Unless you have been locked in a trunk for the past few days...you have heard or read about the Zimmerman-Martin decision in Broward County, Florida...or seen the ripple effects of protests across the Nation.
For myself the whole thing feels like a horrible parody of Grisham's very first novel
"A Time To Kill"
[the unforgettable closing argument-excerpt]
I want to tell you a story. I'm going to ask you all to close your eyes while I tell you the story. I want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to yourselves. Go ahead. Close your eyes, please. This is a story about a little girl walking home from the grocery store one sunny afternoon. I want you to picture this little girl. Suddenly a truck races up. Two men jump out and grab her. They drag her into a nearby field and they tie her up and they rip her clothes from her body. Now they climb on. First one, then the other, raping her, shattering everything innocent and pure with a vicious thrust in a fog of drunken breath and sweat. And when they're done, after they've killed her tiny womb, murdered any chance for her to have children, to have life beyond her own, they decide to use her for target practice. They start throwing full beer cans at her. They throw them so hard that it tears the flesh all the way to her bones. Then they urinate on her. Now comes the hanging. They have a rope. They tie a noose. Imagine the noose going tight around her neck and with a sudden blinding jerk she's pulled into the air and her feet and legs go kicking. They don't find the ground. The hanging branch isn't strong enough. It snaps and she falls back to the earth. So they pick her up, throw her in the back of the truck and drive out to Foggy Creek Bridge. Pitch her over the edge. And she drops some thirty feet down to the creek bottom below. Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood, left to die. Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl.
Now imagine she's white."
And I want to paraphrase the scenario a bit here and ask you...just the same...to stop and imagine...
Imagine a black man armed...about the same size as George Zimmerman who sees a white kid...about Trayvon's size...walking in the rain...with a hoodie...and something in his hands. The armed black guy has taken it on himself to do patrol after there have been a string of break-ins in the mostly black neighborhood. He follows the kid and the kid picks up his pace. He follows and the kid moves faster. He phones the 911 dispatch...they tell him to stand down...he is frustrated..."...these punks always get away..." so he continues to stalk the 17 year old kid. The kid is afraid...but he is also 17 and his ego won't let him acknowledge that. There is a large black man obviously following him. Perhaps the man grabs his shoulder...perhaps not...perhaps the kid stops and yells at him "Why are you following me." At any rate they engage. In the scuffle that ensues the kid gets the upper hand...sits on the black man. Hits him in the face. Hits his head against the pavement..At this point the armed black guy who has been told by dispatch some time back to stand down and let the police handle this- pulls out a 9 mm and shoots the white kid dead.
Now...imagine how THAT verdict would have gone down.
And if you still think this is somehow "playing the race card"...well
I invite you to peruse any of the forums discussing the GZ-TM case and some of the absolutely disgusting comments made and then tell me that racism is a "thing of the past"...okay?
Because...in order to win this thing they had to steer everyone away from the fact the kid was only out for candy and a cold drink. They had to turn him (in the media...and the courtroom) into "a thug"...the very "thug" that Zimmerman believed him to be.
How many of us have 16-17 year old boys (of any shade) who have put blustery comments in the past on FB or MS...or videoed themselves as tough guys...how many of those same teens have smoked a joint...hell...how many of US who grew up in the late 60's through the 70's smoked pot. Trace cannabis amounts can show up nearly a month after smoking...and never mind that several states now have legalized it either or medical or recreational use.
But apparently the above was enough to justify killing the kid and exonerating Zimmerman in many peoples eyes. Making him the THUG that Zimmerman wanted us to see. Had to make us see. And since Martin was dead. There was no one to refute his stories.
So if you are one of the people who are shaking your head and not sure what "...those people..." are protesting or angry about...I want you to imagine how this would have came down if Martin had been white and Zimmerman black. And if you are honest with yourselves...and how by not convicting Zimmerman of manslaughter at the very least...it has said once again to the black community that your children are not worth the same as ours. That your children's lives are expendable.
That is the WHY of it.
Speaking of the palm-tree state...my eldest now safely back. Can't wait to see him next April. And yes...with a chest full of tattoos and full sleeves...I don't want to have some over-zealous neighborhood watch-person...cop wannabe...to see him some night walking back from a convenience store and pre-judge him as some "thug" either...because if someone were stalking him he might confront or even defend himself as well. If he were intimidated enough he might even throw the first punch.
