History of the Trayvon Martin Trial; a Long and Winding Road

In the aftermath of this tragedy, we are all looking quite closely at the events leading up to and after this trial searching for a lesson, a reason and a solution.  In that vein, some are being held to a different standard than before.  Now you don’t have to say anything but agrees with the verdict and you are either a racist or ignorant.  If you disagree with the verdict you are either racist or ignorant.  Either way, you get the point; we are all now ignorant or racist.

Case in point, in an article written by Aliyah Frumin for Hardball titled “Opinions of Juror B-37 were her own, say fellow jurors”, reports of this juror saying things like “she didn’t think Martin’s race was the reason why Zimmerman, then a volunteer neighborhood watchman, followed him” or Trayvon made a mistake by not running and sticking around.  This same article reports that four (4) of the other jurors got together and released a statement that request an appeal “to the highest standards of your profession and ask the media to respect our privacy and give us time to process what we have been through”. While these and other statements made by juror B-37 does not make her racist because no one knows what’s really in another’s person soul, many have decided that she and the other four (4) is somewhat shy in her understanding of the results and the gravity of the decision made by them.  The direst of these are those that now reside permanently with the parents of Trayvon but also live with all of us as a nation regardless of race.

Case number two can be found in an article title “Racism vs. reality” written by Richard Cohen, an opinion writer for the Washington Post.  In it he contends that George Zimmerman had a right to suspect Trayvon Martin because of his “uniform”.  Now again one cannot say racism but ignorant of the fact that too many African-Americans his “uniform” is not the hoodie but the skin itself.  Mr. Cohen surmises that the data on crime dictates the right to suspect and balances it with the right to “stop and frisk”.  He relies on the data from arrest and reported crimes but fails to consider that this logic is a cause of the data.  If “seventy-eight (78) percent of all shooting suspects are black then should not also the number of blacks stopped and frisk be equal or is the thought the more you stop the lesser the number will be?

Case number three can be heard from many public African-Americans who now say that all black youths will now no longer have to consider their interactions with police but anyone who deem it necessary to inquire into their business.  They say that they must now live a perfect life in order to get the slightest chance at a future.  Once again, one cannot honestly call this racism but they too fall into the category or ignorance.  What are they ignorant of?

Simply this, regardless how perfect black males live their lives to achieve their dreams one vital ingredient is missing from this recipe. No matter how perfect they live it can be all undermined by the prejudice of another person.  Even if Trayvon Martin had nothing bad in his background, it would not have stopped George Zimmerman because it was not his past that caught his attention.  Mr. Zimmerman did not know Trayvon past nor did he care considering that Zimmerman was there to defend his neighborhood and did not consider that it was Trayvon’s neighborhood too.