One of the things that has struck me as the most bizarre about this case is the sudden insistence by some of the left that Zimmerman is "white." He is not "white." He is half-Hispanic, and looks more than half-Hispanic. Just the way the genes worked out, doesn't matter. But it does make him a member of what is ordinarily considered a minority, and it could subject him to prejudice in some parts of this country, even though he has a "white" (actually, likely Jewish, for what it matters) name.
To which these folks on the left respond that the U.S. census says that Hispanics are a Spanish speaking white minority. Umm, well fine. Except that, err . . . although there are "white" Hispanics, most people commonly identified as "Hispanic" have a distinctive look from having more than a little Native American ancestry from way back when. This is, um, not a secret. Nor is it a secret that most such Hispanics are of a darker skin tone and are, in some parts of the United States subject to a certain amount of prejudice resulting from the fact that you can tell that they are "Hispanic" at a glance, regardless of whether they speak a word of Spanish.
Indeed, had a blond haired, blue-eye white guy shot someone who was wearing a hoodie and looked like Mr. Zimmerman, many of these same people would be accusing said hypothetical white guy of racism against a Hispanic guy. As they accuse people all the time who discriminate (or seem to discriminate) against Hispanic people. Indeed, one of the major critiques of harsh immigration laws is that they are racist.
Now, I have no doubt that Mr. Zimmerman thought Mr. Martin looked suspicious because he was black and wearing a hoodie. But admitting that Mr. Zimmerman is himself a racial minority doesn't change that. He doesn't have to be "white" to make an assumption about someone else because of their race. Indeed, studies have shown that stereotyping has made lots of people more leery of black men . . . including other black people.
I have simply been astounded (and appalled) by this turn around on whether Hispanics are a "race" and discrimination against them "racism" and this resort to the census defintions of all bloody things, just so they can claim that this is a black/white thing. Why not a black/brown or black/tan or black/Spanish-Native American ancestry thing? Why not a black stereotyping thing? Why does your ideology require that Mr. Zimmerman be white? Even if you assume that he is a raving bigot (I don't actually think he is), is there some rule saying that a half-Hispanic multiracial guy can't be bigoted against black people?
A little off topic, but its just struck me as so freaking weird. And, bluntly, racist. I generally don't buy the "the left are the racist ones" trope (see all the flagrantly racist stuff being said about Trayvon on the right), but the level of hypocrisy, and yes, anti-white racism being spewed is astounding. All the more so because some of the commentators insisting that he is white "because Hispanics aren't a race" are white. I'm not offended by this, really, but I am sort of amazed.
Disclaimer: I personally do not care what "race" Mr. Zimmerman is, or is not. But you can't claim Hispanics are a race when they are victims then say they are white when they are the apparent aggressor. Nor will I pretend that I am unaware that there is a Hispanic "look" and that Mr. Zimmerman has it.