A Father’s Love
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the milky skied, mild island of Nantucket! Great to be with you and yours on this Thursday morning, the 12th day of April, 2012, a dry day on Cape and rest of the east coast, as the New England area experiences a little drought not normally seen, well, ever at this ‘time’ of year… The news exploded yesterday around four or five p.m., eastern, across this great land of ours with the arrest of George Zimmerman, charged with second degree murder for the killing of Trayvon Martin on February 26th of this year. This case has sparked a national conversation about race, a new controversial “stand your ground law” in the great state of Florida, spreading to over twenty other states now (great!), and the cover up by the Sanford Police Department who should have arrested Mr. Zimmerman the night of the shooting. As has already been pointed out by individuals across the board, if Trayvon had been a white boy of that same age, 17, armed with Skittles and an iced tea, shot by a black youth in a gated community, the initial outcome would have been much different. The double standards that young African-American males face in this country, not to mention the lack of education, role models, and the ever present 24/7 danger lurking in the form of the ‘authorities’ who blindly profile these forgotten youths of our nation, is abhorrent. At a nationally televised news conference held yesterday in Sanford, Florida, Reverend Al Sharpton, along with the family’s attorney Ben Crump, the grieving parents of Trayvon, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin and other supporters spoke to the issues surrounding this senseless act of violence, praising the courageous and thorough work of special prosecutor Angela Corey who brought said charges forth and may just answer those prayers for JUSTICE. As has always been the case, WE want the simple TRUTH of what happened, and by bringing this case to public attention, perhaps WE can all begin to see the insanity of this ’stand your ground law’–a law that invites this sort of debacle time after time, pitting one group against another, groups that will probably never see eye to eye, but don’t have to kill each other via this gun lobby’s wet dream legislation, legislation that takes innocent lives in the name of the second amendment. Something our forefathers never envisioned; a crazy group of gun lovin’ red necks pushing for such extreme laws that only end up alienating our citizens from one another even more than they already are. What’s the next step? AK-47 permits for kindergartners? Speaking as a man, and a step father, I cannot, nor will I, try and imagine such a horrible event happening to one of my own, or to anyone of my friend’s children. When I observed Trayvon’s father, Tracy Martin, speak at said press conference yesterday afternoon, I choked up a bit, for I could see how much he loved that boy and for the Sanford Police, or any other police operation for that matter, covering this whole thing up, ‘because his dad was a magistrate and his mother (Zimmerman’s) worked for the court as a clerk’, leaving the body of Trayvon in the city morgue for three days without contacting kin, while they tested his dead body for drugs and alcohol, seems to most gentle people of the world a deep debasement of his humanity–all because he was black and wearing a ‘hoody’. This is the larger issue here, not whether Zimmerman premeditated this violent end to a promising American boy’s life. Who knows what really happened, but, it IS clear that Zimmerman–via the 911 tapes, the witnesses who are coming forward and the contradictions in his overall ’story’–was the pursuer, the aggressor, and thus, the ’stand your ground law’ CANNOT stand it’s own ground of self defense whose premise, in the eye of the law, must account for basic LOGIC and intelligence… If anyone had the ‘right’ to shoot anyone, it was Trayvon. But alas, Skittles, nor iced tea, contain any deadly forces, such as gun powder and lead. Controversy of a fair trial is going to become the next ’story’ in this case, the whole nation and indeed the whole world looking on, with some, this reporter included, muttering to themselves, ‘just how crazy are these NRA folks anyhow?’… Too many guns, too many lawyers, too much money, bringing the old song lyric–bring lawyers, guns and money’ –to a whole new level. It is hard enough for children in this great land to grow up, can’t WE at least give them a fighting chance by condemning vigilantism, starting with an indepth tough review, via the U.S. Justice Department, of this new, crazy, controversial law, a ‘law’ that makes taking human life so easy, leaving wonderful parents like Trayvon’s in a pool of tears no one can dry? When human life, ALL life, is a miracle and should be preserved and protected as such? Our touch stones have not been lost, they have just been forgotten, and by tackling this problem head on, WE can create solutions that will help everyone, especially the Trayvon Martin’s of the world, perhaps saving that one life in a sea of misery, rage, and disillusionment that seems to define 2012 America for FAR too many of our young people today… God’s continued speed to the parent’s of Trayvon, the special prosecutor, Angela Corey, Ben Crump and the great Reverend Al Sharpton (please check out his stellar show on MSNBC, weeknights, six sharp, “Politics Nation”, putting the REAL back in the word real)–they have shown US all what JUSTICE and LOVE really look like. PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
