Ken Berwitz
We all "know" that Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman just after he had gone to a convenience store to buy "iced tea and skittles". And we all "know" that iced tea and skittles is about as innocent a purchase as there could be. All it does is satisfy an innocent young man's desire for a soft drink and candy, right?
Well, hold on to your hats. That may not be the way of things at all.
Much of what you are about to read was derived from a two-part analysis at something called theconservativetreehouse.com. I do not know this site and cannot speak either for its credibility or its motives. But every one of the links it provided, which I am using as the basis for my own commentary, checked out 100%. You can read the web site's entire analysis by clicking here and here - and I hope you do, so you can make your own judgment of its validity.
Now let's talk about the findings.
First off, Trayvon did not buy iced tea. He bought Arizona Watermelon fruit juice cocktail. That is 100% clear from the Crime Scene Photographs released to the press and published by the Orlando Sentinel. Use the link I've just provided, scroll to photograph #50, and see for yourself.
Why would this make a difference? What possible reason would there be to care about whether Trayvon Martin's soft drink flavor was iced tea or watermelon?
The answer, straight from the urban dictionary, and cannabis.com, is that those are two ingredients used to make a concoction called "lean", which appears to be a popular high for Black kids.
First, what, specifically, is "lean"? According these exerpts from urbandictionary.com:
Purple Drank is a intoxicating beverage also known by the names lean, sizzurp, and liquid codeine. It is commonly abused by southern rappers and wannabe suburban teenagers. It is a mixture of Promethazine/Codeine cough syrup and sprite, with a few jolly ranchers and/or skittles thrown in. Next, go to the cannibis.com site I've linked above. If you can get through the heavy dose of profanity used by its fans, you will find that watermelon flavored soft drinks have become a popular alternative to Sprite when making "lean"
Now: Why have media continued to misstate Trayvon Martin's convenience store purchase as iced tea instead of watermelon fruit juice for the past three months?
Is it an honest error? That's certainly possible - I've been doing it myself, for no other reason than that I didn't see the crime photograph and didn't know it would have made any difference.
But, apparently, anyone hip to urban culture might well have known the significance of the watermelon drink. Which leads us to Travyon Martin's lawyer, Benjamin Crump.
I am not casting aspersions here because I have no proof,. But I must at least entertain the possibility that a lawyer like Benjamin Crump, who apparently often deals with urban clients on urban issues, might well know this.
Is that why he told us Trayvon purchased iced tea instead of watermelon fruit juice?
Is this some kind of cover-up for what Trayvon Martin was really doing when he decided to go out to a convenience store in a rainstorm? Did he put some of this concoction together for the walk home? Is this why he might have been "just walking about, looking about", as George Zimmerman described, instead of moving along to try to get out of the rain?
Ironically, if Martin had been drinking lean, it also could be used as part of his defense. The urban dictionary tells us that:
Lean slows you down. It makes you feel good. It's meant to be sipped on, and it taste damn good. One of the best feelings you will ever experience. Euphoria with a hint of sedation. That information might be used by the prosecution to indicate Trayvon Martin could not have been the kind of aggressor George Zimmerman described, because it would have slowed him down and mellowed him.
Of course the defense could also argue that Martin was a 6 foot-plus football playing 17 year old, therefore very strong. And "lean' might have slowed him down to where he could bash Zimmerman's head on the concrete hard enough to only hurt him, not kill him.
One other thing, and it is a very important point: The autopsy report, so far as I know, did not indicate the presence of promethazine and codeine in Trayvon Martin's system. If it wasn't there, whatever use he might have intended to put the watermelon juice and skittles to is moot.
However, a) I do not know that the full autopsy report has been released and b) I do know that the prosecutor has not released all the evidence. So it remains a possibility.
How's that for a little something to think about as the Trayvon Martin case moves along? |
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