I write this on February 5th, Trayvon Martin’s birthday, and despite all the things I would like to say to that young man, I’m going to say this one thing to you: don’t you dare watch the George Zimmerman “celebrity” boxing match.
The word “celebrity” comes from the word “celebrate.” When we celebrate people’s accomplishments we call them celebrities. Ask yourself right now: Do I celebrate what George Zimmerman has done? If the answer is no—and it damn well better be—then you should already know that watching this match violates the memory of a 17-year old boy whose life was taken violently and unjustly. But in case you need a few reasons why, I’ll provide you with some here.
- Watching this spectacle financially supports a man who gained notoriety by murdering a black boy. Let me phrase that another way: the man who got away with murdering a 17-year old will get your money if you watch him on TV. You will be financially supporting George Zimmerman, the man who murdered Trayvon Martin.
- Watching this spectacle will ensure we continue to see Zimmerman’s face until the end of time. Do you think the media will rest at one match? No. As long as there is green in the udder of the cash cow, they will milk it. One boxing match becomes another boxing match becomes more television exposure becomes a reality show. You know how it is. Do you want to see George Zimmerman on TV for the rest of your life? No? Then do not watch this match.
- You will be financially supporting George Zimmerman, the man who murdered Trayvon Martin.
- The match is being promoted by Damon Feldman, a guy who was charged with fixing celebrity boxing matches and promoting without a license. Do you really want to watch George Zimmerman win with a loaded deck? Again?
- You will be financially supporting George Zimmerman, the man who murdered Trayvon Martin.
- You are going to make yourself crazy. Every time I see Zimmerman’s face on TV or on the internet, I feel a little piece of my sanity start to burn. He is alive. Trayvon is dead. Zimmerman loses in the ring. Trayvon will still be dead, and Zimmerman will be even richer than he already is after all those donations from what I can only assume are members of Stormfront. The boxing match will change nothing. Not even for us, who would watch hoping for some twisted version of justice. We will not get it.
- You will be financially supporting George Zimmerman, the man who murdered Trayvon Martin.
- By turning on something called a “celebrity boxing match” that features George Zimmerman, you are implicitly agreeing with the media’s soulless categorization of Zimmerman as a celebrity. Your own soul will suffer.
- You will be financially supporting George Zimmerman, the man who murdered Trayvon Martin.
- And ten. This is the most important point. By watching this boxing match, by giving in to the notion that George Zimmerman is indeed a celebrity, you are accepting the subtle message that what Zimmerman did does deserve to be celebrated. By resting your eyes on the program for one moment, you are accepting that black boys who are murdered before their 18th birthdays don’t deserve justice at all, that their murderers should be allowed to profit from their crimes. By allowing George Zimmerman onto your television screen, you are contributing to a world in which the death of a black boy is one soulless scene in a shiny reality show; one meaningless event on a path to fame and fortune.
While Trayvon Martin is in his grave, George Zimmerman will be smiling for the camera. My greatest wish is that he will find himself there alone: the cameras unmanned, the opposing corner empty, the audience nonexistent: just roaches crawling in the stands waiting for popcorn that will never fall. My greatest wish is that, while Trayvon Martin is in his grave but wrapped in the love of all who preserve his memory, George Zimmerman will be alone in this world…wrapped in nothing.
Do not wrap him. Not even in your hate. Do not give his pockets a single penny. Turn your back on this spectacle, and turn your back on George Zimmerman. It’s all that he deserves.
Olivia A. Cole 
Great post! Love this story.
It is worth noting however that he was found NOT guilty. You are right about his celebrity status though, he has not done anything worthy of it.
And so was OJ Simpson and yet most of us can agree that he should have been found guilty. and was a celebrity. So your point is???
im not one to agree about the OJ case. its much more to it than a lot of ppl know. the difference is you will be supporting a man that killed a innocent child. nothing about this guy says celebrity until ppl start to celebrate him.
OJ I agree was guilty, however, he was a celebrity. He played in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and the 49ers.
OJ was a celebrity BEFORE the case..Zimmerman has become a “celebrity” after killing a 17yr old boy..so if John Doe goes and kills a black boy, he will make money off of it??..this entire situation is fuqd up…he said he was defenseless against a 17yr old boy, but can get into a ring with a full grown MAN?..and you don’t see what’s wrong with that picture?
