In Response To, “Race” Not An Issue in the Trayvon Martin Murder?
I recently blogged about the case of a young and unarmed black kid, Trayvon Martin shot by a white man, George Zimmerman. Read here. It was basically an opinion stating that from what I could deduce, I saw no sign that race was a factor in the killing. A fellow blogger responded to the contrary in a reply to my post. Read that here.
As one who loves to argue/discuss a good point and for those of you who share this blogger’s opinion, here’s my response.
I am painfully aware that injustice against blacks (Other races too but let’s stick to the topic) do exist. Like I said, I did as much research as I could on the Trayvon’s case. Before doing any researching, my initial conclusion was that it was 100% racially motivated. Nothing I read confirmed this. I did read the ‘black coon’ comment and my first reaction was to go ‘aha! so it WAS a race thing’ then on further reading, I found that this comment was inconclusive. ’F*ing coon’ was later thought to have been ‘f*ing cold’ then ‘f*ing punks’ by forensic audio experts. Only a biased mind would argue that it was indeed ‘f*ing coon’.
The blogger went on to say ‘ Perhaps you haven’t noticed that this is indicative of a continuing trend of a lack of follow-up on crimes perpetrated against black people?‘ Ironic indeed since one of my first blogs was based on the injustice in the Troy Davis’ case. Another black man. Read that blog here. I even did a part two on that case as it really touched me. Part 2 here. So you see, I am in fact not blinded to racially atrocities against blacks. I however, choose to be objective rather than subjective.
Another irony is the blogger wrote, ”Perhaps, you haven’t considered that had it been a black man who had shot a young white kid, that there would be no way in heck that that black man would have been walking around free, and armed, for weeks afterwards?” On my blog on the Troy Davis case, I wrote ‘ I do not like to go there but it begs to ask, would it have been different if Troy was a white man?‘ Ample proof that I do know the ‘truth’, you would agree.
“The older I get, the more I become convinced that people don’t take too much seriously unless it happens to them, or “theirs.” It’s easy to talk about “being Christian,” and “learning to forgive,” but even Jesus believed in justice.”
From reading many of my blogs dealing with pain and tragedy and the miscarriage of justice, there should be no doubt that I do take matters such as this with all seriousness. I have children and family that I love dearly so I know how I would feel should I be in the victims’ shoes. As a christian, I admit that my first response is usually to put things in a spiritual perspective. No apologies there. It is really refreshing when I read of parents forgiving the killers of their spouse or kids. I pray daily for strength to be able to be man enough to do that. For the records, Jesus did not believe in the justice dispense by us humans and that’s why he preached forgiveness every chance he got.
Finally, here is an excerpt from Trayvon’s mother herself. As the grieving parent, she could have labeled this a hate crime but didn’t. Her take was rather noble and level-headed.
‘Saying she believed the shooting death of her 17-year-old son was “an accident,’’ Sybrina Fulton revealed on NBC’s Today Show her opinion in the case for the first time Thursday.
“I believe it was an accident,’’ Fulton said. “I believe that it just got out of control, and he couldn’t turn the clock back.’’
. . .
Fulton added that she sympathizes with the Zimmerman family, but asked for their understanding as well.
“I understand that his family is hurting, but think about our family. We lost our teenage son,’’ she told Today Show anchor Ann Curry. “I’m sure his parents can pick up the phone and call him, but we can’t pick up the phone and call Trayvon any more.’’
Related articles
- Who Cares About Race? (pjmedia.com)
- Reflections on the Trayvon Martin case (themoxiesophic.com)
- Trayvon’s Mom Sybrina Fulton Thinks Shooting Was an Accident (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
- Trayvon, Emmett and America’s Unfinished Business (jeffwinbush.com)
- Justice For Trayvon Martin Should Have Been Served Hot (myvuze.wordpress.com)
- Trayvon Martin: The Problem With the ‘Some of My Best Friends Are Black’ Defense (ideas.time.com)
- The Tragic Death of Trayvon Martin: The Reflections of C.S. Lewis (wannabepretentious.wordpress.com)
- Trayvon Martin: the criminalisation of black children must end | Ava Vidal (guardian.co.uk)
- One Woman’s “I Am Not Trayvon Martin” Vid Goes Viral – Does She Have A Point? (clutchmagonline.com)
- Paging Obama, Holder, and Sharpton: Black Man Shoots Unarmed Hispanic Man in Arizona, Claims ‘Self Defense’ (sfcmac.wordpress.com)
- “I am not Trayvon Martin” (newblackwoman.com)
- Hoodies and Race (markosun.wordpress.com)
- Coon hunting, slave-catchers and vigilantes (dailykos.com)
