Imo, this tragic case has nothing to do with racial profiling. Nor do I think this was a hate crime. And yes, I did hear the racial slur in the 911 call. I simply do not feel that slur in conjunction with the unfolding of events, as I presently understand them (
i.e., from listening to the 911 calls, link ), supports the contention that this tragedy was a hate crime as outlined in the "
Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act" (
link ) That is, I do not think GZ targeted and proceeded to shoot Trayvon purely bc he was black.
I think instead, this is a case of a hotheaded, wanna-be cop, who, from my read, regularly harassed neighborhood residents (
link ) and made chronic nuisance calls to the SPD (
link ). Otherwise put, imnsho, this guy was a accident waiting to happen. Someone who was bound to shoot someone, anyone, sooner or later. The recent voice findings (
link ), imho, refutes GZ's claim that the shooting was an act of self defense. Which, again, supports my contention that this guy was a walking time-bomb.
Aside: I wish they would post all of GZ's 911 calls as well as any other voice recordings they might have of the guy, bc, imho, he def sounds intoxicated in this call. (
link ) And, in light of the number of calls he made over the past eight years, I cannot help but to wonder if there might be an underlying substance abuse issue, or possibly even some sort of brain injury, that might explain (
not excuse, of course), his, imho, reckless behavior.