George Zimmerman Trial: 'The Look': A Black Man's Theory on the Jurors

Five white women and one Latina.

They comprise the jury that will determine whether Trayvon Martin gets justice. I predict that he won’t. I guarantee you that at least one, possibly all, of those white women has, at some time, given a black man what I call “The Look.”

And you brothers know the look I’m talking about.

We get it. We’ve gotten it for years. Sometimes it’s from white men. More often than not, it’s from white women.

Oh, white guys like Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the nut jobs that killed three and maimed hundreds in the Boston Marathon bombing, NEVER get “The Look.”

My guess is that Adam Lanza, the nut job that looked every bit the nut job long before he murdered 20 kids and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., never ONCE got “The Look.”

James Eagan Holmes is another white guy that looks every bit the nut job. He’s accused of murdering 12 people and wounding nearly 60 at a Colorado theater in 2012.

Think Holmes ever got “The Look” from a white gal?

Rounding out the “nutty-looking white guy” trio is one Jared Loughner, who pleaded guilty to the 2011 Tucson, Ariz., shootings that left six dead and 12 wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

You can bet Loughner never got “The Look” either.

All those guys – Lanza, Holmes and Loughner – should have gotten “The Look.” But had they walked anywhere near those five white women that will decide George Zimmerman’s fate, they wouldn’t have gotten it.

But would Trayvon Martin?

I wish I had that proverbial dollar for every time a white woman has given me “The Look.” I’d have quite a stash of cash by now. Just what is “The Look”?

Brothers know it well. It comes when we’re usually minding our own business, like walking down the street or waiting for a bus.

Then the white person, usually a woman, happens along. If she’s carrying a purse, she clutches it tighter.

Her eyes fill with terror as she gives you “The Look,” the one that says she knows you’re a menace to society out to do her some kind of harm.

If the brother’s at a bus stop and the white woman is in a car, she’ll give him “The Look” and then lock her car door if it’s unlocked.

I still remember the most egregious incident where I got “The Look.” I was standing in the parking lot of an upscale, yuppyish shopping center talking to a brother I know named Kevin Shird.

Shird is in his early 40s. I’m in my early 60s. We’re each way past the age where males of any age are known to cause criminal mayhem.

So we’re standing there, talking about things that were our business, minding our own business, when a white woman got out of her car and headed into one of the stores.

Sure enough, she gave us “The Look.”

It was BROAD DAYLIGHT. Had we any intentions of doing anything to her, there were plenty of witnesses that could have phoned police and identified us.

This white woman not only thought we were a menace, but also very stupid black men as well.

Are the white women on the George Zimmerman jury anything like the one I saw on that parking lot? If they are, there’s no way Zimmerman will be convicted.

According to a Washington Times news story, the all-female jury supposedly favors the state, not the defense. At least that’s how a Florida defense lawyer who’s also a former prosecutor sees it.

“With the jury being all women,” said Elizabeth Parker, “ the defense may have a difficult time having the jurors truly understand their defense, that George Zimmerman was truly in fear for his life. Women are gentler than men by nature and don’t have the instinct to confront trouble head-on.”

OK, sounds kind of sexist to me. But Parker wasn’t quite done. According to the news story, “she also implied that women can be more emotionally influenced than men are.” And then there’s this direct quote from Parker:

“Trayvon Martin’s mother and father will be sitting in the courtroom, and these jurors will see them every day, knowing that their son was shot and killed, knowing that the decision rests in their hands.”

Everything Parker says might be true.

Unless, of course, one or more of those jurors has ever given a black man “The Look.”

(Photo: AP)

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