# Will there be race riots if Zimmerman is found not guilty? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201 "2013-06-29T14:00:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/61 "2013-06-30T20:04:09Z")
> [@tralfamidor](#): > > **I think that some degree of civil disturbance is inevitable if Zimmerman is found not guilty, if only because the Rodney King riots and the fact that no looter/rioter was ever arrested, prosecuted, or punished in any way gave carte blanche for blacks to riot when they don’t like an event, have embedded rioting and property destruction in the urban black mind as an appropriate response to perceived injustice.** > > It’s a certainty that Zimmerman will be convicted, though, if only because no not guilty verdict will be afforded any credibility by the black community, there being no blacks on the jury. It seems obvious that there are holes in the prosecution’s case to the extent that reasonable doubt exists (in _both_ directions). We only know that Zimmerman initiated a confrontation, that Trayvon knocked him down and beat him, and that Zimmerman shot Trayvon. If those events occured, and in that order, then Zimmerman has a quite plausible affirmative defense. > > Nonetheless, they’ll convict him, because of fears of the backlash. One man’s life is nothing compared to the destruction of billions of dollars’ worth of property and whatever deaths might ensue from the reaction to a not guilty verdict. So not to worry, society will cast aside the rules of jurisprudence (one way or another) and throw Zimmerman to the wolves, in pursuit of the greater good. > > (Lest any of the tiny-brained folk react inappropriately to what I’ve said, I hasten to add that I think Zimmerman is a racist asshole who started a fight with a black kid because that kid was in “his” neighborhood, and that he might very well have exited his SUV with the intent of gunning the kid down. However, I think there’s only about, say, a 90% chance that that is what happened–not enough to convict based on the workings of our justice system.) My brain must be awfully small as I find I don’t agree w/ you, but I was still able to look online and see that over 11,000 people were arrested around the actions of the 1992 LA riots. That’s just like none only a lot more and then several on top of that. We don’t **know** anything about what occurred during the Zimmerman/Martin action; but keeping saying it and soon enough people will forget that and take your word as fact. You’re hitting every dog-whistle racist talking point tralfamidor, right down to the comparison of black people to animals (who are less evolved and controllable than humans). > [@Two\_Dollar\_Tallboy](#): > > I want to doubt there would be rioting if Zimmerman gets off, but then I think about a riot I barely missed by being out of town > > [Benton Harbor, Michigan - Wikipedia](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benton_Harbor_riots#2003) Not being in the place where it happened isn’t ‘barely missed’, it’s ‘completely missed’; exaggeration doesn’t help your argument. You don’t want to doubt anything, my disingenuous friend, you want an excuse to bring up a race riot cite. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/62 "2013-06-30T20:36:01Z")
I don’t see any MAJOR riots happening if he’s found not guilty. The initial obsession of this case was that Zimmerman wasn’t arrested/charged. The Stand Your Ground Law seemed to take precedence over what the cops thought. Now he’s got his trial, showcased by the prosecution witnesses, who IMO have not given much to convict of 2nd degree murder. I doubt he’ll go scott free on everything, but I think the riots would be more likely if they still refused to press charges on Zimmerman. There’s ben plenty of cases where cops have shot black kids and were never tried. If a WANNABE cop got away with not being charged, shit would’ve already happened. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Dollar\_Tallboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Two\_Dollar\_Tallboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Dollar_Tallboy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/63 "2013-06-30T21:03:11Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > My brain must be awfully small as I find I don’t agree w/ you, but I was still able to look online and see that over 11,000 people were arrested around the actions of the 1992 LA riots. That’s just like none only a lot more and then several on top of that. > We don’t **know** anything about what occurred during the Zimmerman/Martin action; but keeping saying it and soon enough people will forget that and take your word as fact. > You’re hitting every dog-whistle racist talking point tralfamidor, right down to the comparison of black people to animals (who are less evolved and controllable than humans). > Not being in the place where it happened isn’t ‘barely missed’, it’s ‘completely missed’; exaggeration doesn’t help your argument. You don’t want to doubt anything, my disingenuous friend, you want an excuse to bring up a race riot cite. I think you may have misread what I was saying. I was pointing out that race based riots have occured with much less provocation than the feelings that are getting stirred up by this case. By missed I meant I missed witnessing it happen. Saw the aftermath though. I probably should have worded that better. ---
