The Trial of Treyvon Martin

The umpteen hours of cable TV courtroom melodrama are finally over, and the reaction of an intermittent viewer is to recall the old cliché that used to pervade rape trials: “She asked for it.”

An unarmed teenager is shot dead, but like the sexually assaulted victim with her “provocative” clothing and behavior, the issue has been contorted into whether Treyvon Martin somehow provoked George Zimmerman into killing him.

Technically Zimmerman has been facing charges, but his victim has been on trial to justify what he did.

This is being written as the jury starts to deliberate, but whatever the verdict, American life has been damaged by both the crime and its aftermath.