Just wanted to say this is an absolutely superb post and I'm coming back to it later tonight after work.
For the record, though, I think we'd still need to be having the conversation about race that you say we should be having even if there were absolutely conclusive evidence that Martin initiated the physical altercation. Because the fact is that the confrontation would not have happened at ALL if Zimmerman hadn't found a young black man walking at night to be inherently suspicious. That's why the derailment into the character assassination of Martin bothers me to much - whatever he did or didn't do "wrong", Zimmerman had no way of knowing about it. What he knew was that a black kid was walking at night, and that was enough for him to raise the alarm.
no subject
For the record, though, I think we'd still need to be having the conversation about race that you say we should be having even if there were absolutely conclusive evidence that Martin initiated the physical altercation. Because the fact is that the confrontation would not have happened at ALL if Zimmerman hadn't found a young black man walking at night to be inherently suspicious. That's why the derailment into the character assassination of Martin bothers me to much - whatever he did or didn't do "wrong", Zimmerman had no way of knowing about it. What he knew was that a black kid was walking at night, and that was enough for him to raise the alarm.