**Author:** ![Cheryl44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@Cheryl44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheryl44)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/64 "2013-06-30T21:12:53Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > At any rate, the whole country didn’t have it’s underwear in a bunch over it. The Martin Zimmerman situation has created quite the national circus, quite a bit more that Diallo Bell. Only if you are paying attention. I know next to nothing about the case. I can’t decide if they’re convict because hey it’s Florida, they’re like Texas in the regard if you’ve been arrested, you must be guilty. Or they’ll not convict because he, it’s Florida–all he did was kill a black kid. ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/65 "2013-07-01T02:54:37Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > See, the flaw in your logic is that if Zimmerman walks, he’ll be free to stop crimes. It isn’t my opinion! Thanks for all the responses. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see now. At the moment it’s looking like he’ll walk, so unless the prosecution have something really big lined up I guess we’ll be finding out. So far, their witnesses have been aiding the defence. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/66 "2013-07-01T03:28:32Z")
> [@Cheryl44](#): > > Only if you are paying attention. I know next to nothing about the case. I can’t decide if they’re convict because hey it’s Florida, they’re like Texas in the regard if you’ve been arrested, you must be guilty. Or they’ll not convict because he, it’s Florida–all he did was kill a black kid. Yeah, but he’s Hispanic, so if you put him in jail, it’s like killing two birds with one stone. ---
**Author:** ![tralfamidor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@tralfamidor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tralfamidor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/67 "2013-07-01T04:09:36Z")
> [@Doggo](#): > > It isn’t my opinion! > > Thanks for all the responses. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see now. > At the moment it’s looking like he’ll walk, so unless the prosecution have something really big lined up I guess we’ll be finding out. So far, their witnesses have been aiding the defence. That doesn’t mean he’ll walk, if the judge gives the jury the option of convicting Zimmerman on a lesser offense, like second degree manslaughter. In fact, I strongly suspect that’s what’s been in the script all along, so that the jurors can avoid a murder conviction without fearing for their lives for the rest of their days and the “justice system” can say it’s done its job. It’s certainly true that the prosecution has utterly botched things so far, among other blunders, making it completely obvious that the black girl “witness” was force-fed a story (they should have made sure she was capable of repeating it the way they wanted before they stuck her on the witness stand). But I don’t think how the actual show trial goes makes much difference. They convict on manslaughter; Z goes to prison; Z’s found in his cell strangled with his own intestines a week later. Everyone’s happy: a few blacks may riot as a result of him “getting off easy,” but only until they realize that in prison, he’ll last about three days, making any conviction, for murder or a lesser offense, a particularly messy death sentence anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/68 "2013-07-01T04:28:19Z")
> [@tralfamidor](#): > > the jurors can avoid a murder conviction without fearing for their lives for the rest of their days There’s no sensible reason they would fear for their lives now. > [@](#): > > Z goes to prison; Z’s found in his cell strangled with his own intestines a week later. Another doubtful outcome. > [@](#): > > a few blacks may riot as a result of him “getting off easy,” Now we’ve gone from “blacks will riot if he’s acquitted” to “they’ll riot if he’s convicted and sentenced to jail for any lesser offense.” ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/69 "2013-07-01T04:34:22Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > There’s no sensible reason they would fear for their lives now. > > Another doubtful outcome. > > Now we’ve gone from “blacks will riot if he’s acquitted” to “they’ll riot if he’s convicted and sentenced to jail for any lesser offense.” As you might have noticed, facts mean nothing to **tralfamidor** ; if I was a more paranoid individual I’d think he was a an astro-turfing plant for defense, the way he trots out fibs as facts and supposition as guarantees. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/70 "2013-07-01T04:35:37Z")
