Three weeks ago 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was walking down the street in his Florida gated community not knowing that in minutes he would lose his life.
As Trayvon walked home from the local store neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman spotted young Trayvon. He deemed the young black man suspicious as he was a black youth wearing a hoodie and decided to follow him, even though he was told by the 911 dispatcher not to follow the youth. An altercation ensued and Zimmerman ended up shooting and fatally wounding Martin who was unarmed. Another young black man dead apparently the victim of looking too black in a nice neighborhood.
I am a black man and I, like millions of Americans, wear hoodies often. I can personally attest to being followed by police, falsely charged of crimes, and being falsely arrested. Like many other brothers I have also been a victim of stop-and-frisk and have been chased by police cars while walking at night. Many African Americans have similar stories, so this does not come as a shock to any black man who reads this. The fact that the Trayvon Martin story is finally getting national media coverage (it was largely ignored initially) is showing the rest of America what black men already know: young black men are seen by many as a threat in our society and if you're at the wrong place at the wrong time you could be in trouble.
Being followed or harassed by police is an unfortunate reality of life for many black youth, but the Trayvon Martin story takes this problem one step further as Martin was not shot by the police, but rather a normal citizen with a gun. Although he was officially a neighborhood watchman, many could argue that Zimmerman was the neighborhood vigilante after shooting an unarmed man who, based on the known facts, committed no crime.
Most most young black men can endure the lady clutching her purse tighter when we walk by, or the lady who goes back to double check her car doors when she sees you park next to her. We all can recognize "the look" if you linger in a store too long. These are things that you get used to, but what we cannot accept is private citizens shooting at us because of these unwarranted fears of being robbed or beaten by the big bad black man.
It has been three weeks since Trayvon Martin has been shot and George Zimmerman still has not been arrested. Numerous witnesses have called the police and given statements that suggest that Martin was crying for help when he was shot. It is a fact that Martin was unarmed when he was shot. It is also a fact that Zimmerman shot him. Without knowing the details of the case there can be no logical explanation for why Zimmerman would not be arrested for shooting an unarmed boy, but by not arresting Zimmerman to let the legal system decide his innocence or guilt the Florida police is making their position known.
We as the Florida Police expect this case to just go away. A neighborhood watchman shot and killed an unarmed black boy. We find no problem with this. Case closed.
All Americans and especially young black men must look at this message and beware. Vigilante corporal punishment is one step away from the inmates running the asylum. If Zimmerman is able to kill this young African American with no repercussion what will stop the man on the street from shooting to kill if a black men bends over to tie his shoe in front of your car. If a young black man is running down the street with a CD in his hand will it be OK for the random citizens to open fire on him? For the sake of our society let us pray that the Florida police come to their senses and let this matter follow the proper legal process. If Zimmerman is innocent then let the legal system exonerate him. Doing nothing however just sends the message that is open season on black men. Many think that this is already the case.
