Outrage over the shooting death of an unarmed African American teenager has sparked demonstrations across the U.S. in support of justice for Trayvon Martin. While my heart goes out to his family and friends, this weekend’s demonstration in my hometown has me shaking my head. This time, although peaceful was the tone of the proceedings, the misguided attitudes and information that motivated the support of quite a few demonstrators is puzzling. What’s that adage? Stand for something or you’ll fall for anything. Well maybe it should be changed to stand for something that you are not ignorant of or you will fall for anything, including standing for causes that, with your support, have implications that you are not fully aware of. How can you say you want justice for a cause that you yourself are not educated about? How can you fight for justice for the premature ending of one human life and turn a blind eye to the same human lives that have been ended within your own community? How can you say that this is only a case of racism? Why is it that people band together to support a cause when the perceived implications of the action are racially motivated but hate crimes committed at the hands of people of the same race go generally unnoticed, except by those who are affected personally? Why is it that support is extended to the causes that only seem to have the most salacious details?
Now, I myself marched for Trayvon and my idea of justice for him will only ever be achieved by the hands of God. I didn’t march only because I think that this case is one with only racist implications. Appearances can be deceiving and since I can’t read minds, my speculations on why someone may have been profiled for seeming suspicious behavior is irrelevant. I also didn’t only march in hopes that a man gets crucified for taking the life of another. That may sound strange, but let me explain. The buck doesn’t stop at Zimmerman, the man responsible for Trayvon’s death, being arrested. Although an arrest in this case would leave some satisfied that his or her efforts meant something, an arrest does not guarantee conviction. Then the question of what Zimmerman would be found guilty of in a court of law is yet another pandora’s box that I shall not open today. Realistically speaking, the American justice system can be extremely unfair, to put it lightly. Although I think that if you commit a crime that you should be punished accordingly, punishment in my opinion is not going to be achieved by any court. For this reason, I take more comfort in saying when justice is served, it won’t be at the hand of a human or a jury of someone’s peers. Therefore, public humiliation and slandering of someone’s name (and you can argue with me all you want, slander is the only thing that can be accomplished by anyone who was not there and witnessed what happened) is not my goal. I do want Trayvon’s family to find comfort. It is my belief that his killer deserves punishment. I also believe that the breakdown of the system used to investigate this shooting was abominable. Shock and disgust over how things were handled the night of the shooting are high priorities on the reason that I marched. Granted, hindsight is always 20-20 and had things been handled differently, a slew of different outcomes could have resulted. But how can one put faith in the ideology that I have freedoms that are protected by law, when those appointed to uphold it aren’t actually doing that? My standpoint on this case is more focused on the implications of what the lack of action by law enforcement can actually cause. When blind eyes are turned, how can an imperfect form of justice even attempt to be served?
However, my experience taught me that many of the people that I walked alongside, are ignorant of the facts surrounding the case. More than anything else, there are a host of issues and offenses that have occurred throughout American history that seemingly go unnoticed daily. Profiling isn’t new. It happens everyday but why aren’t there demonstrations being held until the problem ceases? Better yet, taking another life is wrong! Most, without any form of social pyschopathy, would agree. Why do we, as a people, not dedicate more time and involvement to everybody’s lives who have been stolen? What makes this case so different if the core values of humanity should dictate that we feel something every time that something happens that would violate another individual?
The long and short of this is there’s nothing wrong with taking a stand for your beliefs. Just make sure that you are firm on the side of the issue for which you intend to take a stand. There’s nothing worse than having your credibility stolen by that of an inquiring mind. If you fight for what you think is right, take that stand, own it, and be able to defend it. Don’t rely on your best friends uncle’s co-worker’s cousin to incite a fire in you without fully investigating facts versus hearsay.
