Zimmerman Trial: Star Witness Rachel Jeantel and the Politics of Soft Bigotry
As defense attorney Don West grilled Rachel Jeantel, liberal commentators fell all over themselves making excuses for Rachel's shocking behavior in court and contempt for their process. I can tell you one thing for certain if Jeantel wasn't black, none of these liberal pundits, especially the white ones would have made excuses for her rude behavior. They would have called it just what it was. . . unacceptable.
During her first day of testimony the 19-year-old high school senior and friend of Trayvon Martin, whom Zimmerman is charged with killing, rolled her eyes, huffed and puffed when she was asked questions, acting indignant, like she had better things to do. After spending nearly two hours on the stand, West told Judge Debra Nelson, he would need Ms. Jeantel to return the following day for a "few more hours." When she heard that, Jeantel responded with a loud "What?" and looked like a caricature from a Saturday night live sketch.
At one point Jeantel contorted her face at West as she tried to explain why her statements under oath were inconsistent when she spoke with the attorney representing the family of Trayvon Martin. Pounding her fingernails on the jury stand, Jeantel testily asked West, "You listening? . . . .Are you listening?" She can also be heard saying under her breath "I'm not coming back here." All as if she's running the show.
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Jeantel was the last person to speak to Trayvon Martin before Zimmerman shot him and is considered the prosecution's star witness. Frankly, she DOESN'T have better things to do but sit on the stand as long as the prosecution or the defense want to question her.
But because as one female commentator said on a cable program, "Rachel (black) was less educated than (white) lawyer West," who was "condescending" and must be the bad guy. Liberals refuse to admit they felt this way because Rachel is black and Don is white and according to the liberal mindset, blacks and particularly less educated blacks are supposed to be treated differently than everyone else. Why is it we don't hear the same racist statements applied to less educated white people?
Rachel isn't dumb because she didn't go to college. She may not be able to read cursive but she's certainly not illiterate either. At times she gave credible testimony when she spoke up and the court reporter along with jurors could hear her.
Attorney Don West was blasted by liberals as being "condescending" in his questioning of Jeantel because he was white and educated. Period. End of story. During her first day of testimony, West attempted to get Jeantel to be more responsive and less hostile by telling her he didn't think she did anything wrong but was simply trying to get answers to questions. As for liberals accusing him of being aggressive, I think a defense attorney cross-examining a witness is called doing his job.
His intensive questioning of Jeantel revealed she lied about a lot of things in previous statements under oath. She lied about her age because she wanted Trayvon's parents to think she was 16 not 18 years old last year. She lied to Trayvon's mother about what he said in his final hours, not mentioning he called Zimmerman a "creepy ass cracker" or that Trayvon said "that nigga is behind me" because she didn't want to hurt his mother's feelings.
At one point West asked her if Trayvon Martin could have lied to her about Zimmerman attacking him. She responded, "That sounds real retarded, sir." That wasn't the first or last time she insulted West, yet, the liberal cabal hammered West for being condescending.
During one of my appearances on the Dr. Drew Show discussing the trail one of the liberal guest actually said West didn't know how to talk to Rachel because they "were so culturally different." Since when did black and white Americans not speak the same English language? I think West did a good job of communicating with Jeantel even though she was determined to make it difficult.
The liberal press didn't do Rachel Jeantel or blacks any favors by coddling her combative demeanor. I call it the liberal dumbing down of black Americans because they don't expect more of us. It would have been better if these liberal commentators just said what they all think "Rachel can't help it, she's black and shouldn't be expected to perform at the same level as a white person."
This is the same insulting logic liberal's use in opposing voter ID laws, that blacks are incapable of getting them like whites. Liberals relentlessly perpetuate the politics of low expectations for blacks and this is exactly why Rachel thought her behavior in court was ok. This same soft bigotry is permeating our public school education system also and Americans wondered aloud why Rachel Jeantel could read cursive?
A version of this story was first published July 1, 2013 in Washington Times Communities blog.
