More on Trayvon

This is from Devlin Barrett this morning on The Diane RehmShow:  

This situation [shooting of Trayvon Martin], to me, looks like a life or death jump ball where whoever wins that struggle and kills the other person is the winner legally as well…as long as there are no witnesses to counter what the survivor says. 

However, I wonder, if Trayvon has been the winner of the struggle, would he have been found innocent?  As usual, for me, Ta-Nehisi Coates says it all.  Here is the introduction to his column today. 

In trying to assess the the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, two seemingly conflicted truths emerge for me. The first is that based on the case presented by the state, and based on Florida law, George Zimmerman should not have been convicted of second degree murder or manslaughter. The second is that the killing of Trayvon Martin is a profound injustice. 

Read Coates' entire article.  He sees the situation as the result of our country’s long history of racism.  How do we move beyond this?  How long will it take?