I
am certain there are many of you who will say, that this is no secret,
but I beg to differ. As Americans we lie to ourselves, and say we are
enlightened. Racism exists in the backwoods somewhere, not here with
civilized people such as ourselves. How I wish this were true, reality
is that like any disease, racism is insidious. Like cancer it finds a
healthy area, latches on and begins to mutate and alter it. Eventually
it corrupts and creates illness which can lead to death. This is what
ignorance and distorted views bring upon our society. Like cancer, if
you ignore it, it doesn't heal, you only give it a chance to grow and
permeate other healthy areas until there is no healthy tissue left.
The
topic of race has become a source of conversation, jump started by the
killing of Trayvon Martin. For a moment there was a flurry of tweets, blogs and newscasts
dedicated to examining the why and how, this young man was profiled and
ultimately killed. Profiled not by police, but, by a man with a gun,
who took the definition of NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH to include shooting a kid,
armed with a bag of Skittles, Arizona Ice Tea and a cell phone.
It
had been my hope, that this tragic event would finally have been the
call for us to get our act together and address a long ignored diseased
issue of our society. To my utter lack of surprise, many of us are
already moved onto the next issue. Although I do not have the solution, I
did make a decision, this blog will consistently discuss the case of
George Zimmerman and the death of Trayvon Martin until I can say I have
done my part in keeping the conversation going.
Fortunately, I am not alone. This week on CNN, Anderson Cooper is also making this the subject of his show AC360.
Other news outlets are still talking about it, although maybe not to
the degree that it had been discussed when this story first broke. If
more of us keep making this an issue of importance, others too will hear
the cry to end racism in America and openly discuss in order to find a
way to heal the deep wounds that still exists in our country. After all,
how enlightened can we be if we never come to grasps with correcting
this situation?
Here
we are, almost a month and a half later, still no arrest and still many
unanswered questions. The only person who honestly knows what occurred
on that rainy night in a town-home community, in Sanford Florida is
George Zimmerman. As the saying goes in finding answers there are three
versions, his, the other involved and in between lies the truth. Many
experts are re-examining 9-1-1 calls, alleged witness statements and
police reports, while we, the public do a lot of supposition.
The
question rests in the why's. Why did this young unarmed man die? Why
did George Zimmerman exit his vehicle after being told not to follow?
Why did he assume Trayvon was "on drugs" and "looked as though he was up
to no good"? And the biggest, why did he shoot him? I do not believe we
will ever know the truth to these questions, but I am holding out faith
that we will take the time to re-examine not just George Zimmerman, but
ourselves and the way we approach and judge other races.
In honor of Harper Lee's incredible work I leave you with two quotes from the novel to think on.
"Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a
Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand." - Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
and
"Real courage is when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.”
―
Harper Lee,
To Kill a Mockingbird
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