Daily Archives: July 14, 2013

Florida, Politics, Race Relations

Race Industry In Search Of Another Hero?

Although Trayvon Martin’s past has nothing to do with events on the night he met George Zimmerman, it is relevant on the subject of profiling. What was Trayvon doing in Sanford, since he lives in Miami Gardens? Having time off from school, being suspended for 10 days, he went to trayvon_martin_no_limit_niggaSanford to stay with his father. Just one of multiple school suspensions for Trayvon. George Zimmerman wasn’t the first person to think that Trayvon Martin was acting “suspicious.”

In October, a school police investigator said he saw Trayvon on the school surveillance camera in an unauthorized area “hiding and being suspicious.” Then he said he saw Trayvon mark up a door with “W.T.F” — an acronym for “what the f—.” The officer said he found Trayvon the next day and went through his book bag in search of the graffiti marker.

Instead the officer reported he found women’s jewelry and a screwdriver that he described as a “burglary tool,” according to a Miami-Dade Schools Police report obtained by The Miami Herald. Word of the incident came as the family’s lawyer acknowledged that the boy was suspended in February for getting caught with an empty bag with traces of marijuana, which he called “irrelevant” and an attempt to demonize a victim.

Nothing against Trayvon or his parents who lost their child in the most unfortunate circumstance, but for Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump to say “Trayvon Martin will forever remain in the annals of history, next to Medgar Evers and Emmett Till as symbols for the fight for equal justice for all,” using Trayvon and raising him to the level of Medgar Evers in a civil rights struggle is, or should be, an insult to him and his parents.

Link: Multiple suspensions paint complicated portrait of Trayvon Martin  |  Was Trayvon Martin a Drug Dealer  |  Martin Family Lawyer Likens Trayvon To Medgar Evers And Emmett Till

Media, Politics, Race Relations

Zimmerman Verdict, Lesson To Be Learned

Some in the media are looking for a monumental lesson to be learned by the ‘not guilty’ verdict in the Martin/Zimmerman trial. Suggesting systemic failures in the justice system on race. But for the introduction of politics, from the President on down, the trial would not have happened. The original investigation had it right. It was a case of self-defense. But could-a, would-a, should-a doesn’t get us to the lesson, the takeaway from the entire incident.

The real lesson is much simpler than exacerbating racial tension, perpetuating the race industry. It’s about exercising a little self-control, being civil to one another.

Profiling is not an excuse for breaking the law. Profiling is a natural behavior. For a person, like Zimmerman, to be looking out for bad guys that had been breaking into homes in his neighborhood, coming upon Martin “looked” to him to be someone to watch. Nothing illegal about watching someone. Martin did a little profiling of his own as well. He thought, and said, that Zimmerman was a creepy-ass cracker. A natural reaction perhaps from someone who lives in the hood in Miami Gardens.

The lesson to be learned is that if some asks you “what are you doing here?”, you might respond in a civil, non-violent way. For example, “just going home” or “not that it’s any of your business, but I’m going home,” or just ignore him and continue walking home. Responding in an un-civil manner, like with your fists, could end up costing your life.

That’s the message community leaders and politicians should be getting, and making, from this unfortunate incident.