Sunday, July 14, 2013

I have seen so many comments about the #Trayvon Martin jury. There is disgust, disappontment, and outrage at the verdict. I do not feel the jury is to blame for the injustice of this young man's life. The injustice lies on the system and authorities in this community.

The police who valued a young man so little because of the color of his skin that they sent Zimmerman home that evening are to blame. The Attorney General who charged Zimmerman with "Murder 2" knowing no jury could meet that burden of proof is to blame. The judge who allowed the young man's THC blood count to be admitted as evidence is to blame.

Blame for the injustice lies firmly in a local government who had no concern for the life of Martin at all.

Even if Trayvon did "throw the first punch" it was because he was being chased down and harassed by Zimmerman. This does not make Martin's actions right, but Zimmer
man's vigilante antics were the source.  The system which conspired under pressure to present nothing more than judicial theatrics never intended Zimmerman any harm.

The injustice of this event is not the verdict itself, but the systemic endorsement Zimmerman's bigoted assumptions which led to his vigilante encounter with Martin and therefore ultimately to Martin's death.

The injustice is ultimately that white people feel that racism isn't an issue and that we as a culture need to move on. So long as it is acceptable for neighborhood watch captains default assumption at seeing a young  black man to be suspicion, we are not living in a post racial world. The greatest injustice is that white people  can not hear the cries of their black neighbors and would rather cross on the other side of the road.