Richard Cohen, the one-time liberal Washington Post columnist (who has skewed right with Israel), is weirdly and irascibly tough in this column welcoming the not guilty verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman for the Trayvon Martin killing in Florida last year. I see the column is getting mocked widely, and many are describing Cohen’s argument as racist. Cohen moves on from statistics showing the high percentage of urban shootings alleged to be committed by young black men to angry, crude generalizations about Martin being justly “suspected because he was black,” and meditations about Barry Obama’s life “on the lip” of Harlem:
Martin was wearing a uniform we all recognize [a hoodie]…
I’m tired of politicians and others who have donned hoodies in solidarity with Martin and who essentially suggest that, for recognizing the reality of urban crime in the United States, I am a racist…
The problems of the black underclass are hardly new. They are surely the product of slavery, the subsequent Jim Crow era and the tenacious persistence of racism. They will be solved someday, but not probably with any existing programs. For want of a better word, the problem is cultural, and it will be solved when the culture, somehow, is changed….
At one time, I thought Barack Obama would bring the problem into the open and remove the racist stigma. Instead, he perpetuated it. In his acclaimed Philadelphia speech on race, he cited his grandmother as “a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her by on the street.”
How about the former Barry Obama? When he was a Columbia University student living on the lip of then-dangerous Harlem, did he never have the same fear?
There’s no doubt in my mind that Zimmerman profiled Martin and, braced by a gun, set off in quest of heroism. The result was a quintessentially American tragedy — the death of a young man understandably suspected because he was black and tragically dead for the same reason.
The Post is defending the column. I wonder if Cohen, reportedly 72, is thinking about retirement, and so he feels the need to bust loose before he hits the pasture. Thanks to Max Blumenthal.
“Martin was wearing a uniform we all recognize [a hoodie]…”
This is really disgusting bigotry on Cohen’s part. No, a hoodie is not a “uniform” of black offenders, as he suggests. It’s what one wears when one is outside when it is raining, as Trayvon Martin was when he was walking to the store that night. I don’t know whether Zimmerman racially profiled Martin or not, but one thing’s for sure, Cohen surely did.
After watching a lot of the courtroom testimony and reading articles, it became clear that Zimmerman’s story was seemingly consistent, as the neighbor and detectives both verified his claims. He was attacked and was the one getting the beating from a 6′-0″ seventeen year old (intially he was made out to be a 12 year-old with some skittles and pepsi in hand).
I assumed when the trial started that he was going to be convicted, but for how long was the question. It showed that I had already decided that he was guilty, which is why so many are protesting and angry right now – I don’t think they heard the testimony. They were presented with a lot of inaccuracies and now they are reeling about it. All of these female jurors making a unanimous decision about this case, must have felt some sympathy for Travon, but the state didn’t prove it’s case. Hardly a racial case.
Remember Sean Bell? That was ten time worse. But that was the NYPD establishment, so the news was afraid to incite racial tension then. This was the summer case of 2013, designed to draw all that racism and gun rights out so pundits have something to talk about other than the real topics of the day. NSA spying. Even Obama commented on the Travon case today – playing politics when required – that’s our transformational president at work.
I have a “hoodie.” I wear it. Sometimes at night. Sometimes at night walking around. Sometimes at night walking around in neighborhoods not my own.
Signed, a middle-aged white guy.
On the subject of ‘racial profiling’ aren’t you Philip Weiss guilty of the same offence?
If you are claiming Zimmerman MUST be racist on the basis of NBC report that claimed Zimmerman said on the 911 emergency call made to the police that the ‘suspect ‘ ‘looked black’ , then , well.. NBC were proven to have DOCTORED the tape.
In fact Zimmerman ONLY said the ‘suspect’ ‘ looked black’ AFTER the police dispatcher asked Zimmerman what race the ‘suspect’ might be.
If you are saying Zimmerman MUST be racist because CNN falsely claimed Zimmerman used a racial insult, when in fact a CNN audio expert later ascertained that in fact Zimmerman had remarked ;
‘its’ f*****g COLD’
again you are wrong because CNN admitted later, that just like NBC that they got THAT wrong too.
VETERAN NEWSMAN DOCTORED 911 TAPE, NBC ADMITS
April 6, 2012.
– See more at: http://www.studiobriefing.net/2012/04/veteran-newsman-doctored-911-tape-nbc-admits/#sthash.h6qfgXQU.dpuf
George Zimmerman 911 call edited: Can NBC be trusted?
Tuesday, 03 April 2012 19:01
a rather typically self-important OVER statement by said hack, but, nevertheless..
http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/nation/nbc-admits-fault-in-edited-zimmerman-911-tapes
Weiss, as a self- appointed guardian of the TRUTH shouldn’t you be equally concerned about the outright lies told by CNN and NBC in their reporting of the case, given the way such lies could affect the legitimacy of the outcome of the trial of Zimmerman , either way , or could further inflame racial tensions.
I think that’s the bigger issue here.
As far as I can see Richard Cohen was expressing an OPINION, whether he is right is wrong , is for subjective opinion to discern.
Cohen didn’t doctor the truth as CNN and NBC were shown subsequently to have done, objectively speaking.
Perhaps its only when elderly’ Zionist’ journalists speak their minds that you disapprove.
Incidentally, exactly WHEN did Americans of Hispanic/ Latino descent become ‘white’?
Answer:
When it suited the media, anxious as they are and were to fit the case, and the tragic death of Trayvon Martin into the simplistic, newspaper- selling, TV adverts – selling, sensationalist,’ black versus white’ racism mould.
”understandably suspected because he was black and tragically dead for the same reason.”
“understandably” suspected?
enough said –the ‘understandably’ is his racism.