It’s another not so happy Halloween costume mishap, according to The Smoking Gun. First, actress Julianne Hough, makes the misguided decision to dress up as African-American character Crazy Eyes (from the hit show Orange Is The New Black) complete with painted black face, and now a seemingly racist picture surfaces on Facebook as two men dress up as George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. The seventeen year old boy, Martin, was shot and killed on February 12, 2012. He was shot by neighborhood watch coordinator, then twenty-eight year old, George Zimmerman. Zimmerman claimed he shot the adolescent boy in self-defense, but no weapons were found on the boy. To make things worse, Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law prohibited police officers from arresting Zimmerman under homicide charges. It was a case of much controversy.
Now there’s more controversy to be added to the unsettling case all because of the disrespectful photo recently posted on Facebook. Two men living in Florida, Greg Cimeno and William Filene have decided most callously to dress up as the headline making duo, complete with a blood-stained hoodie and painted black face. Twenty-two year old Cimeno portrayed himself as Zimmerman by wearing a “Neighborhood Watch” tee shirt. Twenty-five year old Filene played the part of Martin with a blood-surrounding bullet hole in his gray sweatshirt. Native of Martha’s Vineyard, Caitlin Cemeno posed in the photo with the two men and posted it on her Facebook account. Her account has since been scrapped clean.
Whether the two men were deliberately mocking the tragic circumstance or trying to make a statement remains to be debated. Filene also possesses a criminal record. He has been arrested for felony auto theft, loitering, prowling, and failure to register an automobile. He was sentenced to eighteen months probation for the auto theft charge and has a whole page devoted to him on the Florida of Corrections web site. Cemeno isn’t so squeaky clean herself, having posted racist or derogatory photos before on her Facebook account. She nicknamed an elderly woman wearing a tube top with tight pants as “Tacos,” texted a friend, “Text ne niggs,” and finally, she posted a photo of a young black girl wearing a tee shirt reading, “Black Girls Rock.” She then proceeded to tear the girl down by writing, “. . . sorry Hun but mommy lied to you & secondly if I was wearing a shirt that said something like the truth ‘white girls rock’ I would be stared at and called a racist cracker.” As for the reckless Halloween photo, Cimeno has replied with, “Anything for the laugh.” It’s tragic and disrespectful knowing that some unfortunate people out in the world lack something as dignified as common sense.
Image Credit: Facebook