The Bite in the Apple
Lukas Maverick Greyson / Shutterstock.com[/caption]
George Zimmerman, who was acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin because his ‘fear’ was a legitimate right to shoot to kill, has put his gun up for auction on the internet.
His describes the gun as ‘Used’ and as the weapon he fired to defend himself against his aggressor (Zimmerman actually attacked Trayvon). He also calls the gun a piece of Americana, of such historical importance that, he claims, the Smithsonian was considering buying it for display.
The Smithsonian says it has never considered buying that gun and would never display it.
Zimmerman also wrote that the gun had recently been returned to him, still working despite what he calls the efforts of ‘B. Hussein Obama’ (that’s our President) and the FBI to render it useless.
Every year, just about, Zimmerman surfaces in the press through one outrageous act or another. Somehow, he manages to skirt his misdemeanors and stay out of jail.
But it does seem that he resurfaces because his trial was the high point of his sorry and useless life. His desire seems to be to return to a time when his rage and violence transformed him into a hero for some (and a pariah for others, like me). His love of this moment in his life is a thirst he never quenches. When he re-emerges we see in him still a bitterly angry, deeply racist man with no intention or ability to work and no desire to shift his focus away from his seething dislike of African Americans.
The trolls who are drawn to his posting about the gun are newsworthy in their ugliness. One, whose moniker is Racist McShooter, has driven the bidding for the gun up to 65 million dollars. The real bidding seems to be at 485,000 dollars, so far. But of more concern to me are the large number of Americans, presumably white, who love bad boys like George Zimmerman.
There’s something viral in American culture that’s deeply hate-filled and looking for scapegoats. And that something is busy buying guns.
Donald Trump provoked no reaction at all when he claimed he could go out on 5th Avenue in New York and shoot someone and not lose any votes. I’m chilled to think he may be right.
Trump has correctly read our American mood, presenting himself as a man who will be a clench-fisted president, intolerant of anything he doesn’t like and ready to breathe fire on immigrants, Moslems, and women who do not flatter him.
Plenty of us proclaim that these are not American values. In fact, though, these values are vaunted by a loud and large portion of Americans.
Perhaps it isn’t surprising, as we look around the world at the rise of neo-Fascist groups in European countries, liberal countries like Norway and Sweden, and even Germany, after more than fifty years of social reform, public education and laws enacted against Fascism.
Fascism began in the 1930s by hating Communists, Gypsies, the handicapped, and American Negroes (then the accepted term) whose jazz bands traveled the continent. Hitler banned jazz, among many other art forms. Jews became the main Fascist focus, but were not the first focus of Fascist contempt. The first focus, like the first kid any local bully picks on, is a weak, small kid, a weak, small group, who won’t get much notice or protest.
Sadly, George Zimmerman may be a bellweather for our times, Trayvon Martin an early victim and a sorrowful sign.
Jesus, in the unfolding of the Spirit, said, ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.’ Fear, the fuel of bullies, has become a political sacrament in America.
O, how we need a Pentecost of understanding, a holy wind of kindness and welcome to come blowing into us!
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