Well the difference between OJ Simpson and George Zimmerman is that Zimmerman is not a murderer. He was defending himself. These are two very different cases. Just because OJ was falsely exonerated, it doesn’t mean every other case in the world is lol.
I never intended to watch it…but glad you posted it.. It would awful if the ratings were high and kept this atrocity going. True I would love to see him getting the crap beaten out of him, but this way..
Amen.
Hi Olivia thank you for posting this. I tried leaving a comment below but was unable to. There is a petition on Change.org to stop this George Zimmerman “celebrity” fight that I though you and your readers might want to sign:
https://www.change.org/petitions/damon-feldman-stop-the-george-zimmerman-celebrity-boxing-match
How did this even get a green light? What completely corrupted and morally devoid group of morons would think this is acceptable? And how has it not come to pass that common moral outrage has caused any possible stations and financiers to back out?
Thank you again for another great article. I have no intentions of giving money to this murderer! Sad thing about it, people will support to see his ass get kicked.
I will not for one second support anything that Zimmerman does. BUT what if people watch to see him get his butt kicked, and he doesn’t. What if he wins?! We’ll all be highly upset AGAIN!!!!! Remember he has been training since before he killed Trayvon Martin (from what I read). The person boxing him will more than likely only bring anger, adrenaline and street skills, which may not be enough. I say we ignore Zimmerman in anything he tries to do. He is an attention seeker.
As always, great read. I really can’t stand that guy, and the worst part is that the media constantly keeps giving him shine. His “fifteen minutes” are up already.
Completely agree. Thanks for reading!
As an Englishman – in England – I, sadly, admit to knowing nothing about this case (not the boxing match, I detest boxing, but about this lad who was murdered.) I can see there is an enormous amount of feeling involved here, and would very much like to know more. I detest any kind of racism more, much more, than I detest boxing and all the corruption and barbarism that goes with it. Living in suburban England, some 50 miles North of London, racism is something that I have very rarely encountered. It does happen over here, but I’d like to think – hope – that it is pretty rare nowadays. Being a lifelong cricketer(I’m now 52) I have never seen skin colour, only fellow cricketers, and right from my early teens I was playing with cricketers of all races (all those that play cricket, that is!). Indians, West Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshi’s, Kenyans. I have always had many friends from many different backgrounds, and skin colour just didn’t come into anything. In fact, it wasn’t even noticed! This is why I’d really like to know more about this; to try and understand. I have subscribed to Olivia’s blog for a couple of months now (as a fellow writer) but have to admit that I don’t often find the time to read them. (I am subscribed to far too many!). However, this one has really struck a chord with me. Great post Olivia, well done!
Thank you for stopping by, Alec. I encourage you to research the case. Not all that has been written about it is fair or balanced, but even those pieces will tell you a lot about the way in which black children in the United Stated are regarded.
Thank you Olivia. This is such an ‘eye-opener’ to me; we don’t tend to talk about ‘black children’ over here, we talk about children. Colour never enters the equation.
Wish that were the case here. But as the great poet Ai once said:
“what can I say, except that I’ve heard
the poor have no children, just small people”
When it comes to black children in America, that’s what it’s like: children treated as adults, carrying the weight of a corrupt system on their backs, forced to be held accountable for every other person of their race, as if they are elected representatives. It’s heartbreaking.
just began following you and I am SO glad to see this post! Everyone on my facebook is excited to see him “get his face pounded in” but you are highlighting a very important point that people are overlooking…whether his face gets pounded in or not, he will be profiting from our views. I’m not watching this nonsense!
You are so right!
Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts here. I couldn’t agree more.
When I first saw something out of the corner of my eye about this ‘match’ I thought it was just a joke. Now I see it’s actually going to happen, but still, it IS a joke — America has a really sick sense of humor. I’m sure you’re right that it will be fixed in Zimmerman’s favor. I’ve already shared your column with my friends, begging them not to contribute to his wealth or fame by watching. Few if any of them would watch it themselves, but they may share it further. Thank you for being a voice of outrage and sanity.
Thank you for commenting, Alison. I too hoped it was a joke at first. If only.
Reblogged this on Niggaz Puh-lease and commented:
It’s only proof positive of how much racist Cracka’s can continually use Black ignorance to make themselves rich and famous. Black folks, including DMX, need to come out and say George Zimmerman is a piece of shyt and nobody has time to talk to the :poop: pile scourge of society. That would leave a much DEEPER message than giving him this kind of space in our lives.
