Tragic, yes

A young man is dead, needlessly shot in the prime of life. That's tragic.

But what's occurring around the circumstances of his death is not much better. The case deserves a second look (not the only one) but while America waits the media at large, apparently in their zeal to elevate this into another national conversation on race, have used an unflattering picture of Mr. Zimmerman (mug shot) juxtaposed with a not too recent photo of Trayvon Martin for maximum effect.

Some have even popularized a new racial descriptor--a 'white Hispanic'. It's funny how people of Latin descent are called 'brown people' when it's convenient, such as when conservatives are discussing illegal immigration, but become whiter when involved in the shooting of a black person. Shameless.

Of course the carnival barkers have also arrived in Florida, fanning racial bias by projecting the case into an important national issue worthy of marches hither and yon without any supporting evidence of a national trend. So now we not only have a war on women, we've got a war on black people, as Reverend Jackson tells us they are 'under attack'. It's not clear exactly who is part of this attack plan or whether it includes black people who want the right to shoot at criminals using concealed carry firearms, but surely the media will explain everything soon, such as the death rate in the president's home town and what it means, or maybe stuff like this.

The post-racial President could help here by trying to cool the rhetoric, just as he tried to do in the major Hasan jihad shooting by telling America not to jump to conclusions. Instead he steps out of bounds and takes a question leaving a presser (a first?) and invests his own race into the issue, furthering the flame. He knows where that road goes because he knows from where it comes. But apparently it beats talking about other things.