Last week Spike
Lee made the mistake of jumping on the retweet bandwagon
and sent out the supposed address of George Zimmerman, the man
responsible for the death of Trayvon Martin. Much to his
chagrin, the address was for an elderly couple whose son's name is
George Zimmerman; however, he no longer lives there. The couple was
rightly fearful for their safety, as their home became the focus of
so much vigilante angst.
Today, Lee's
attorneys and Matt Morgan, attorney for David and Elaine McClain,
announced a settlement between Lee and the couple. Lee also took the
time to personally apologize to the couple and express his sincerest
regrets for having retweeted their address to approximately
240,000 followers. Lee also had the foresight to send out tweets
addressing the mistake and calling for followers to stand down and
leave the couple in peace.
My ultimate hope
is that Spike Lee will see the larger problem with what he did. It is
not just the retweeting of the wrong address that is at
issue. The true issue is the fact that such a prominent figure is
calling out for street vigilantes in response to vigilante actions
that resulted in the death of a young man. Spike, do you really want
to turn us back into a lynch happy society, hell-bent on taking the
law into our own hands, no matter the cost to those involved? Think
before you tweet. You can cause a lot of damage in 140 characters if
caution is not your guide.
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