S. Samuel
With high-profile rap stars like Jay Z speaking on the controversial George Zimmerman verdict earlier this month, Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon is the latest emcee to reveal his reaction.
In Rae’s opinion, the Trayvon Martin family’s fate was sealed with the selected jurors not having any compassion or realizing how defenseless the slain 17-year-old was.
“When I heard about the verdict, about the Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman case, I was sad,” Rae revealed in an interview. “I was disappointed in the justice system and I felt like they didn’t really pay attention to the case the way they were supposed to. The jurors, there were mothers there, and it hurt me to know that they wouldn’t even understand the fact that he’s still a child. This is a kid right here, this is not somebody that I’m saying, ‘Well, he looked the suspicion’ or ‘He looked like he was carrying [a weapon], he was going to draw on you’ or ‘He was bigger than you.’ This is a kid. He looked like he didn’t weigh no more than 120 pounds and you a grown man following him and you must have wanted to be this hero.’ And I think within the case, people didn’t look at it all the way.” (Fuse News)
This week, Jay Z admitted the not guilty verdict hit him extremely hard.
“I was really angry, I didn’t sleep for two days. I was really angry about it. We all knew it was still a bit of racism in America but for it to be so blatant, if you just ask yourself the question, ‘Didn’t Travyon have a right to stand his ground?’ He was being chased, he fought back. He may have won. That doesn’t mean he’s a criminal. He won. If you chase me and you try to attack me and I defend myself, how can I be in the wrong? How is that right? This guy went to get some Skittles and go back to watch the All-Star game. He had plans. ‘I gonna get this Arizona, these Skittles, and go watch this game.’ … He had no intentions of robbing anyone’s home — it’s a thing where it’s like a reminder of, ‘We still got a long way to go.’ It’s beautiful because this generation right now, they don’t see color in that way. We’re a bit removed from those racist feelings.” (“The Truth With Elliott Wilson”)
A few days ago, Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs said the all-female jury could not possibly relate to the struggles of African Americans and especially to the slain teen.
“The defense team was arrogant, stand-offish, talk sh*t to the judge. They did their job. They swayed them six jurors that were on the motherf*cking jury. They swayed them for giving him [Zimmerman] no time,” Gibbs said. “Those Jurors must not have a child or something. I thought you supposed to trial a person from n*ggas that’s in his peer group? The jurors were like 50-plus, they wasn’t from his peer group. They were some old women from Florida. Some old white women from Florida. They didn’t give a f*ck about Trayvon Martin, his mother, all the cost involved that his family is going through right now. This sh*t is tearing his family apart, and this n*gga just get to walk free? Come on, now.” (XXL Mag)
President Barack Obama recently acknowledged the publicized Zimmerman trial and verdict.
“There are very few African-American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars,” Mr. Obama said. “That happens to me–at least before I was a senator.” The remarks, delivered without a teleprompter, were a striking example of America’s first black president seeking to guide the country’s thinking on race without inflaming racial tensions or undermining the judicial system. They also amounted to Mr. Obama’s most pointed comments about race since his 2008 presidential campaign. Mr. Obama issued a brief statement the day after the Martin verdict was handed down. He urged calm and compassion, noting that “a jury has spoken.” Missing, though, was any personal reflection from a president with a unique perspective on the matter. (Wall Street Journal)
Check out Raekwon’s interview:
