Sometimes the arc of the universe is a little too long

(Referencing MLK’s claim that the arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice).
A Florida court found George Zimmerman innocent in the Trayvon Martin killing. Meanwhile, a woman who fired a shot at her abusive husband gets 20 years (she’d run out to the car to get her gun, then returned to the house. The judge ruled that as she could have kept running, there was no stand-your-ground exemption). More discussion here and in this comments thread.
A lot of the discussion argues that Zimmerman got off because the prosecution botched it, which may be true. That does not, however, remove the race element from the story. If Martin had been white, it’s unlikely Zimmerman would have come down on him the way he did. And if Zimmerman had been black and Martin white, I don’t for a minute believe Zimmerman wouldn’t have been charged. Nor do I think, if Martin was white, that Gun Owners for America would have argued Martin should have run away the moment he knocked Zimmerman down, so it’s all his own fault.
Trayvon Martin was an innocent kid and Zimmerman killed him for no reason other than racial stereotypes and a desperate desire to play cop. Whether or not Zimmerman’s legally culpable doesn’t change that.
•In other happy news, a black transwoman is charged with murder for fighting off an attacker.
•Islamophobes freak out because a Palestinian Muslim is playing in the NFL.
•An old Slacktivist post looks at how the right-wing objected to Spielberg’s War of the Worlds.
•Women are still being sterilized illegally in California prisons.
•Indiana makes it a felony for same-sex couples to apply for a marriage license. Someone should alert Phyliss Schafly who claims there are no laws against same-sex marriage in America.
•Homeowners accuse Bank of America of defrauding out of legal mortgage modifications. BoA tries to defend itself.
•Digby discusses how little interest the Republicans have in government actually doing anything to help people. However deregulating corporations? That’s another story.