On Tuesday evening, the Fusion Network will air George Zimmerman’s first post-trial interview with a black journalist. Fusion Special Correspondent Derrick Ashong sat down with Zimmerman to record the interview, portions of which are already live on Fusion’s website, and which will air in full at 5:00 and 8:00 p.m. EST.
Prior to the interview, Ashong made no secret of his opinions: “I am not impartial,” he wrote on Fusion’s website. “I believe Zimmerman got away with murder, aided and abetted by a justice system that does not have equal regard for the lives of black and minority youth, and further empowered by self-defense laws that have given citizens of certain states an effective license to kill their neighbors, provided those neighbors are young, black and preferably unarmed.” Ashong compared the interview to interviewing serial killer Charles Manson.
“I simply wanted to look in the eyes of the killer and see if I could perceive an ounce of remorse. I found none.”
During the interview itself, Ashong asked Zimmerman provocative questions in a measured, moderate tone.
“When you hear people saying, for example, that you’re a racist, and that you killed this little boy [Trayvon Martin] because he was black, how do you respond?” was one question Ashong put to Zimmerman.
“I don’t….This case was never about race,” Zimmerman answered. “I don’t defend myself from people like that.”