Trayvon Martin
I waned to wait before weighing in on this matter. I wanted to let certain people speak, and hear what it was they wanted to say. The president was the last person I wanted to hear speak. He spoke movingly on Friday afternoon, a little before two in the afternoon. So here's my take on the case and its aftermath.
There is a severe gap. There is a gap between what we think we know happened, and what really did happen. There is a gap between what we think justice is, what justice really is, and what we think justice should be.
The facts are this; a teenage boy walking home with a hoodie in the rain after a snack run, is followed and confronted by a man. That man whose only authority is as a neighborhood watch member, during that confrontation, shoots and kills the teenage boy. At first the man is not charged with any crime, asserting a claim of self-defense under the law. Under public pressure the man is finally charged. After a trial, the man is found not guilty by a jury of six women.
What does this verdict mean? It means that a jury didn't think there was enough evidence to convict the man of any crime. It means that, as things stand at this moment, a teenage boy who had done nothing wrong is shot and killed and no one is blamed.
It's not a complete fit, and I know there are a number of songs that fit this terrible story, but this song was one that stuck out.
That is what remains critical in all of this. A teenager, walking home, is shot and killed. The person who did it essentially follows him until they come to blows, decides that it's a fight he can't win, and shoots the boy dead. And no one is to blame, so far as the Florida legal system is concerned.
Which is where I think the most immediate issue rests.
Yes, the matter of race relations is very critical. The history of race relations is not as far back in the past as some people would like to think. No one moment, one instance, of good can immediately undo a very lengthy history of wrong. We are all created from our collective experiences and the experiences of those whom we interact with directly or indirectly. We inform on the actions of our predecessors and our contemporaries. We don't live in a vacuum, no matter how much we may sometimes think we do. It will take a long time for those matters to settle themselves. That is because they are formed by individuals. Attention and education is the key. As the president said, successive generations have done better in dealing with these issues of race relations. That is the path forward - each generation becoming more tolerant, and understanding, and intelligent about race.
But what that process relies on is the legal structure. Our government, our laws, must be facilitators of improvements, not barriers to it. We need a legal system that is above all fair and sensible, not a shield for others to perpetuate violence, divisiveness, and hatred.
The system, quite plainly, did work. The system, however, is very broken. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, martian... there is a fundamental flaw in a legal system that allows a man to kill another and not suffer even some form of punishment. We can look at it this way - if it were two kids fighting, for ANY reason, and one killed the other, one of them will very likely be tried as an adult and thrown in jail.
That is what angers so many. In almost any other situation, a person even brandishing a gun is locked up for some time. Yet here, Trayvon Martin who was only going home from the store is followed, is confronted, has a fight, and gets shot by the person following him, George Zimmerman.
As Luke Russert said on MSNBC Friday afternoon, there are parents who worry every day about their kids because they see that someone like Michael Vick can be sent to prison for being associated with dog fighting, but a man can be cleared of criminal charges after shooting an unarmed black kid dead. A woman can go to jail for 20-30 years for firing a warning shot into the air in her own garage to scare off an abusive ex, but George Zimmerman can go home a free man after killing a boy in the streets.
The long and short is that the law itself is flawed. It is seriously flawed and does not reflect what we all believe it should be. Yes, the "Stand Your Ground" law did not directly apply to this case, but the way in which laws are written, and the interplay that the statute affects other laws, makes it so that all one needs to do to claim justifiable homicide is to suggest they were losing a fight. Our laws are so warped that you can follow someone for no good reason, against the recommendation of law enforcement, get into a fight with them, and kill them under no penalty of law because at some point or another you claim you are in fear for your life.
This nation of ours is a great one. I do believe it to be a magnificent nation. But we are not perfect, which is something many tend to forget. Our laws are malleable, which is both good and bad. It allows our laws to be twisted in a way counter to public interest and justice, but that also lets us correct course. The law is not truly organic.It, like all of us, is born from the collective experiences of those both directly and indirectly involved. And like all of us, it can be molded by conscious will to better fit our views and desires.
Those who are afflicted with the terrible disease of racism must be driven to overcome it. They must realize the ignorance of their beliefs and strive to change themselves, and must be supported into and through that change by their friends and loved ones. The effort must be made to raise the next generation in accordance with the ideal that all people are treated equally and fairly regardless of race, gender, religion, creed, or ethnicity.
Our laws must undergo a real, critical, review to be sure they are applied as evenly as possible, and that they make basic sense. That is something that can be done, and must be done, relatively soon.
And we must address violence in general. Why is there even a situation in our country that citizens have to patrol their streets with loaded weapons to look out for criminals? Why are there thousands of gun deaths every year? These are very basic questions with very complex answers. But the difficulty and complexity of these matters are not a barrier to addressing them. We need to think very carefully about these questions and more if we are to live up to our ideal of a more perfect union.
This is a tragedy that did not have to happen and should never again happen. We should all try to do our part, not matter how small, to learn from what has transpired and prevent it in the future.
My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Trayvon's parents, his family, and his friends. It cannot be easy for them to cope with the loss and the scrutiny and attention they've received in the aftermath, yet they've carried themselves with grace and dignity. For what comfort it may bring, I pray that you can move on at some point and that you can embrace now the fond memories you have of Trayvon, and not let the tragedy of his death define and control your spirit.