Yes. Absolutely. A big black man is going to smash your windows with his big black crowbar, rape your family with his big black penis, steal your big black television, pull out his big black lighter, and dance the big black dance of his big black people on the big black asphalt while a big black plume of smoke rises over your little white neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/71 "2013-07-01T04:46:39Z")
Steps are being taken to lessen tensions in Sanford Florida. This is a very good idea. I hope violence can be avoided after the trial. [Pastors focus on peace before Zimmerman trial](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/trayvon-martin/os-zimmerman-trayvon-sanford-peace-20130608,0,804609.story) [NAACP to host town-hall meeting in Sanford to discuss Zimmerman case](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/trayvon-martin/os-zimmerman-trayvon-naacp-sanford-20130619,0,355066.story) ---
**Author:** ![tralfamidor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@tralfamidor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tralfamidor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/72 "2013-07-01T04:51:33Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > There’s no sensible reason they would fear for their lives now. > > Another doubtful outcome. > > Now we’ve gone from “blacks will riot if he’s acquitted” to “they’ll riot if he’s convicted and sentenced to jail for any lesser offense.” Not much of a change, actually–I merely included the possibility that he would be convicted of a lesser offense under the umbrella of “he is not convicted of murder.” I do think there’s a difference, in that there will be less destructive, less widespread, and shorter duration rioting if he gets convicted on the lesser charge. I would easily lay 1000-1 odds on Zimmerman’s life expectancy being less than, say, a year after he went to prison. He may, I concede, not die in as colorful a way as I’ve described. He might also be assigned to a segregated unit, in which case it could take several months to kill him. I knew someone would comment on the remark I made about the jurors, and would only refer you to the fact that the one juror in the OJ Simpson criminal trial who resisted rendering an instantaneous not guilty verdict was threatened with death by another juror–the holdout then changed his mind (he reported this in an interview shortly after the trial was over). I would be astonished if death threats haven’t already reached the jurors. There’s too much at stake here. Many people regard the conviction of Zimmerman as an absolute necessity. If the jury votes to acquit, they will have made tens of millions of enemies, some of whom settle their antagonisms the old-fashioned way. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/73 "2013-07-01T04:54:57Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Yes. Absolutely. A big black man is going to smash your windows with his big black crowbar, rape your family with his big black penis, steal your big black television, pull out his big black lighter, and dance the big black dance of his big black people on the big black asphalt while a big black plume of smoke rises over your little white neighborhood. Ugly thoughts. Whose are they? ---
**Author:** ![tralfamidor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@tralfamidor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tralfamidor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/74 "2013-07-01T04:58:56Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Yes. Absolutely. A big black man is going to smash your windows with his big black crowbar, rape your family with his big black penis, steal your big black television, pull out his big black lighter, and dance the big black dance of his big black people on the big black asphalt while a big black plume of smoke rises over your little white neighborhood. Nope. They’ll find some Korean, Hispanic, or other ethnic neighborhood to burn down and loot its shops. That’s what they did in L.A. and other cities. You see, the white neighborhoods often aren’t within easy walking distance. We only have _some_ of the celebrations you describe captured on film, such as the Reginald Denny cinder block dance and the aggreived rioter protesting the injustices done to his people by carrying a washing machine away from an appliance store (on his back, no less!). I’m not at all afraid of the riots, because I doubt very much that Zimmerman will be acquitted in the first place, and if and when the verdict is handed down, I intend to be far away from the ethnic neighborhoods of any city. I don’t want someone bashing in the windows of my car in a noble effort to redress racial injustice. ---
**Author:** ![tralfamidor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@tralfamidor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tralfamidor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/75 "2013-07-01T05:00:01Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > Ugly thoughts. Whose are they? I guess the poster is equating them with my thoughts–but they’re 100% his own. ---
**Author:** ![tralfamidor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@tralfamidor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tralfamidor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/76 "2013-07-01T05:03:50Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > As you might have noticed, facts mean nothing to **tralfamidor** ; if I was a more paranoid individual I’d think he was a an astro-turfing plant for defense, the way he trots out fibs as facts and supposition as guarantees. Look at the title of this particular forum. Look at the title of this thread. I am answering a question about the future, speculating, supposing, whatever you wish to call it. It’s really, really stupid to criticize someone for not offering FACTS considering FUTURE EVENTS. The future hasn’t happened yet. Do you fathom that? Of course you don’t :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![tralfamidor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@tralfamidor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tralfamidor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/77 "2013-07-01T05:10:21Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Steps are being taken to lessen tensions in Sanford Florida. This is a very good idea. I hope violence can be avoided after the trial. > > [Pastors focus on peace before Zimmerman trial](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/trayvon-martin/os-zimmerman-trayvon-sanford-peace-20130608,0,804609.story) > [NAACP to host town-hall meeting in Sanford to discuss Zimmerman case](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/trayvon-martin/os-zimmerman-trayvon-naacp-sanford-20130619,0,355066.story) Unfortunately, those blacks who attend NAACP meetings and listen to pastors in church aren’t the ones who would be starting the riots. And Al Sharpton and his ilk out-shout any pastor. I do also hope that if Zimmerman doesn’t get railroaded, the black community will take it calmly. The simple fact is that he _should_ be acquitted, and I say that thinking that he’s probably guilty. But the case against him isn’t as strong as it needs to be. Will the black community realize that, or will they see the (hypothetical not guilty) verdict as just another injustice perpetrated by Whitey? I can’t see them accepting a not guilty verdict as just, and I can’t see them reacting peacefully to that. I hope I’m dead wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/78 "2013-07-01T05:11:12Z")
> [@tralfamidor](#): > > Look at the title of this particular forum. Look at the title of this thread. > > I am answering a question about the future, speculating, supposing, whatever you wish to call it. It’s really, really stupid to criticize someone for not offering FACTS considering FUTURE EVENTS. The future hasn’t happened yet. Do you fathom that? > > Of course you don’t :rolleyes: I’m referring to your enormous misstatement upthread about there being no one arrested during the LA Riots; you were off by over 11000 people. And we don’t call each other stupid here in IMHO, lad. ---
**Author:** ![Honesty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f04885/32.png) [@Honesty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honesty)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/79 "2013-07-01T05:12:48Z")
There won’t be any race riots regardless of what decision is made. The OP smells oddly familiar, does the OP know **Saraya**? ---
**Author:** ![tralfamidor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@tralfamidor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tralfamidor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201/80 "2013-07-01T05:34:34Z")
> [@Nawth\_Chucka](#): > > I’m referring to your enormous misstatement upthread about there being no one arrested during the LA Riots; you were off by over 11000 people. > And we don’t call each other stupid here in IMHO, lad. You fail, as so many do, to differentiate between what you _say_ being called stupid and _yourself_ being called stupid. Which itself is kind of stupid, _lad_. So if you’re not stupid (and I’m perfectly willing to stipulate that you’re not), don’t ignore the distinction. And re the arrests: yes, you’re right insofar as many people were taken into temporary custody. The vast majority of them were released within hours, and the LA county and city authorities declined to prosecute in all but a very few cases. I don’t know the outcomes of those less than a dozen cases. For the vast majority of the rioters, rioting and looting had no consequences whatsoever, and for all but a very few, those consequences were limited to a few hours under arrest. The failure to prosecute those rioters sent a very clear message, that the rioting was just and justified. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-there-be-race-riots-if-zimmerman-is-found-not-guilty/662201.md?page=5)