A Response to the Zimmerman Verdict

The jury concluded their deliberations and delivered a “not guilty” verdict last evening. I haven't discussed too much publicly on this and chose to let the case deliver a verdict. I'm not going to go into whether or not I agree with the verdict, because the trial is only a reflection of our legal system and not my opinion. 

Now there are only 2 people that know what truly happened on that unfortunate evening last year, and that's George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. This was a terrible situation; no matter what a young man's life was taken at the hand of another. George Zimmerman will always have to live with the fact that his response caused a young man to die.

There has been a lot of discussion on the topic of race related to this. Now, I'm not George Zimmerman so I can pretend to know what kind of prejudices he had or reacted on. I can't say definitively whether or not race was a primary issue in this case, but I do believe there was an overwhelming sense of prejudice from the media reaction.

I've been extremely disappointed with how the media has covered this case. There was an opportunity for this to become an open discussion on issues of race and social sterotypes. Instead, we heard the media rip apart the character of Trayvon Martin. There were comments made in response to the news continually using pictures of Trayvon that were 2-3 years old. But I think we're missing a much larger point here. Whether or not Trayvon was guilty of anything, whether he really was “up to no good” is beyond the point....no matter what it was, he was only 17 years old and had the rest of his life ahead of him. The portrait of Trayvon that was being painted (pot smoking, trouble maker that took selfies with gold teeth and flicking off the camera) is an unfortunate one.....what is being said is that what you are at 17 is what you will always be. How many of us look back at our 17 year-old self and are 100% the same? I know I did and said things at the age of 17 that make me shake my head at my younger self.

I don't know that George Zimmerman profiled this situation based on his race, but I do know that it is not uncommon for high school aged kids in the Sanford area to be judged at first look. I know that it is not uncommon for adults to look at a high school child and think that they know everything they are and are going to be. Having worked at Seminole High School in Sanford Florida, I can say from experience that there are some fantastic kids in that area with great potential that just need understanding and leadership from adults in their life. I've seen many kids that have been judged too quickly by adults and authority figures, that really need nothing more than a calm adult to logically deal with a situation. I know Trayvon was not from Sanford, but I'm saying it's not completely unlikely for an adult to jump to conclusions when a young man is walking down the road at night in Sanford.

All details aside, we as a society should always be outraged at the killing of a young child or young adult, no matter their race or history. Because when we lose a young life it is always tragic to our society as a whole.

I pray for peace for the Martin family & all of Trayvon's friends, I pray for the soul of George Zimmerman who is responsible for the death of another human being, and I pray for our society as a whole. I'm optimistic that the younger generations have real potential for making change in the world.

R.I.P. Trayvon Martin