We’ll cut to the chase this week.
Darts & Laurels
Not long after his brother’s “not guilty” verdict was announced, Robert Zimmerman Jr. held an interview on Piers Morgan Live. CNN anchor Don Lemon addressed Zimmerman with a question we all wanted to hear answered, and Zimmerman didn’t fail to deliver.
“Much has been made about race in this particular case and you ... have a unique opportunity ... to address that. What would you like to see happen when it comes to race?“ Zimmerman’s response was “I want to know if it is true ... that Trayvon Martin was looking to procure firearms, was growing marijuana plants ... I want to know that every minor...that would be reaching out in someway for help ... that they have some kind of help.”
It’s wasn’t “We assert that race had nothing to do with my brother’s actions, and we’d like to do our best to promote the safety of all children by advocating for the neighborhood watch.” It was something more like what we expected his answer to be. For that, we give Robert Zimmerman Jr. this week’s first DART.
Along similar lines, Juror B37 was interviewed by Anderson Cooper recently. Cooper asked her “Is George Zimmerman somebody you would like to have on a neighborhood watch in your community?” Her response was “If he didn’t go too far.” When Cooper pressed her, she conceded: “I think he was frustrated...I would feel comfortable having George, but I think he’s learned a good lesson.”
That’s scary. Depriving another human being of life unduly, especially in the case of killing a child with your own weapon, is not the kind of thing that merits a slap on the wrist. Legal questions aside, this cold and twisted way of thinking about the killing gets Juror B37 a not-on-my-watch DART.
With so many disturbing examples being set right now, it’s comforting to know that there are youngsters like Temar Boggs and his friends working on our side. Last week Boggs and his friends were among the first responders when the search began for 5-year-old Jocelyn Rojas. The 15-year-old, on bicycle, pursued the car of whom he suspected was the abductor’s. Eventually, child was released by the driver on the side of the road, where Boggs was able to get her to safety. Boggs said that what he is “just a normal person who did a thing anybody else would do.” And that’s a beautiful thing. We give a thank-you-for-just-being-yourself LAUREL to Temar Boggs.
Finally, the Alligator strives to be as thorough as possible in its reporting, which means including the one factor of events that organizations often don’t want to disclose: the price. We always ask the cost, from how much the Accent Speakers Bureau charges, to how much more Bernie Machen got paid after his salary increases, to the cost of the Reitz Union renovations.
And in response, we’ve heard it all before. “We don’t want to disclose it.” “It’ll inflate prices for the future.” “The artist wants that information to stay private.”
We most recently experienced this with Student Government Productions, asking what SGP was paying Matt and Kim to play Swampfest. They refused to tell us. Here’s the thing: SGP is funded by your money. We at the Alligator think students deserve to know how their money is being spent. Is it responsibly? Not to generalize, but if there has to be an excuse, probably not.
So, we frustratedly throw a the-students-have-a-right-to-know DART to SGP and anyone else who refuses to disclose how it’s being used.
