Congressman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) made an absolutely absurd statement about the George Zimmerman trial Monday that should disgust Americans on both sides of the aisle.
Appearing on MSNBC’s Martin Bashir show, Rangel said, “I think it's possible if the police had got a black Zimmerman, the question would be whether they would have beat him to death and then threw handcuffs on him and dragged him into the precinct."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK O’MARA, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN ATTORNEY: I think that things would have been different if George Zimmerman was black for this reason: he never would have been charged with a crime. What happened was this became a focus for a civil rights event which, again, is a wonderful event to have, but they decide that George Zimmerman would be the person who they were to blame and sort of use as the creation of a civil rights violation, none of which was borne out by the facts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN BASHIR, HOST: If he had been black, Zimmerman would not have been charged with a crime? Can you control your own laughter at that statement?
CONGRESSMAN CHARLES RANGEL(D-NEW YORK): No, I think it's possible if the police had got a black Zimmerman, the question would be whether they would have beat him to death and then threw handcuffs on him and dragged him into the precinct. Zimmerman was treated from the beginning, and the testimony that came from the arresting officers, was that he was the victim. And so the whole idea of a black perpetrator under that surrounding, I am really amazed, one, that defense counsel didn't say how sad he was that his client had taken away a young man's life, and two, in not understanding that the difference between a black being charged with murder and a Zimmerman almost getting accolades for his suspicions.