Reblogged this on Tales From A Newb Science Teacher and commented:
Yes@
[…] 10 Reasons You Shouldn’t Watch the George Zimmerman Boxing Match. […]
Great post, and to echo the sentiments of many, I would never watch anything with that guy in it. I, too, would love to be the one to give him a well-deserved beating, in an alley somewhere. But until the day he meets his maker, seeing him live a life of misery, where he has not one friend, no respite, nowhere to hide from what he has done, is good enough.
Well said, sir. Thank you for stopping by.
I definitely will not be watching the fight. But. I think that there will be some intense emotions coming from DMX’s side, considering that he is a black male, and it’s been overheard that he’s already said things like, “I’ll beat the [expletive] out of him,” and that he isn’t caring about the rules. I’m really not sure what I think about this.
Reblogged this on love and commented:
So true
I love this post, it is really a great post
Awesome article. Some people are going to watch hoping that Zimmerman gets his face split in half by DMX, but this is not about watching a boxing match as much as it’s about dishonouring the memory of a young man who was murdered, and I think you brought that out better than I could. Zimmerman is not a human being as much as he is a coward and one day his victims will put him in prison where he’ll face more than DMX.
This man is unhinged. He does this to raise money for legal fees from his trial. I want to watch just for a few minutes to see his eyes and find out of he really IS the killer I think he IS. Too bad his girlfriend dropped the charges.
Reblogged this on This Other Oxford.
I agree with this message BUT why does it have to be he murdered a “BLACK” Boy?? You can just as easily say he murdered a young man. Everyone wonders why racism is still around obviously because people keep dividing us by color rather than just knowleding we are ALL human, living, breathing, trying to live our life HUMANS. Color shouldn’t even be an factor, but yes George Zimmerman murdered a young man and Everyone no matter the color should highly consider that before making him rich by watching this match!!!
Trayvon Martin was black. He is dead because he was profiled…due to the fact that he was black. Do not be so ignorant (willfully so) to believe that he would still be dead if he had been a white boy. The only thing we agree on is the fact that everyone, no matter their color, should boycott this match.
Thank you for responding to her. Furthermore, if it were a white child George Zimmerman would not have been able to get off after calling the police and admitting to stalking him. It would have been viewed correctly. It’s not self defense if you attack the other person and they get the upper hand, if he even got the upper hand in fact. If we were all human, color wouldn’t have “COLORED” the outcome and yet it did.
Reblogged this on insydethemyndof and commented:
I Will Not be watching or supporting this man in Anything He ever does … Now if for some reason they decide to stick a needle in his arm and put him to death I will gladly watch that event
tHEY DONT NEED US COLOR FOKES TO WATCH IT. THERE IS SO MANY WHITE FOKES THAT WILL BE SUPORTING HIS ASS ANYWAY.
“just roaches crawling in the stands waiting for popcorn that will never fall.” yes.
My thoughts exactly! I would love to see this man get the snot beat out of him but that wouldn’t change the events that happened that night or the verdict of the case. So sure if Zimmerman wants to have a boxing match with someone let him do so but the black community should no way or shape be involved. We shouldn’t participate or view this mess just simply turn our backs on it and go on about our lives.
Why not watch to see him get beat?
Reblogged this on Theres-a-Harvest and commented:
every single word of this
What?….there’s a fight going on? The outrage should manifest itself in the ring with X breaking all the rules including the use of firearms.
Reblogged this on Dotsie01’s Weblog.
Thank you for posting this. I absolutely agree that Zimmerman should NEVER recieve any “celebrity” status at all. I have to admit as much as I would love to see him get his butt kicked publicly on national televison, I’m glad that you reminded me that he will recieve some money from this match. It will just play into Zimmerman getting more spotlight than he deserves. The next time I want to see see Zimmerman’s face on the TV, is when he is in handcuffs and taken to jail on a crime that he won’t be able to get himself out of. A lot of brothers are waiting on him in there.
This article is ridiculous! It is all based on Zimmerman being guilty, which of course, as was evident from the trial and the information found out after the trial,that Zimmerman killed in self defense. It really concerns me that so many people post comments about this trial without actually watching the trial or looking at both sides of the situation. Whatever happened to creating an informed, intelligent opinion?