As intended, my October 23 article, “Why Did the Miami Herald Abandon Journalism,” caught the attention of the editors of that venerable newspaper.
Now that I have their attention, I would like them to address a question that only they have the clout and resources to answer: did the Florida state attorneys know that their star witness in the 2013 trial of George Zimmerman was an imposter?
If the editors answer this question, they could win a Pulitzer. Even if they fall short, a good faith effort could help restore the faltering faith of many Americans in mainstream American journalism. Here is what we know right now.
- As Joel Gilbert proves six ways from Sunday in his new film and book, “The Trayvon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud that Divided America,” star witness Rachel Jeantel was an imposter. She was not Trayvon Martin’s girlfriend. She was not on the phone with him when shot by Zimmerman. She likely never met Martin.
- At the trial, Jeantel said her nickname was “Diamond Eugene.” Through his dogged research, Gilbert found the real girlfriend, “Diamond Eugene,” full name Brittany Diamond Eugene.
- Here is the immediate news hook: the one adult who provably knew about the witness switch is now running for Miami-Dade county commissioner with the open support of Hillary Clinton. Her name is Sybrina Fulton, the biological mother of Trayvon Martin. In her defense, Fulton did not know about the switch before it happened.
- The evidence strongly suggests that the Martin family attorney, now civil rights superstar Benjamin Crump, helped orchestrate the witness switch.
- Without Jeantel’s perjured testimony in an April 2012 deposition, the state would not have arrested or tried Zimmerman.
I focus on the Miami Herald editors for two reasons. One is that in 2012-2013 they did real journalism when the national media were disgracing themselves with one corruption of the facts after another.
The second is that this is undeniably a Miami story. Trayvon, Fulton, Jeantel and Diamond Eugene are all from the Miami area. If the Miami Herald ignores the story, the national media will happily let it die.
Wrote the Herald’s Douglas Hanks on October 16, “Fulton received an unprecedented boost on Sept. 27 when Clinton endorsed Fulton in a Twitter post with a fundraising link for the District 1 candidate.”
The tweet read as follows, “A Mother of the Movement to prevent gun violence, @SybrinaFulton has already helped turn tragedy into action. If you can, contribute to help her win and make the change we need.”
As Hanks noted, Fulton served as a Clinton “surrogate” in 2016 and joined Hillary for two weeks on the campaign trail. Chelsea Clinton and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker followed Hillary with their own endorsements of Fulton.
If the Miami Herald ignores the story, the national media will happily let it die. That would be a shame. The corruption of this story has done enough damage already. Led by the media and the false witness to believe Zimmerman was guilty, much of black America exploded in anger when he was acquitted. Black Lives Matter was formed as a direct result.
My money is on “No!”