Profiling and Counter-Profiling

From the Zimmermanite perspective, a young black kid in a hoodie was acting suspiciously in a suburban neighborhood. Hey, everyone knows what that means! We've seen that movie! And so people on that side began sounding off long before it came out that Martin was unarmed, or that he was simply returning home. No matter! Again, we've seen that movie! Go with your gut!

From the Martinite perspective, a white dude shot an unarmed black kid. Hey, everyone knows what that means! We've seen that movie! And so people on that side began sounding off long before it came out that Zimmerman isn't quite as white as his name implies, or that he'd had his head bashed in. No matter! Again, we've seen that movie! Go with your gut!

I agree with Alan Dershowitz that the prosecutor did an incredibly crappy job. But I agree with our legal system that the onus should be on the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt, rather than make judgements based on ignorant gut instincts - by "profiling", if you will - re: the participants and the situation.

And while I wish the prosecutor had brought a stronger case (and feel optimistic about the Martin family's chances in a civil trial) I'm relieved that the notion of "doubt" remains possible in a court room, if not in society at large, where everyone seems to have known exactly what went down that night in Sanford the instant they first heard the headline.

But my question for the Martinites is this: if Zimmerman's knee-jerk suspicion of Martin exemplified the ugliest, most unfair and ill-considered sort of profiling (which you consider shameful, racist, and completely inappropriate), then what faculty informed your knee-jerk suspicion of Zimmerman?

Blacks have been unfairly persecuted and victimized for many years. Absolutely true. But it's also true that young black kids in hoodies have done bad things. Neither general observation should have any bearing on a real-world situation, however (much less warrant the death of an unarmed child). Individuals are individuals, and should be treated as such. In fact, that's the very problem with profiling, isn't it?