As
I listened to the disappointing verdict of “not guilty” a few weeks ago, which
was rendered in favor of George Zimmerman, who was on trial for murdering unarmed,
seventeen year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, my mind was taken back
to my childhood and teen years growing up in south Florida. My memories of the
racism, segregation, and unfair treatment as an African-American growing up in
Florida, began to infiltrate my thoughts, my emotions, and my spirit, that
rainy Saturday night after the verdict was reached by only six jurors...all
female, five whites, and one who considers herself a ‘black Hispanic.’
I
can vividly remember living on the ‘other side of the tracks’ while growing up
in south Florida. As I listened to the verdict, my mind also reflected on the
school buses that were filled with white children as they rolled past us, as we
walked to school; and we were young children; having to make our way to school,
by foot. The verdict brought back memories of the used and tattered schoolbooks
that were passed down to us at the all black school after the white children no
longer had use for them. And there is no wonder that I have never had the urge or
the desire to return to the state of Florida to reside.
As
I participated in one of the many rallies across the nation in protest of the
unbelievable ‘not guilty’ verdict in the Trayvon Martin murder case, my mind again
drifted back to the late sixties, when as a teen, I participated in a march and
rally to take a stand against forced busing. I recalled the food that was thrown
in my face, and my picture being on the front page of the Hollywood Sun Tattler
newspaper. And here we are, decades later, living in a country that is still
not integrated; a country that for the most part, still engages in unequal
treatment of people of color, and the poor and disenfranchised.
Somehow,
we have forgotten to remember the struggle, the lives lost, and the strides
made in this country to eradicate racism, mistreatment, and maltreatment of
those who do not fit the American status quo. Sadly to say, the history of
discrimination is not just being repeated in this country; it never stopped!
The problems involving race relations have existed since the invasion of this
country by Columbus and his men hundreds of years ago.
It
is evident by the presence of black, white, and brown people across the nation who
participated in the marches and rallies, as well as the cries of outrage by the
American people for justice, that an injustice was not only committed by the
murder of Trayvon Martin, but that a further injustice occurred when the imbalanced jury rendered its
‘not guilty’ verdict. The alarm has been sounding for sometime, but we keep
pressing the snooze button.
Why
are we still stuck in this place of the privileged few? How did we allow the voting rights amendment
to be repealed? How is it that there are
still so many Americans who are filled with hatred and intolerance for people
who are different from them? How do we sleep and snore as the rights afforded
all people through the Civil Rights Movements of the sixties slowly die? Somehow,
we seem to forget on whose backs this country was built!!! We have become so
caught up with the material gains of the big houses, the expensive cars, the
fancy clothes, and the political games of our nation, that we seem confused as
to what is important! As in the words of Malcolm X, we have been bamboozled and
thrown amuck! As many of us have fought to live the American dream; too many more
have wound up living an American nightmare! As African-Americans, too many of have
fallen asleep, forgetting those who heroically died to ensure that the dream is
realized and that freedom and justice holds true for ALL Americans, and not just for the privileged few!!
“…With
Liberty and Justice for All?” Here it
is, 2013, and neither liberty nor justice is made available to and for ALL
citizens of the United States of America. Even in the grave, there doesn’t seem
to be justice for Trayvon Martin, a seventeen year-old unarmed African-American
male who was gunned down, without cause. It is sad that Trayvon had to pay the
ultimate price for the race relations alarm to sound in America. He paid with
his life!!!
For
too many Americans, a lack of regard and a lack of respect for black and brown
people seem to exist. Although they are important, the lives of animals seem to
be worth more than the lives of people of color. Michael Vick, an
African-American pro football player was stripped of his football career,
jailed, humiliated, and still wears a scarlet letter on his chest for dog
cruelty. But George Zimmerman, a white man, was able to (as juror B-29 stated),
‘get away with the murder’ of an unarmed African-American teenager, based on a
“stand your ground” law, which was seemingly created to keep the status quo of
the have’s and have’s not’s, and the privileged few.
