Robert Zimmerman Jr. talks to the media outside Seminole County Courthouse in December. Photo credit: Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel
“The reality of Sanford, Florida, is that it is a high-crime area,” Robert Zimmerman Jr. said on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” Friday night. “And sometimes it’s not only race is a factor, but the geography is a factor. And what was going on in the police department historically, why people came to the conclusion that this was being covered up, and they were covering up the white man’s actions. Well, George, isn’t white, and he’ll never be white. Well, that certainly was an element at the time.”
The low-key interview allowed Robert Zimmerman to blast media reports that his brother is prejudiced. ”There really was no storyline to this racism, there was no evidence for it,” he said. “The media just made up his race and made up something he had said.”
George Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26 in Sanford. The trial is scheduled to start in June. Zimmerman has claimed self-defense in the shooting.
“George knew one thing: He knew that he had never seen this person before,” his brother told Maher. “He knew that it was suspicious and warranted investigation by the police. Unfortunately, he got in this situation, and I’ve been in this situation, where you kind of wind up being the eyes and ears of the police on the ground.”
Robert Zimmerman added that his brother wasn’t a racist but ”he had a problem with crime and that community was victimized constantly by crime.”
The brother said that stand your ground is not a factor in his brother’s defense. Robert Zimmerman said you can’t retreat when someone is sitting on you and hitting your head on concrete, as George has claimed Trayvon was doing to him.
But Maher said Zimmerman’s brother couldn’t be objective on that point. “Without the gun involved, wouldn’t it have been just a guy who lost a fight?” Maher asked, drawing the studio audience’s applause.
“It wasn’t 90210. It was Sanford, Florida,” the brother said.
Robert Zimmerman said another misconception is that George was on neighborhood watch when the shooting happened. “He was going to Target,” Robert said.
“He sure got distracted,” Maher said.
“He got distracted, I’ll give you that,” Robert said.
Zimmerman explained that his family name doesn’t sound Hispanic to many people. “Racism is complicated. It is still alive,” Zimmerman said. ”It’s obviously a factor, or the allegation of it in this case, but it does get a little confused.”
Zimmerman said his mother is Afro-Peruvian and his father is of German descent. “We had two cultures in our home,” Zimmerman said. “We didn’t make racial distinctions, but we knew that dad and his American ways were one way of doing things. And our mother and her Peruvian ways were another.”
Maher said that Robert seemed gentle and nothing like George. In a lighter moment, Robert said he had his own scrapes with the law, but declined to offer specifics. “Oh, Bill, I’m not on the stand,” he said. “I plead the Fifth.”
In the end, Maher was impressed by Robert Zimmerman. “You’re a good spokesman.You’ve got a future in this industry,” Maher said.