Trayvon Martin

I have followed this case from the moment I heard it reported on my evening news. Trayvon could have been one of my nephews.

From what I have read, he was not devoid of innocence, but on THAT night I believe he was JUST trying to get home.

George Zimmerman wasn’t and isn’t a monster either. By all the accounts I’ve read, his life’s goal was to help people. That’s why he wanted so desperately to become a police officer.

The rash of break-ins in the neighborhood put George and the neighbors on high alert, so when he saw Trayvon, he misjudged  or “profiled” him and called 911.

Trayvon also misjudged or “profiled” George.

Why was George described as a “creepy ass cracka” and in what universe is that a common way to describe another human? In ANY culture? I’m not a nerd, I understand how to use slang and what it means joke around...but a young boy is dead. Clearly the term “creepy ass cracka” is not a jovial term but a racist one. 

In fact Urban dictionary defines the word as a throwback to slavery when slave drivers would crack the whip to drive slaves and it is a term used as an insult to white people as and I quote the opposite of the "n" word. A word which is so offensive I can not even type it out because I would offend someone but "cracka" can be said in a court of law?

The 911 operator asked George “where is he headed now” in fact the 911 operator asked (and this is copied directly from the transcript), “Is he white, black or Hispanic” and George replied, “He looks black.”

And wasn’t it was Rachel Jeantal who judged or “profiled” George by inserting that perhaps he was a rapist?

Thus heightening an already tense situation.

Of the neighbors who called 911, not a single one walked off their porch and confronted the scuffling duo just ten to fifteen feet from their homes. Weren’t they too guilty of judging or “profiling” as well? Had they taken a minute to walk ten to fifteen feet and be involved in their community Trayvon may be alive today.

As I said at the start of this post, it could have just as easily been one of my nephews.

I can see one of them if they had been followed as Trayvon was that night asking the person who was following what their problem is. If they had received the response Trayvon received, which was not straight forward and honest, I can totally see one of them clocking George. That wouldn't make them right.

 If George had identified himself as neighborhood watch, if he had said, “We’ve had  an increase in break-ins I’ve called 911, I was nervous, etc”  Trayvon could have responded with, “Oh, I’m just trying to get home to watch the game” and that could have been the end of it.

We will never know.

Even George’s own testimony is that he didn’t offer a decent explaination for following Trayvon when confronted. “Dude, do you have a problem?” “No, I don’t have a problem.” Then why are you following me? Because you have one now.” BAM

Like I said, it could have been one of my nephews. That doesn’t make it right.

Instead of focusing on the verdict, instead of focusing on the hurt and the racial divide shouldn’t we be trying to move past this?

I don’t know what Rodney King came to believe later in his life, but the most powerful words he spoke to me, were just after the LA riots, his heart appeared to be broken, I know mine was, when he just asked, “can’t we all get along?”

The Black Eyed Peas had a song a while ago called “Where is the Love” and one of the lines says this:

“Wrong information always shown by the media, Negative images is the main criteria, Infecting young minds faster than bacteria, kids wanna act like what they see in the cinema.”

Something to consider before you swallow what you see on the evening news. Read for yourself, don’t get your news from one source, and consider that there may be a reason why they are trying to cause a divide among the people.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Dr. King, it has become one of my favorites...and a dream of mine as well (although I have seen some of the pundits pooh pooh-ing even Dr. King during this time) for me his words offer hope for a future that I pray for.

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.” –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Amen Dr. King, Amen, I believe you are enjoying that dream now, not in Georgia, but over on that golden shore and someday should the Lord tarry I will join you at that table, what an honor that will be…