And
then there is Marissa Alexander, a black woman who was sentenced to twenty
years in prison in the state of Florida for defending herself against an
abusive husband. She shot into the air, and not into the body of a human
being. However, Florida’s “stand your ground”
law did not stand for her! We can also remember the groom, Sean Bell, who was
shot sixteen times in a hail of fifty bullets, propelled into his vehicle, the
nigh before his wedding in NYC. Like Trayvon, Marissa, and too many others to
name, ‘stand your ground’ has not been an option for people of color like Sean;
but it has been for the privileged few. These victims were denied the
opportunity to ‘stand their ground’ in situations that not only brought fear to
and for their loves, but in many cases, ended lives. Something is disturbingly
wrong with these inequities!!
When
will America come to recognize as Marcus Garvey once stated, ‘hurt the nose,
the eye cries?’ When an innocent unarmed child is murdered, it hurts us all…no
matter what color. We must remember that the face of death has no color! We
would like to believe that people of color have arrived. But, until everyone
has arrived, none of us have arrived.
I
can only imagine the pain and heartache that Trayvon’s mother, father, brother,
friends, and other family members have carried during the past seventeen
months. In the midst of their loss and pain, Trayvon’s parents have ironically
been able to use their losses as stepping-stones, instead of stumbling
blocks. They have been able to show
love, instead of hatred. They have managed to take a stand not only for justice
for Trayvon, but justice for all children, especially children of color.
Martin
Luther King, Jr. once stated, ‘when a fire is raging, the emergency vehicle
moves at great speed, running through every red light in order to get to the
emergency.’ America, we must realize
that we have a fire that has been raging in this country for as long as I can
remember, and hundreds of years before my birth. This raging fire is based on
color, breeding racism, hatred, ignorance, bigotry, fear, and discrimination,
which has gone on far too long.
It
is past time for the citizens of the greatest country on earth to STAND ITS GROUND against racism hatred,
ignorance, bigotry, fear, and discrimination. Either you stand for something or
you will fall for anything. Juror B-29, who was one of the six to render the
‘not guilty’ verdict in the George Zimmerman murder case, relinquished her
opportunity to ‘stand her ground’ for truth, for justice, for Trayvon, as well
as all other black and brown boys in America!
When
will America move past making everything from jobs, housing, money, education,
TV, radio, beauty, freedom, etc. be about black and white, and focus on doing what’s
right? When and only when each of us
decides to get our heads out of the sand, STAND
OUR GROUND, speak up, speak out, and not only deal with our own issues
surrounding differences; when we begin to practice tolerance and stop playing
games of intolerance, we will begin to put out the raging fire that has divided
this country from its inception.
Yes,
the murder of Trayvon Martin and the ensuing murder trial of George Zimmerman not
only alerted us to the realities of the fire that has been raging in this
country for over five hundred years, the alarms were sounded loud and clear! And yes, the sound of the alarm was quite
revolting and shocking; but it is imperative that we no longer go under ground in
dealing with the racism that divides us, and that we no longer push the snooze
button on the alarm. We must form coalitions within our homes, and within our
neighborhoods to move at great speed, running through every red light, until we
can guarantee that no more unarmed black boys who are where they are supposed
to be, on their way home from the store, with a pack of Skittles, and a can of ice
tea, will be cut down like bamboo shoots!
As
Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated, ‘until justice rolls down like mighty
waters,’ until ‘stand your ground’ laws are repealed, until gun control laws
are enacted, until the lives of African-American males are valued, until
education becomes a priority and not an option, until we build more schools
than jails, until we stand for truth, until we stop pressing the snooze button
on racism in America, we will remain hostages to our own fears and inner hatred
of people different from us.
I
challenge you today, to ‘STANDYOUR
GROUND!!’ Take your hands off the snooze button and answer the call to
stamp out injustices, unfair treatment, unjust laws, and instead of focusing on
black and white…focus on what’s RIGHT!!!! Until all of us have arrived, YOU have
not arrived! Answer the alarm!!!
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