Report: George Zimmerman鈥檚 Biggest Defender Is A Racist
Among the talking heads to emerge as 鈥渆xperts鈥� on racial tension in the aftermath of the killing of Trayvon Martin last year, perhaps none was so surprising as Frank Taaffe, a neighborhood watchman who volunteered with George Zimmerman.
On CNN, Taaffe contemplated the implications of witness testimony and the meaning of forensic evidence. He fought with attorneys about criminal law and disagreed with forensic experts over whether the small quantity of THC in Martin鈥檚 blood made him violent. But according to an investigation published by Mother Jones magazine last month, Taaffe brought something more.
A 56-year-old New York native, Taaffe has a lengthy criminal record and a history of racist views. He has appeared regularly on 鈥淭he White Voice,鈥� a website and podcast advertised as 鈥渁 pro-White Voice for the Silent Majority.鈥� During one appearance there in late July, Taaffe argued that whites and blacks have no business intermingling.
鈥淭his trial is waking up white America, man,鈥� Taaffe said. 鈥淚鈥檓 fed up with the bullshit and the glad-handing to this one group of people who now control what we do and say. Come on, man, wake up America!鈥�
In other race-infused remarks during the trial of Zimmerman for the February killing of Martin in Sanford, Fla., Taaffe told The New York Times that his and Zimmerman鈥檚 gated community had been burglarized by 鈥淭rayvon-like dudes with their pants down.鈥� (The irony, Mother Jones reported, is that Taaffe was himself arrested in 2000 for burglary.) On HLN鈥檚 鈥淒r. Drew On Call,鈥� he said affirmative action was 鈥渟lavery for whites.鈥�
When Mother Jones contacted Taaffe for comment, he was defensive. 鈥淭here is a thing called First Amendment speech,鈥� Taaffe said. 鈥淚鈥檓 merely echoing the suppressed voices in this country that have been beleaguered by affirmative action and crimes committed by that particular group of people.鈥�
In a September follow-up article, Mother Jones reported that Taaffe had teamed up with 鈥淭he White Voice鈥� co-host Joe Adams to produce a 鈥渨eekly white-power podcast鈥� called 鈥淪tanding Our Ground.鈥� In a discussion of white women who marry black men on that podcast, Taaffe 鈥� who said earlier that 鈥淸w]e might be white separatists, but we鈥檙e not white supremacists鈥� 鈥� commented, 鈥淵ou lie down with dogs, you鈥檙e going to get fleas 鈥� especially if they鈥檙e black dogs.鈥�
