Shocked and Appalled but Moving On

Seriously?

Last night I was at home studying and occasionally scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed when I all of a sudden I see people posting that a verdict had been reached in the Trayvon Martin case and at first I think it’s a joke because, though it may happen often, I have never seen a jury reach a verdict on a Saturday.  Then I log on to news websites to find that it really is true and the verdict really is not guilty.  After picking my jaw up off the floor- and I really was shocked.  I know some people weren’t surprised but I was.  I was leaning more toward manslaughter than murder but I thought the dude would at least get something.

From whence I came…

Now, in practically all of my political beliefs I tend to lean uber conservative.  I’m pro-life, pro-guns, pro-personal responsibility, and a fiscal conservative where government spending is concerned.  However, I disagree with the overall unspoken conservative consensus that it is okay to be hateful to people in order to get your point across.  I sincerely believe you can disagree with someone’s point of view or lifestyle choice or even their outfit without taking it to the mattresses with out of pocket remarks.  I was even of the belief that President Obama should not have made the statement that if he had a son he would look like Trayvon Martin.  Though, at the time, and now, I believed George Zimmerman to be guilty, I did not think that the POTUS should have made a statement that alluded to his opinion because, unlike myself, he is the leader of the free world and should always make an effort to be unbiased- at least publicly.   All of that said, I still feel the same way about practically all of these issues- but, unlike my conservative compatriots I cannot get on board with believing this ruling was just or right or made purely on the basis of the facts and evidence. 

The power of a choice

Why do I think this?  Simple- Mr. Zimmerman could have chosen to stay in the car like he was advised to do by the dispatcher. He chose to pursue, he chose to engage, and then he chose to pull the trigger.  At no point in this whole encounter did he not have the upper hand.  He could have chosen to follow directions and let those who are trained to handle situations like this handle it but he made the choice to do his own thing and his life will be forever changed as a result. 

Where do we go from here?

Today many conservatives are taking issue with the African American community’s offense over the outcome of this case, citing everything from the fact that most violence towards Blacks is from other Blacks (which is statistically true) to the underlying Liberal agenda to cause enmity between the races at every turn.  But I have to say plain and simple- OBJECTION- RELEVANCE?  Should the fact that most of the violence against Blacks comes from other Blacks lessen the impact of this case and the implications it has for Blacks in America?  By no means!!  I think we, as a community should definitely work on eradicating Black on Black crime and we should start by not going completely bitchcake bananas and tearing up the town in Florida.   What will a riot achieve but to prove political pundits who think us to be low-class, ghetto, violent monsters, unworthy of due process correct?  I think it would be more effective to pick ourselves up, dust off this trial, pray for the Martin family and even George Zimmerman, and as a community improve.  Let’s use the same camaraderie we protested Trayvon’s death to lobby for better education, to influence our communities, to raise our children, and to not be used as a pawn by any political agenda and in so doing rid ourselves of the cultural schizophrenia that is rampant in the Black community.  There should be public outcry about every injustice- including the alarming rate of abortions in the Black community equivalent to legal genocide.  Including the rate of poverty, including violent crimes, including education, including lack of personal responsibility, including intra-racism.  Let’s take a stand against all of these issues and as a unified population embrace our identity as Americans and take ownership that this is our nation too.