Zimmerman vs. DMX - A "Celebrity Boxing Match?

 Or another Zimmerman attempt to get rich and famous because he killed an unarmed black teenager?

My intention today was to write a warm, happy post about Valentine's Day coming up, and mention different things that I feel make for a great day/evening. That idea went out the window however, when I opened my mailbox. The following is an email I received.


Dear Wanda,

Yesterday — had his life not been violently cut short by George Zimmerman — Trayvon Martin would have celebrated his 19th birthday. Instead, the day was marked by a grotesque new low in the killer's continuing efforts to capitalize on his infamy: the announcement that Zimmerman will face rapper DMX in a pay-per-view, “celebrity” boxing match to be broadcast online.
Fight promoter and professional con man Damon Feldman is enabling Zimmerman to further

Trayvon would have been 19 on Feb. 6,  if not murdered by George Zimmerman. (captioned by blog owner)

victimize a dead young Black man for personal gain, cynically declaring that this exploitative commercial spectacle will substitute as “justice” for Trayvon. Real justice was denied by Florida’s gun-lobby-written “Shoot First” law and broken court system — and we do not honor Trayvon’s memory with more violence.
We certainly don’t honor his memory by feeding into the stereotype of Black men as violent and belligerent that empowered George Zimmerman to take Trayvon's life without consequence.
The fight's details are set to be announced at a press conference Wednesday, but DMX hasn't finalized his contract and corporate sponsors have yet to sign on. Please join us in urging DMX to do the right thing and pull out of this shameful stunt now.
Feldman, who lost his promoter’s license — and was banned from promoting fights in his native Pennsylvania after admitting to court investigators that 95 percent of his matches were rigged — stands to profit handsomely from a fake fight designed to make money off anti-Black sentiment as much as from those of us outraged by Zimmerman's murder acquittal.
And Zimmerman’s bizarre eagerness to fight a Black man, the more high-profile the better — in a fit of dissociation, Zimmerman announced on Monday he’d like to fight Kanye West because he "attack[s] defenseless people” — makes a mockery of his criminal defense claim that he feared for his life in a struggle with an unarmed 17-year-old boy. Indulging Zimmerman in his monstrous fantasy recreation of that night — at 5’11", DMX is ironically Trayvon’s exact height, of which Zimmerman’s defense team made significant issue at trial — serves no actual purpose beyond driving money and attention to a violent sociopath and his bottom-feeder promoter.
Rather than giving Zimmerman and his legions of racist supporters what they want, let’s honor Trayvon’s memory — and prevent future tragedies like his — by demanding a justice system that values and protects Black lives. Let’s rid this nation of anti-Black policies like Shoot First and Stop-and-Frisk, and demand better of a media industry that demonizes Black men and boys, perpetuating the dangerous perception by people like George Zimmerman that violence against us is acceptable and necessary.
Please take a moment to let DMX — and anyone else who might consider stepping in to fill his shoes — know that we're looking to him to do the right thing for all the other Trayvons in our lives that we can't bear to lose. 
Urge DMX to cancel the fight now.
Thanks and Peace,
--Rashad, Arisha, Matt, Kim, Aimée, Dallas and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
  February 7th, 2014

While I am utterly appalled at the way George Zimmerman has been thumbing his nose at people (at least that's the way I feel, that he's been laughing behind his hand at us ever since he was acquitted of  committing murder!) I am even more appalled that DMX would consider consenting to go along with this spectacle!!! (As of this writing he had not yet signed anything agreeing to the event.) If there was a chance in hell of somehow, through this farce, proving Zimmerman guilty and sending him to jail I'd be all for it, but the only thing that is going to come out of this is a lot of pain for  Trayvon's family and friends, and a lot more hatred flowing between Team Zimmerman and Team Trayvon. Oh, and let's not forget the money the sleazy promoter will make. Even though most people will probably realize that it's just a show (not an actual fight.) they will pay to see it anyway, so they can tweet from ringside about how exciting it was to be there. What an example this will set for the young people that some of us are trying so desperately to save....

Please, go to ColorofChange.org and learn what you can do to help keep this travesty from taking place.