Rachel Jeantel is a teenager. Her childhood friend, Travon Martin was Murdered, and she was the last person on this earth to talk to him on the phone while he was being pursued by his eventual killer.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Begin a crucial witness in this case, it's only natural that the Defense has to do their best to impeach her credibility - but what's far worse is what's been happening on twitter.
There was quite a bit of discussion of her "Black-cent" and many had difficulty hearing and understanding her clearly. She spoke in Dialect, saying Blue Toof when saying "Blue Tooth". As it turns out English isn't her first language, she grew up speaking Creole, and later learned Spanish. English is her third language.
She was an amazingly shy teenager. At times introverted, distraught and occasionally brittle. She was not Media Trained. She's not massively articulate.
This of course didn't stop her from becoming a laughing stock online.
She admitted to not telling the truth to Martin's about why she didn't attend the wake. She'd said she'd been in the Hospital, when in reality she couldn't bear to see the body. She has told the Martin's and their lawyer that she was 16 rather than her actually age of 18 in order to protect her privacy.
And she had good reason too.
She didn't know that her initial interview with them was being also heard by reporters from ABC. She don't know that her voice would be broadcast on TV within days.
In each case, she was trying to keep herself out of this case and away from facing the grief of Trayvon's parents, hence it trigger her own grief exploding. It's not like she was an eager willing witness. Being on that stand was not her idea of a good time.
Yet in each case she owned up to all of these falsehoods on the stand and under oath. She didn't try to hide anything, she didn't try to evade anything. She didn't try to clean up her diction for the fancy court people's approval, she didn't try to pretend to be something or someone she wasn't - she was herself.
The important things she said were that Trayvon saw he was being watched by some "Creepy Ass Cracker". In response she joked that he could be a "Rapist" and Trayvon responded "Stop, Messing with me".
When this case broke I had wondered if this was on Trayvon's mind because at the time the Sandusky case involving a former assistant Football coach had recently broke and it was all over the news. Trayvon played Football, it's unlikely he wasn't aware of that case.
And even as he continued walking he told her "Niggaz Still Following Me".
(Obviously he didn't mean to say that Zimmerman was Black or anything, sadly, that's how some young people refer to everyone! It wasn't a slur, just shorthand for - "That Guy..." We can discuss how and wide and deep that particular pool of self-loathing goes another time....)
At which point Trayvon Ran and Hid.
We know from the 911 tape the Zimmerman said "Shit, he's running" and immediately got out of the car. At which point he was asked by the dispatcher "Are you following him?" To which he responded "Yes", and then was told "We don't need you to do that!."
But he did it anyway. We all know that, that's why we're having a trial. That's why a kid is dead.
For awhile Trayvon thought he lost him and began to relax, but when he decided to come out of hiding and proceed back to his father's fiance's house he said "Shit!" as he ran right back into Zimmerman. Then asked "Why are you following me for", to which Zimmerman responded "What are you doing around here?" (or "What are you talking about?" which doesn't make sense but whateva!) She then heard a "bump", which she interpreted as Trayvon's earpiece being dislodged, and then "Wet Grass" sounds and Trayvon saying "Get off. Get OFF!" before the phone went dead.
Today when Zimmerman's attorney suggested that Trayvon was lying to her over the phone and instead of trying to get home had rather decided to "turn and attack" George Zimmerman, the Creepy-Ass-Cracker/Rapist who was following the teenage boy home - Rachel responded "That's Retarded, Sir".
http://www.rawstory.com/...
What matters is what she testified to, particularly interesting to me is the "Get Off, Get Off!" which tells me either that Trayvon was trying to leave or escape if they were standing at the time, or worse Zimmerman was on TOP of Trayvon at that stage in their struggle, in contrast to George's claim that Trayvon was on top while punching him.
If George was on Top, he was in command of things and clearly wasn't "In Fear for his Life". Also I've always had a problem with the logistics of George reaching for and pulling his gun while someone was on top of him, wouldn't that persons legs be in the way? And if Trayvon was so far down that George had unobstructed access to his hip holster how was Trayvon still able to reach George's Face and continue to punch him?
That just doesn't add up.
Clearly they had an altercation due to George cuts and scrapes. They tussled, everything every witness says seems to bear that out. George being on top in the end solves the gun-reach problem. He was in control. He choose to fire, when he could have simply brandished the gun and said "FREEZE, I have a gun. Hold still - I've called the COPS!". Bottom line he wasn't in fear for his life, and Trayvon didn't "turn and attack" him if what Rachel testified to is true and accurate. Firing that gun was a decision George made out of either panic or anger, but he didn't have to do it, not if he - the former bouncer (a job from which he was fired for slamming a woman against a wall) - wasn't able to get the better of a 160 lbs 17 year-old kid.
But rather than address the content of her words, people have instead decided to attack her delivery of them.
And it's not just random mouthy yahoos on Twitter, the culture/age bias has affected the media too as Salon Points out. http://www.salon.com/...
Jeantel does not fit the comfortable image of the grieving girl. As Rachel Samara wrote Wednesday in Global Grind, “A predominantly white jury is not going to like Rachel Jeantel,” a girl “who has no media training and who is fully entrenched in a hostile environment.” There is confusion over whether or not she was Martin’s girlfriend, which eradicates her chances of being depicted as a devastated young quasi-widow. On the stand, she has been blunt, hostile and at times seemingly confused. Online, she has a documented history that includes partying. She is not thin or blond or demure. So there goes her credibility.
This week, the Smoking Gun carefully picked through her social media history, uncovering such bombshells as a recent image of what she described as her “court nails.” She has posted photos of liquor bottles and declared that “wowww I need a drink” and tweeted “party time let get high” [sic]. The Smoking Gun also reports that she’s posted “a sexually suggestive series of photos,” “made references to Martin’s death, referred to acquaintances as ‘bitch’ and ‘nigga,’ and wrote about having ‘jackass lawyers on my ass.’” She has in recent days deleted several dozen of her more damning tweets. And so Smoking Gun commenters have, in their turn, declared that she’s not just a “thug” but “proof the gene pool NEEDS more chlorine!” … “and maybe some arsenic too.” Funnily enough, there’s no mention on the site that on Monday she also posted, “I’m a friend god damn it,” or that she loves Jill Scott and Janet Jackson.
Regardless of what effect her testimony ultimately has on this jury, it's seems that her testimony will certainly have a lasting effect on her life, for better and/or for ill.
Vyan
6:00 PM PT: Here's audio George being interrogated by Detectives a couple days after the shooting where they POUND him on getting out of the car and his claims that he wasn't following Trayvon, on his "These Assholes always get away" statement ("We had an arrest last week" one Detective says) on his 'Fucking Punks" statement (This wasn't a "Fucking Punk" the other Detective says) and then they ask him the $64,000 question.
If you were being constantly smothered (supposedly by Trayvon, who didn't have any blood on his hands or clothes btw) - how is it you're also constantly screaming?
Yeah, that's a good one. How's that work?
http://www.esquire.com/...