There is a severe gap. There is a gap between what we think we know happened, and what really did happen. There is a gap between what we think justice is, what justice really is, and what we think justice should be.
The facts are this; a teenage boy walking home with a hoodie in the rain after a snack run, is followed and confronted by a man. That man whose only authority is as a neighborhood watch member, during that confrontation, shoots and kills the teenage boy. At first the man is not charged with any crime, asserting a claim of self-defense under the law. Under public pressure the man is finally charged. After a trial, the man is found not guilty by a jury of six women.
What does this verdict mean? It means that a jury didn't think there was enough evidence to convict the man of any crime. It means that, as things stand at this moment, a teenage boy who had done nothing wrong is shot and killed and no one is blamed.
It's not a complete fit, and I know there are a number of songs that fit this terrible story, but this song was one that stuck out.
That is what remains critical in all of this. A teenager, walking home, is shot and killed. The person who did it essentially follows him until they come to blows, decides that it's a fight he can't win, and shoots the boy dead. And no one is to blame, so far as the Florida legal system is concerned.
Which is where I think the most immediate issue rests.
Yes, the matter of race relations is very critical. The history of race relations is not as far back in the past as some people would like to think. No one moment, one instance, of good can immediately undo a very lengthy history of wrong. We are all created from our collective experiences and the experiences of those whom we interact with directly or indirectly. We inform on the actions of our predecessors and our contemporaries. We don't live in a vacuum, no matter how much we may sometimes think we do. It will take a long time for those matters to settle themselves. That is because they are formed by individuals. Attention and education is the key. As the president said, successive generations have done better in dealing with these issues of race relations. That is the path forward - each generation becoming more tolerant, and understanding, and intelligent about race.
But what that process relies on is the legal structure. Our government, our laws, must be facilitators of improvements, not barriers to it. We need a legal system that is above all fair and sensible, not a shield for others to perpetuate violence, divisiveness, and hatred.
The system, quite plainly, did work. The system, however, is very broken. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, martian... there is a fundamental flaw in a legal system that allows a man to kill another and not suffer even some form of punishment. We can look at it this way - if it were two kids fighting, for ANY reason, and one killed the other, one of them will very likely be tried as an adult and thrown in jail.
That is what angers so many. In almost any other situation, a person even brandishing a gun is locked up for some time. Yet here, Trayvon Martin who was only going home from the store is followed, is confronted, has a fight, and gets shot by the person following him, George Zimmerman.
As Luke Russert said on MSNBC Friday afternoon, there are parents who worry every day about their kids because they see that someone like Michael Vick can be sent to prison for being associated with dog fighting, but a man can be cleared of criminal charges after shooting an unarmed black kid dead. A woman can go to jail for 20-30 years for firing a warning shot into the air in her own garage to scare off an abusive ex, but George Zimmerman can go home a free man after killing a boy in the streets.
The long and short is that the law itself is flawed. It is seriously flawed and does not reflect what we all believe it should be. Yes, the "Stand Your Ground" law did not directly apply to this case, but the way in which laws are written, and the interplay that the statute affects other laws, makes it so that all one needs to do to claim justifiable homicide is to suggest they were losing a fight. Our laws are so warped that you can follow someone for no good reason, against the recommendation of law enforcement, get into a fight with them, and kill them under no penalty of law because at some point or another you claim you are in fear for your life.
This nation of ours is a great one. I do believe it to be a magnificent nation. But we are not perfect, which is something many tend to forget. Our laws are malleable, which is both good and bad. It allows our laws to be twisted in a way counter to public interest and justice, but that also lets us correct course. The law is not truly organic.It, like all of us, is born from the collective experiences of those both directly and indirectly involved. And like all of us, it can be molded by conscious will to better fit our views and desires.
Those who are afflicted with the terrible disease of racism must be driven to overcome it. They must realize the ignorance of their beliefs and strive to change themselves, and must be supported into and through that change by their friends and loved ones. The effort must be made to raise the next generation in accordance with the ideal that all people are treated equally and fairly regardless of race, gender, religion, creed, or ethnicity.
Our laws must undergo a real, critical, review to be sure they are applied as evenly as possible, and that they make basic sense. That is something that can be done, and must be done, relatively soon.
And we must address violence in general. Why is there even a situation in our country that citizens have to patrol their streets with loaded weapons to look out for criminals? Why are there thousands of gun deaths every year? These are very basic questions with very complex answers. But the difficulty and complexity of these matters are not a barrier to addressing them. We need to think very carefully about these questions and more if we are to live up to our ideal of a more perfect union.
This is a tragedy that did not have to happen and should never again happen. We should all try to do our part, not matter how small, to learn from what has transpired and prevent it in the future.
My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Trayvon's parents, his family, and his friends. It cannot be easy for them to cope with the loss and the scrutiny and attention they've received in the aftermath, yet they've carried themselves with grace and dignity. For what comfort it may bring, I pray that you can move on at some point and that you can embrace now the fond memories you have of Trayvon, and not let the tragedy of his death define and control your spirit.
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