The George Zimmerman Verdict-A Teachable Moment

While the parents of Trayvon Martin believe that not only would their son be proud of the pressure placed upon the State of Florida to arrest and bring to justice George Zimmerman, Justice was not served.  While they are the ones who lost a child and their wishes of no rioting or violence should be honored, after all our kids are still with us.  While I know that God Almighty can and will deliver more justice than any court ever created, I still have a few things to say.

I find it quite hard to accept the verdict because George Zimmerman took a life and in that realm alone, he should have been held accountable.  I do not hate him personally but I deplore the laws that allow him and others like him to flourish. 

Commentators were quick to say that the jury should be concerned about what effect their verdict would have on the community of Sanford, the State of Florida and the world.   They mentioned that we need to consider that they are mothers and cautioned us that there were 5 white and 1 mixed races female on that jury.  I contend that the fear of rioting was not anywhere on those jury members mind regardless of what they say later.  They had no fear.  They did not fear finding him not guilty of second degree murder and they surely did not fear finding him not guilty of manslaughter.  I saw that because none of George Zimmerman’s peers on the jury feared losing their son or daughter in the manner of Trayvon Martin’s parents.  The George Zimmermans of this world are not going to track, trail, attack and shot down any of their children or grandchildren because they are not black, hoodie or not.

The same can be said for all of the main players in this movie.  Look at them, from Mark O’Mara to John Guy, the Judge and the Special Prosecutor none of them shall fear the George Zimmermans of this world and worry when their children are out of their sights or just going down to the local convenient store.  None of them. 

Zimmerman’s lawyer, Mark O’Mara was reported as saying that if George Zimmerman was black, there would have never been a case brought and for that I have to agree but not because the families would not want it and not because the victim does not deserve it but because the authorities won’t allow it.  Take a look at the number of unsolved cases or cases that gets quickly placed on the back burner.  It’s those cases where almost immediately, it is determined that it is “drug related” so of no urgency.  Listen to the reporters of your local news.  Notice how often they will mention drug related when it is black on black crime.

The Zimmerman Verdict teaches us that dependency on others to fix a problem that has been and continues to be broken is fruitless.  The Zimmerman Verdict teaches us that if we want equal justice in this world we cannot expect it to be delivered by those who fear not but from those who are fearful.  In the minority community, we have two styles of hunters that are stalking, tracking and killing our kids.  The first is the one we pay the most attention to the “closet Klan members” but the second is the one we need to pay more attention to and began to fix our own problem there.  The ones I speak of is the hunter that looks dresses and talks like us.  Those who can naturally blend in within our own communities.  Those that feel like since they think that their lives are not worth anything that no life is worth anything.  I speak of blacks killing blacks, whites killing whites, browns killing browns.

Some are calling for the Justice Department to enter the arena of the George Zimmerman Saga and give Trayvon justice; I say that if we really want to give all of the Trayvons of the world justice, we need to begin finding it in our own communities.  Many police figured out some time ago, if the African American Community, if the Latino Community does not raise their voices over the murders of our own by our own then why should they.  Good question, now what’s our answer?