Busting a Zimmerman Myth: the Seven Year Old “Suspect” (Update: McCainalanche! and Aceolanche!)

 Update: My friend “Filmladd” advised me that I am burying the lede.  Fair enough.  Here’s the lede:

On April 22, 2011, Zimmerman called the police because a 7-9 year old African American child was walking alone near a busy street and he was concerned for his safety.  What has happened since then is people have repeatedly and falsely claimed that Zimmerman called the child in for “suspicious activity” suggesting he was racist for believing this to be the case.

We now resume the original post, as is.

Update (II): Thanks for theOtherMcCainalanche!

Update (III): And an AceofSpadesoflanche!

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One myth that has grown up about George Zimmerman is that prior to the Trayvon Martin shooting, he made several calls on allegedly suspicious black people and only black people.  This was seen as self-evidently racist by some.  Patterico tore apart one example of this claim, here, by pointing out that they were ignoring two key questions:

·         Were the black people he called the police on actually acting suspicious?

·         Were there non-black people he observed who were acting suspiciously but did not become the focus of Zimmerman’s attention?

But a related myth is that Zimmerman even called a 7-9 year old black boy “suspicious.”  For instance, the Daily Beast writes:

But starting in 2011, Zimmerman’s calls increasingly focused on what he considered “suspicious” characters walking around the neighborhood—almost all of whom were young black males.

On April 22, 2011, Zimmerman called to report a black male about “7-9” years old, four feet tall, with a “skinny build” and short black hair. There is no indication in the police report of the reason for Zimmerman’s suspicion of the boy.

Also from the site Breaking Brown, we see this:

In March of 2012, The Daily Beast released Zimmerman’s 911 calls to police. They revealed 46 calls, many of which were to report the “suspicious activity” of black males. That much we knew. But remember also that Zimmerman once called police to report the suspicious behavior of a black child, approximately 7-9 years of age.

And after quoting the Daily Beast’s summary of the call, presented as just raw data...

36.    April 22, 2011 – 7:09 p.m.

Type: TEL

Subject: Suspicious activity

Report: Juvenile black male “apprx 7–9” years old, four feet tall “skinny build short blk hair” last seen wearing a blue t-shirt and blue shorts

...Breaking Brown continues in indignant fashion:

Before you forget, a 7 to 9 year old child is an elementary school student, most likely in the first, second, third, or fourth grade. To Zimmerman, this child posed a threat great enough to call police.

And of course those responsible journalists at the Daily Kos bought into it as well:

I kid you not. A child walking was reason enough for Zimmerman to call 911 and report his presence in the neighborhood.

Even the more conservative Dave Weigel seemed to get sucked into this as well without examining it very deeply.

So oh my God!  This is self-evidently racist, isn’t it?  I mean, first off no seven-to-nine year old could ever commit a crime, right?  So logically, no such kid could ever be suspicious, right?  Right?

Well, in fact there are several things wrong with this.

First, there are sadly some criminals in elementary school, so much that communities have to provide elementary school education in Juvenile Hall.

But this story is more bogus than that.  I managed to track down the more complete report on the 911 call, here.  Go to page 37 in the document and what it says about it is this (with all-caps changed to normal writing):

Compl advd s43 is walking alone & is not supervised on busy street // Compl concerned for well-being

In other words, Zimmerman wasn’t calling the kid in because he thought the kid was suspicious.  He was calling it in because he saw a kid walking alone near a busy street and was worried the kid might get hurt.  You know, because seven-to-nine year olds can be kind of dumb about these things (ask any parent).

So rather than a seething hatred of all black people, we actually see Zimmerman trying to protect a young black life.  But too many people were too quick to indict him for it so it became part of the indictment of Zimmerman as an alleged racist.

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Disclaimer:

I have accused some people, particularly Brett Kimberlin, of reprehensible conduct.  In some cases, the conduct is even criminal.  In all cases, the only justice I want is through the appropriate legal process—such as the criminal justice system.  I do not want to see vigilante violence against any person or any threat of such violence.  This kind of conduct is not only morally wrong, but it is counter-productive.

In the particular case of Brett Kimberlin, I do not want you to even contact him.  Do not call him.  Do not write him a letter.  Do not write him an email.  Do not text-message him.  Do not engage in any kind of directed communication.  I say this in part because under Maryland law, that can quickly become harassment and I don’t want that to happen to him.

And for that matter, don’t go on his property.  Don’t sneak around and try to photograph him.  Frankly try not to even be within his field of vision.  Your behavior could quickly cross the line into harassment in that way too (not to mention trespass and other concerns).

And do not contact his organizations, either.  And most of all, leave his family alone.

The only exception to all that is that if you are reporting on this, there is of course nothing wrong with contacting him for things like his official response to any stories you might report.  And even then if he tells you to stop contacting him, obey that request.  That this is a key element in making out a harassment claim under Maryland law—that a person asks you to stop and you refuse.

And let me say something else.  In my heart of hearts, I don’t believe that any person supporting me has done any of the above.  But if any of you have, stop it, and if you haven’t don’t start.