Mourn Trayvon Martin

I’m not sure anyone really believed we’d see a different verdict than the one we got in the George Zimmerman murder trial. Taken into custody, questioned and released, that was that. Innocent man defending himself against street thug. End of story. Let’s have a cup of coffee. Well, not the end of the story because the media demanded an arrest and a trial so we got an arrest and a trial. And we got another media circus. And we got further evidence of racial injustice in America. I can’t be the only one tired of this.

Can you imagine being Trayvon Martin during the last few minutes of his life? You’re in a different city, you’re far from home, it’s night, it’s raining, you’re walking through the rain and you see some guy in a car – some guy you don’t know – watching you and following you. What kind of creep is this? you wonder. A mugger? A sexual predator? Now the guy is out of the car, he’s following you on foot, he’s yelling at you. You run to get away from him. He runs after you, he’s closer, he’s confronting you, maybe it’s your imagination but he sounds angry. You’re not guilty of anything, other than walking outside after dark and this is America where anyone can walk outside after dark, right? so what could this guy in the loud red sweater possibly want from you? He comes closer. Now he’s in your face. He’s confronting and asking you questions like he’s the police and you and you haven’t done anything. You haven’t done anything. He’s too close. He’s too confrontational. You’re scared. You scream for help. You scream for help so loudly that your deserate plea is recorded on the 911 call a neighbor has placed. Your thoughts are scrambled. You think of the friend in Florida you had been talking with just two minutes ago. You think of you mother. You defend yourself and suddenly you feel a bullet rip in your chest, through your heart and out your back. You fall face down onto the wet grass. You’re dead.

Was George Zimmerman motivated by racism? I don’t know and I don’t think anyone other than Zimmerman himself knows. Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin walking through his neighborbood at night and made his conclusions and a 17-year-old kid is dead. I know where I’d lay my money, but whether or not Zimmerman’s motives were motivated by race is irrelevant at this point so fuck George Zimmerman. What’s relevant right now, today, is the thought that go through people’s minds when they see someone who looks, talks, dresses different, and a law like “stand your ground” that allow vigilantes to shoot first and claim self-defense later.

So mourn Trayvon Martin, forget George Zimmerman, and do whatever you can to get rid of stand-your-ground laws.

Racial profiling is a pretty frightening reality and if you don’t believe that, or don’t realize just how frightening it is, watch this video from the ABC newsmagazine show What Would You Do? With John Quinones. It’s only a little over four minutes so it’s not very long but it’s pretty powerful; at least I found it so. Leave me a comment below and let me know at what point in the video you started to feel like you’d been punched in the gut.

Rest in peace.