Reprinted from Brother Jesse for The Houston Chronicle
There is no way to sugarcoat it.
Everyone should be upset about this.
This is not an isolated incident. Profiling Black men and boys is American as NCAA March Madness.
However, this is the real madness: Trayvon Martin is dead simply because he was Black.
As I keep listening to the audio of the 911 calls related to the Feb. 26 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, it’s disheartening.
George Zimmerman, a self-appointed
neighborhood watch captain in a gated community in Sanford, Florida,
decided to snuff out Trayvon’s life with a bullet to the chest because
he deemed him “suspicious.”
In his 911 call, Zimmerman told the
dispatcher that it was a Black male and “he looks like he’s on drugs and
up to no good….It’s raining. He’s just walking around, looking about.
He just staring looking at all the houses.”
The dispatcher told him not to pursue the person and Zimmerman is recorded saying “These a**holes always get away.”
Zimmerman disregarded those
instructions and decided to engage Trayvon. He admitted to police that
he shot Trayvon, but claimed it was in self-defense. He has been able to
dodge being put behind bars simply by telling the police that he acted in self-defense? His word is that good, huh?
However, if you listen to the 911
calls made by witnesses, you can hear the cries of a young boy just
before a gunshot is let off.
The cries went mute…
Florida is one of many states to have passed some form of
“Stand Your Ground” law in which self-defense is asserted against a
charge of criminal homicide. This Central Florida case has people
questioning this “Go-Ahead-Make-My-Day-I-Have-A-License-To-Kill”
legislation.
Why does it seem like the Sanford
Police has been trying to protect Zimmerman? Why did it takem them so
long to release the 911 tapes? What made Trayvon suspicious? What made
him a threat? If Trayvon was the aggressor and presented danger why is
he crying out for help on the 911 tapes?
Trayvon weighed 140 lbs. He was
armed with a bag of Skittles and a can of ice tea while walking back
from a nearby 7-Eleven convenience store. He is said to have been
wearing a hood on his head because it was drizzling. Are we missing
something here?
Trayvon had dreams of being an
aviation mechanic. One day he could have been working on Air Force One
or even sitting onboard in the seat of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. We will never know.
With all we have to deal with, Black men are not even safe in a gated community patrolled by a neighborhood watch leader?
Let’s flip the script: Had Trayvon
been the shooter, would he have been given a pass with the self-defense
claim? I highly doubt it. No way a Black man could be acting in
self-defense, right?
What is Black life worth in America?
Less than a dog, because I’ve seen man’s best friend get much better
treatment and advocacy than us. This is not race-baiting, this is just a
fact.
Ask the families of Emmett Till, Oscar Grant, Troy Davis, Sean Bell, James C. Anderson, Brandon McClelland and Amadou Diallo.
No matter how much people try to shove the concept down our throats, this is not a post-racial America. This broken system of America is a joke to the fullest and could care less about giving justice to the Black people within its borders.
The more I listen to the cries of
Trayvon on those 911 tapes, the more I keep thinking about my little
nephew Jacobi. He’s one of the most highly intelligent boys you would
ever meet. In the photo below he’s wearing this hood on his head at a
Black Male Summit we hosted in Houston last year.
He would be a target
of racial profiling if he was dressed like this walking the streets
late at night or even just walking into a department store. Yet at that
summit his responses to questions during workshops left degreed
presenters in suits and ties in awe.
Jacobi could have been Trayvon Martin.
He is Trayvon Martin.
We’re all Trayvon Martin.
I am Trayvon Martin.
***If you would like to join the
call for justice in the Trayvon Martin case sign the online petition.
Also a national rally is scheduled to take place on March 26 @ 5pm EST
in front of Sanford’s City Hall at 300 N. Park Ave, Sanford, FL.***
Sign the Petition for Trayvon Martin
