Photos by Jacob Langston/Orlando Sentinel Pool / Headline Surfer / Rachel Jeantel, the prosecution witness who testified she was on the orher end of the phone call when he was followed by George Zimmerman told the jury he referred to the accused murderer as a 'creepy ass cracker.' Shown in cross examination with her is defense co-counsel Don West.
SANFORD -- With O.J. Simpson, we had the "Bronco blanco." In the Casey Anthony case, there was the '"tot mom." And with the George Zimmerman trial well under way with all of the drama and racial overtones, there was bound to be something to come out that could stand the test of time. This one is a doozy: "creepy ass cracker."
For lack of a better term, I call these court lexicons. With all of the legalese and formalities, people often remember these obscure phrases more so than even the names of the victims.
For example, I had to think really long and and before remembering, Simpson's ex-wife's name was "Nicole" and the friend with her who was killed as well was Ron Goldman.
I remembered the father's name, Fred Goldman, mostly because of his over-sized mustache, but for the life of me I can't remember the the weeping daughter's name. I remember prosecutor Marcia Clark because of the mole, but I can't recall the name of her co-counsel.
And believe me when I tell you this, if you think it's boring watching the Zimmerman trial from home, imagine being in an adjoining room inside the Seminole County Courthouse and watching the proceedings through a video feed.
But hearing 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel tell the jury that she was on the other end of the cell phone conversation with Trayvon Martin, he referred to Zimmerman as a "creep ass cracker." And what better defense attorney to make a racial issue out of it than defense co-counsel Don West, who gave us the "knock-knock joke" in the opening statements."
The Zimmerman case already has its inherent racial overtones: The accused killer's 9-1-1 comment played for the jury in opening statements by West where he's heard telling the 9-1-1 dispatcher: (Expletive punks) -- these (expletives) always get away."
West merely put into sound, the same phrase mouthed earlier in openings by prosecution co-counsel John Guy. West's cross examination of Jeantell was almost comical, if not somewhat painful to stick with as she answered West in a monotone expressionless way with repeated, "yes sir," and "no sir" with the blank stare.
And there was West, Mr. Blah himself, with the contortions on his face showing his frustration with her pauses and two-word responses. At one point when she actually tried to elaborate on one of his questions, as slow as her delivery was, the teen was interrupted in mid-sentence by West, who was admonished by the judge to "Let her finish her answer."
It's understandable that West would take an aggressive stance with her since he's trying to portray Trayvon Martin as the aggressor while she testified for the prosecution that Trayvon felt Zimmerman was the aggressor. By repeating the language, West tried to show the jury it was the victim who was motivated by race to attack Zimmerman who was merely defending himself.
The prosecution, however, tried to hammer home with the jury that there may be cultural differences, in why terms like "cracker" are used, but that's where it ends. The witness told the jury her background is Creole, English and Spanish and the word "cracker" is used to describe white people while creepy refers to as she put it, "perverts."
If anything, this trial reminds us that we all have cultural and ethnic differences. For example, in our household, my wife, who is Puerto Rican, referred to me as a "Gringo," early on in our four-year marriage, especially when we'd have a disagreement. When she gets mad at me these days, she'll express unpleasantries in Spanish, some of which I readily pick up as my Spanish language background consists of seventh-, eighth- and ninth-grade classroom instruction where I can count to a hundred and say basic sentences, but certainly not enough to carry on a conversation.
I can say phrases like "Me llamo es Enrigue (my name is Henry); mi ojos es verde (my eyes are green) and que hora es (what time is it)? The easiest and one I say most often is, "Te amo (I love you)."
White people get offended when people of the race are called crackers and dislike it when blacks will call others in their own race the N-word. I try not to get caught up in any of that as life is difficult enough.
But I'll be the first to admit: Creepy ass cracker is pretty damn funny. I'm sure we'll be hearing it often in our mainstream culture for years to come. It's pretty easy to remember the tot mom reference for Casey Anthony was coined by HLN personality Nancy Grace.
YouTube video / Here is the O.J. Simpson low-speed chase.
Pop quiz: Who made the reference to the Bronco blanco?
Give up?
I almost did, too, after an exhaustive search until I found the following on Philly.com, via the following link: http://articles.philly.com/1995-02-28/news/25706742_1_simpson-estate-ronald-lyle-goldman-simpson-s-ford-bronco.
Speaking through an interpreter of Spanish, Rosa Lopez, a former maid to Simpson's next-door neighbor, said she was walking the owners' golden retriever shortly after 10 p.m. June 12 when she looked toward the street outside the Simpson estate.
"Were you able to see any cars parked out on Rockingham there?" defense attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. asked. "Si," said the El Salvador native, whose testimony was taped so it could be played later for jurors if she leaves the country. " . . . El Bronco blanco" - the white Bronco.