Martin's 'innocence' a liberal concoction

Grafton R. Hersperger's letter to the editor ("Zimmerman was wrong," July 22) expresses views that can be taken seriously only in Liberal World. He states that George Zimmerman "should be held 100 percent responsible" for the incident that resulted in Trayvon Martin's death.

Only in Liberal World can someone be considered to be "100 percent responsible" for the actions of another individual. In the real world, everyone, including Mr. Martin, is responsible — or should be held to be responsible — for his own actions. Was Mr. Zimmerman wrong to follow Mr. Martin "after he was told not to by a 911 operator[?]" Probably. Was following Mr. Martin a criminal act? No, according to a detective who testified at the trial.

Did Mr. Martin have every right to be angry that he was being followed? Absolutely. Did he have the right to respond by physically attacking Mr. Zimmerman? Absolutely not.

Mr. Martin over-reacted. No one has the right to physically assault someone simply because that someone has said or done something to make him angry. Roy Valiant, in his letter to the editor ("Zimmerman should never have been tried," July 20) hit the nail on the head when he stated: "The only reason [Mr. Zimmerman] was arrested is because of the political actions of President Barack Obama and leaders of the black community. They, along with the mainstream media, made this a racial issue."

Mr. Zimmerman, physically over-matched by Mr. Martin, had every right to defend himself by using deadly force to avoid serious injury or death when Mr. Martin was pounding his head onto a concrete sidewalk. Mr. Martin's actions constituted assault and battery, perhaps even attempted murder. But in Liberal World, it seems that African Americans always get a free pass. To cite a local example, last year a group of blacks attacked a white tourist from Virginia, knocked him unconscious, stripped him, and robbed him. They were not charged with a hate crime. Can anyone seriously believe that if a group of whites had done the same to a black man that they would not have been charged with a hate crime?

It is a shame that the president and the liberal media cannot gin up the courage to be fair and state that while Trayvon Martin had a right to be angry, he was wrong to respond violently (which is what ultimately resulted in his death). But for liberals and black leaders, fairness has nothing to do with the matter, only ideology.

David Holstein, Baltimore