Rachel Jeantel: If George Zimmerman Was a 'Real Man,' He Would Have Testified
Like many others who are upset over the ruling in the George Zimmerman case, Rachel Jeantel is also disappointed. Jeantel is the friend that Martin was speaking to on the phone just before his death. She thinks its unfair that she had to testify when Zimmerman did not.
"They were acting like a bunch of punks," said 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel, commenting on Zimmerman's defense. Jeantel doesn't know what to make of her feelings on the "not guilty" verdict that Zimmerman was issued on Saturday. I'm "disappointed, upset, angry, questioning and mad" she said in an interview with Piers Morgan on Tuesday.
Fear has been raised in some parents, who don't know what to say when their teens to approach them about the Zimmerman case. Does a "not guilty" verdict mean that Trayvon Martin deserved to die? In the face of danger, should parents tell their kids to run?
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"I am a single mother of a 17 year old black child. We live on a street where he is the only black male," one mother wrote on a CNN blog. "I tell my son that it only takes one punch to kill a person so never think that fighting is the answer. You will be a bigger man if you run and avoid trouble."
But kids could take another message from the Zimmerman trial. Killing somebody because you chose to "Stand Your Ground" does not make you guilty of murder. Jeantel still maintains that Martin was not a violent person.
"He was a calm, chill, loving person who loved his family, definitely his mother, and a good friend," Jeantel said on "Piers Morgan Live."
For some, the fact remains that Zimmerman was 28, a man, when he shot 17-year-old Martin. For Jeantel, the fact that Zimmerman never took the stand is a problem.
"If you were a real man you would have stand on that stage and tell what happened," Jeantel said of Zimmerman calling him "weak" and "scary."
