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Unless you were just recently discovered and thawed by scientists in Antarctica and are now scared and confused by the new world around you, you are very familiar with the shooting death of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin inside the gated community of The Retreat at Twin Lakes by 28-year old neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman on February 26. Zimmerman, who was on the phone with the Sanford Police while following Martin (Martin also made a call to the police during the incident), claimed he shot and killed the teenager in self-defense invoking Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” law. However, due to conflicting eyewitness testimony, the Sanford Police Department’s bungling of the immediate and initial investigation, and allegations of racism, this has become an inevitable sensationalized, media circus that has garnered worldwide attention resulting in protests and rallies around the country.
In their quest for justice, many activists have taken it upon themselves to do the law’s job. Particularly, Marcus Davonne Higgins. Who tweeted the address of George Zimmerman to every celebrity he could think of and asked them to repost. Spike Lee did. The Smoking Gun reports:
The original tweet was sent to Lee (and numerous other celebrities like Will Smith, 50 Cent, and LeBron James) last Friday afternoon by Marcus Davonne Higgins, a 33-year-old Los Angeles man who uses the online handle “maccapone.” Higgins included the direction, “EVERYBODY REPOST THIS.” Higgins, pictured at right, first began disseminating the Sanford address to his Twitter followers last Wednesday, including the claim that Zimmerman “Like the fat punk he is, he still lives at home with mommie & daddy.” In a simultaneous post to his Facebook wall, Higgins told his 4000 friends, “FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT & TOUCH HIM.” He also claimed in another post that, “REAL TALK MY PEOPLE OUT THERE IN FLORIDA JUST TOLD ME GEORGE ZIMMERMAN IS NOT AT HIS HOUSE THEY OUT THERE RIGHT NOW.”
However, in case his tweets didn’t give it away, Marcus Davonne Higgins isn’t a licensed detective and apparently also has rudimentary knowledge of public records. Because you see, 159 Edgewater Circle, is the current address of David and Elaine McClain, a married couple in their 70s who work for the public school system. And “George W. Zimmerman” is 6’5″ and white. And the man who shot Trayvon Martin is “George M. Zimmerman”. Who is 5’9″ and self-described as Hispanic.
The man who shot Martin is George Michael Zimmerman. Higgins has repeatedly identified him as “George W. Zimmerman.” The residence on Edgewater Circle is actually the home of David McClain, 72, and his wife Elaine, 70. The McClains, both of whom work for the Seminole County school system, have lived in the 1310-square-foot lakefront home for about a decade, records show…Besides overlooking the different middle initial, perhaps that answer is connected to an old voter record for a “William George Zimmerman” at the Edgewater Circle property. That registration, which dates back to 1995, is for a 41-year-old man. The Zimmerman who shot Martin is 28.
Yeah, so guess what’s happening now. You’ll never believe it.
In an interview tonight, Elaine McClain told TSG that she and her husband were “afraid” due to the online linking of her address to Zimmerman. “We’re keeping everything locked,” she said. McClain added that the couple was particularly unnerved by a letter mailed to them at their home. On the envelope, she said, were printed the words “Taste The Rainbow…The McClains (pictured below) only became aware that their address was being widely circulated online two days ago, when a TV reporter arrived at their home asking for “George.” Bewildered by their sudden–and erroneous–connection to Martin’s killer, the elderly couple’s distress can only be heightened by posts made by Twitter and Facebook users who threaten to visit their residence in search of Zimmerman. Or other posts that goad followers to vigilante action.
If you take the time to read the full details and evidence of the case, you quickly realize some shady shit went down. And you’ll soon realize that only two people actually know what happened, and one of them was shot dead carrying only a bag of Skittles and an iced tea. Trayvon Martin was suspended from school and wearing a hoodie, but that doesn’t mean he should have lost his life over it. And George Zimmerman, who wrapped a horrible idea in his own perceived good intentions, finally found the trouble that he, by all accounts, spends all his days looking for. And everyday since we have been bombarded by the media with nothing more than speculation and fear, including Geraldo Rivera’s now infamous victim blaming statement that Martin’s hoodie got him killed (umm, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X would like a word). So instead of Spike Lee pouring gasoline on an already volatile situation and potentially causing more innocent lives to be lost, maybe he should shut the fuck up and let people who know what they’re doing handle it. It should be obvious to everyone that the murder of Trayvon Martin was racially motivated (Settle down, white people. Zimmerman is Hispanic. You’re off the hook. This time), and anybody who refuses to see that is part of the problem. At the same time, we shouldn’t be too quick to call Zimmerman a raging bigot, because the same media that makes you want to believe that, is the same media that has perpetuated the stereotype that has been systematically seared into Zimmerman’s brain and therefore partly responsible for him shooting a black teenager in the chest. So get your shit together, America. The world doesn’t end at your community’s gate. Or the end of your block. It’s a round world last time I checked.
UPDATE: The police surveillance video taken the night that George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin was released today, and remember that part where Zimmerman had a broken nose and was covered in blood because Martin nearly beat him to death? Man, Zimmerman must have some kind of mystical healing powers.
