Trayvon Martin killed: Why is America not Mourning?
Our society has an illness, one that is as horrendous as any plague, or as hostile as any virus. Racism still lives and breeds in the backstreets and alleys of America. We are still a hotbed of defunct ideas, old world policies, and ignorant morals. Now those have cost one young man his life, but he is not alone. Since the ending of the Civil war there has been a trend of abusing the most helpless racial groups among us, and the pattern is bright and bold.
What used to be the majority, the White male, ruled and continues to rule, with an iron fist. Many of them come from money made on the backs of minorities, as far back as the Civil war. Others made their money later when factories became implemented. It was legal back then to hire children, and uneducated people for labor, pay low wages, and work them ten to twelve hours a day. It was this abuse of the minority status that created the ghettos, along with other shady backroom deals, and abuses. When the Mafia had its reign, one thing was true, they created hope, they were a powerful minority. Sure they bullied, and fought, but they fought the bad guys, and then became equally bad. One institution they provided was Unions, which raised the standard of living for everyone, including minorities. Yet it did not improve some parts of our society. That is the hate and dread that is spread in the name of skin color.
This shooting reminds us that even though our social structure has changed, we have some growing to do. When the use of marijuana is enough to justify someones death, it is not just tragic but racist. Our society behaves as though marijuana is solely a black problem, and instantly by using it black men become abusive, hardened criminal thugs. It represents the power of media indoctrination of the masses. Marijuana is used by millions of people. Weather it is for medicinal reasons, or recreational, illegal, or legal. People who hold power are using it and those with no power.
Yet the media has this image of "every black man" who uses drugs as a power hungry gangster with a gun in his pants, waiting to rob and kill. They have demonized one single class of people, while labeling white people who use the same drug as lazy and hippies. The world view of black men and women is the same. I have encountered many races who speak the same about black people.
This murder shows that while many people are willing to dismiss a black persons death, free thinking minds are not quick to feel the same. Could that be related to dogmatic ideas? It is written in the Bible that "Able the son of Adam killed his brother and was punished with blackened skin, and hair all over his body, and that for his sin his offspring would forever be black". Do Christians really believe this to be true? Are we seeing labeling in the name of religious bigotry?
The case could be made that we are. Since this has even been taught in church to little children. It is one of the passages in the bible that explains the difference in skin between races, and while it is ignorant and degrading, Christians still use this as their explanation for diversity. Their archaic ideas about a deity and diversity are as defunct as this intolerable amount of racism.
It is about time we reconciled with responsibility and put our intellectual hats back on. We owe it to black people to rectify the injustice which still continues. While atheist numbers are growing, and rational thinking is moving forward there are those, like the police and some of the people in Florida who need some educating. The use of marijuana does not instantly make a person who happens to be black into a gangster, and a gun toting criminal. We are adult enough to understand that there is harm in excess of anything, and everything. There is not one exclusive race of people that is effected by this. While the black people of our nation have a hard time because of continued lack in education, and abuses by a white minority, they are beginning to shine above many other nationalities.
It is tragic that this young man had to die. All in the name of racism, one that local police were aware existed. Neighborhood watches should be looking out for the welfare of everyone, and not be gun toting in the street. It would seem improper in this day and age, to go confront a suspicious person with a gun, knowing that it has the potential to become a fatal situation. While Trayvon Martin was just a kid, Zimmerman did everything wrong. He confronted the teen, based upon racist notions, he brought a gun, he fought with the teen and then shot the gun killing him. All of this would have been avoided if he had remained in his home and let police handle any possible situation, since he had not noted any crime being committed. He did a great injustice to the family of this young man, and society in general. Because he reminds us that hate is still alive, and how much harder we have to work to eradicate it, and as hard as we are working there are those working contrary to the better effort. There is nothing but tragedy to be found in racism. The ones we refuse to accept and understand pay the price for our hate. It is the weakest that carry the burden of our internal shame, because we can't love ourselves enough to love our difference. Racism is the cancer of society, and it eats away the very core. Until we can look at people based on character, we can never see them for who they are.
Comments
Post a Comment