I'm going to ask you a question. What if Trayvon Martin was YOUR child?
Oh I know, I know. Some of you can't imagine it. Because of the privilege that you may not even be fully aware of, you think this will NEVER happen to you. You can't imagine YOUR child ever being treated like a worthless piece of meat. So you don't really put yourselves in the shoes of Trayvon Martin's parents, and you don't TRULY feel the pain of Trayvon Martin's parents. You go on with your lives, knowing that this will NEVER happen to me. But just for a moment, imagine if this happened to YOUR child:
YOUR child is walking home from going to the local convenience store to pick up some Skittles and an iced tea for his/her younger sibling. You live in what you believe to be a "safe" neighborhood. A gated community.
YOUR child, who is only 17 years old, is followed by a 28-year-old. He/she is scared. The adult is following him/her. YOUR child runs. The adult pursues him/her. There is an altercation. YOUR child screams for help. And YOUR child is shot in the chest.
The police department does a cursory investigation.
The police department tests YOUR child for drugs and alcohol, but does not test the shooter.
The shooter is released because he claims self-defense, although he is the one who pursued YOUR child, and he is 100 pounds heavier than YOUR child, and it was YOUR child that was screaming for help.
The police department waits THREE days to inform you that your child is dead. YOUR child is laying in the morgue dead.
The police department withholds 911 tapes that provide important evidence.
The shooter is not a registered neighborhood watch captain, but a self-proclaimed neighborhood watch captain.
The shooter has been told not to pursue YOUR child, but ignores the orders and continues to pursue YOUR child. And this shooter is not a police officer, nor a registered neighborhood watch captain, but a regular citizen.
How would YOU feel?
Now if you don't already feel empathy for Trayvon Martin's parents, your blood must run ice cold.
But there is the additional element of racial animus in this case. George Zimmerman had a history of calling 911 46 times and being obsessed with looking out for young black men in his neighborhood. He stated in the 911 tapes that Trayvon was "up to no good" (he was walking home from the convenience store) and that he looked like he was on drugs. Then he also stated that "they always get away" and there is a portion of the tape that sounds like he says "f**king coons".
Why didn't the Sanford Police Department arrest George Zimmerman? How is this police department complicit in this case? Is this their brand of southern justice? If George Zimmerman had been black and Trayvon Martin had been white, would George Zimmerman have been arrested? (I think we all know the answer to that.)
A million people have signed the petition to fully investigate this case. This is about justice. In the public school system, we say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. We recite the words, "with liberty and justice for all". Those words do not ring true if things like this still happen in America.
If you don't care about this, and speak out about it, who is going to speak out when YOUR child is marginalized in some way? What if your child ended up being killed because he or she was gay? Or lesbian? Or disabled? Or disfigured? Or for some other reason? And what if no one cared?
