Rodney King was unfairly and brutally beaten; these four persons lost their lives for nothing they had done to their murderer).

People of any color of skin if they are perceived by police--in almost every country on the face of the planet--as being uncooperative, aggressive, and/or dangerous are "asking for it, " to use a favorite Seattle phrase.

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I recall hearing on NPR (home of Travis Smiley, among others) several years--and I don't think that there is any reason to think that things have changed drastically--one in ten African-American men under 30 is in jail or has served a prison sentence.

There is a larger context, and that has to do with the very high rate of violent crime within the African-American community.  More than 90% of murders of black men are committed by other black men, not whites.  Instead, we are told to focus on the issue of (possible) racism.