 |
| Source |
"Today is a defining moment for the status of my father’s dream. Whatever the Zimmerman verdict is... in the words of my father, we must conduct ourselves on the higher plane of dignity and discipline. Trayvon Martin will forever remain in the annals of history next to Medgar Evers and Emmett Till as symbols for the fight for equal justice for all."
-Dr. Bernice King
As a young Black man in America the night George Zimmerman walked out of court a free man, I was reminded once again what kind of conditions people of color face in this country. Obama was quoted on Friday, “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” since actions speak louder than words I would hope the president and the first African American Attorney General, Eric Holder, continue the federal investigation and charge Zimmerman for the tragic crime he committed.
Many people want to be colorblind, or say 'if George was black' and 'if Trayvon was white' and whatever else. At the end of the day you put it like this. A child was walking on the street. Yes he might have smoked weed in the past, maybe he enjoyed stupid things like gold teeth. What 17-year old doesn't do stupid things or questionable things in their teenage years. This same child was approached by a man that had a criminal past, which somehow was continually exonerated partly in thanks to his father who was a judge. This child was followed by a man who seemingly took the law into his own hands. This boy carrying skittles and an Arizona was approached by a man armed with a gun. Whatever scuffle may or may not have ensued this man decided that he would be the sole judge, jury, and persecutor, and take the life of a child. Whether Trayvon was White American, or Latino, or Asian, he was a child that had his life taken. Taken by a man who played a god and decided when that child's life would end.
Let us remind ourselves that Trayvon Martin was an African American child in the state of Florida. Let us not flatter ourselves as Americans and think that somehow within the last 50 years we were able to accomplish the eradication of racism and reconciliation of 400 years of minority oppression. ESPECIALLY in the south. One can look to the stories of slaves used as alligator bait in the state, the countless pictures and paintings are hard to refute the dark past. This is the state Trayvon was supposed to by tried fairly in. This case further troubled me as I have a lot of family in Florida. My cousins in high school aren't safe to walk the streets at night when any vigilante can shoot them dead in the name of self defense and stand their ground. Prosecutors like Angela Corey that are soft on murderers like George Zimmerman let to go free. And hard on mothers like Marissa Alexander (20 years jail), should be fired. Nonetheless, The Trayvon case has passed, the verdict dealt. What has happened, happened, the past cannot be changed. What cannot happen though is stagnation in our present time. There cannot be the twiddling of thumbs or the watching of Love and Hip Hop and other mindless media outlets.
The time is now more than ever. Organizations such as the Dream Defenders headed by Phillip Agnew in Florida have been occupying the state capitol in Florida since July 16th and demand legislative change from Governor Rick Scott. The law they demand is the Trayvon Martin Act and a petition for it can be signed here. Martin Luther King Jr. once said "An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Even beyond the color lines these Stand Your Ground laws and statutes provide the scary opening for countless law backed executions. There should never be a law supported by the government that allows for the murder of another human being even if said murderer had the ability to flee the scene. We as citizens of these United States of America cannot stand and watch the murders of children and others so barbarically. The time is now. On Saturday, vigils around the nation were held in honor of Trayvon Martin. In NYC Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon's mom, was met by the Rev. Al Sharpton, stars Jay-Z and Beyonce, and a massive crowd. She was quoted:
Many people want to be colorblind, or say 'if George was black' and 'if Trayvon was white' and whatever else. At the end of the day you put it like this. A child was walking on the street. Yes he might have smoked weed in the past, maybe he enjoyed stupid things like gold teeth. What 17-year old doesn't do stupid things or questionable things in their teenage years. This same child was approached by a man that had a criminal past, which somehow was continually exonerated partly in thanks to his father who was a judge. This child was followed by a man who seemingly took the law into his own hands. This boy carrying skittles and an Arizona was approached by a man armed with a gun. Whatever scuffle may or may not have ensued this man decided that he would be the sole judge, jury, and persecutor, and take the life of a child. Whether Trayvon was White American, or Latino, or Asian, he was a child that had his life taken. Taken by a man who played a god and decided when that child's life would end.
Let us remind ourselves that Trayvon Martin was an African American child in the state of Florida. Let us not flatter ourselves as Americans and think that somehow within the last 50 years we were able to accomplish the eradication of racism and reconciliation of 400 years of minority oppression. ESPECIALLY in the south. One can look to the stories of slaves used as alligator bait in the state, the countless pictures and paintings are hard to refute the dark past. This is the state Trayvon was supposed to by tried fairly in. This case further troubled me as I have a lot of family in Florida. My cousins in high school aren't safe to walk the streets at night when any vigilante can shoot them dead in the name of self defense and stand their ground. Prosecutors like Angela Corey that are soft on murderers like George Zimmerman let to go free. And hard on mothers like Marissa Alexander (20 years jail), should be fired. Nonetheless, The Trayvon case has passed, the verdict dealt. What has happened, happened, the past cannot be changed. What cannot happen though is stagnation in our present time. There cannot be the twiddling of thumbs or the watching of Love and Hip Hop and other mindless media outlets.
 |
| Dream Defenders occupying #TakeOverFL |
