I've very purposely kept my opinions about the verdict off of Facebook. Awhile back I made a deliberate decision to make my facebook mostly apolitical, as a personal preference, I just didn't want to engage in controversial debates there anymore, I don't have the interest in it like I used to.
This week may have been an exception, but I've had such a hard time figuring out what I think and how I feel, that I knew it wasn't ready for facebook consumption. But today I've read two things that really touched me, that really articulated what I think:
One is from a United Methodist Blog: http://umcconnections.org/2013/07/19/white-privilege-and-the-trayvon-martin-case/?utm_content=buffer07005&utm_source=buffer&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Buffer
The other was from President Obama. I disagree with him more these days than before, but I could tell he had this case on his mind and in his heart all week and finally figured out what he wanted to say, and I wholeheartedly agreed with it. Here is a link to the transcript:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/president-obamas-remarks-on-trayvon-martin-full-transcript/2013/07/19/5e33ebea-f09a-11e2-a1f9-ea873b7e0424_print.html
The truth is, the experience as a black person is different. The experience for a black man is even more different, and difficult. And agree or disagree with the verdict, Trayvon Martin was a victim of that. These laws that justify deadly force in these situations are applied unequally to the detriment of African Americans. And what makes is so sad, is that meaningful change on these issues moves so slowly, too slowly for many.
So many of my black peers have stories of being profiled, from Stanford students, to law professors, even I have my own story and experience with police officers. What's sad about Trayvon Martin's death is that it's just another example of that, with a horrible consequence.
And while I understand the verdict, I can't help but feel sad that a life was taken at the hands of another, without any meaningful consequence (yet) for the man who, admittedly made the choice to engage him with a gun, when he should have just stayed in his car.
I could go into more issues related to the case but I'd like to leave it at that.
Oh, and on a related issue, read this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/questions-haunt-family-of-man-with-down-syndrome-who-died-in-police-custody/2013/07/18/693d4c2a-eef6-11e2-bed3-b9b6fe264871_story.html
I can't even begin to articulate how angry and upset this continues to make me - I really have no words.
