JUSTICE4TRAYVON

Cops don't give a damn about a negro, pull the trigger and kill a nigga he's a hero - Tupac Shakur


I was planning on leaving this whole Trayvon Martin case alone, seeing that events like this happen every day. But after doing some more research I sit here utterly amazed that a killer is walking the streets  free man, while another family is burying their child. This incident, as sad as it is, really doesn't come as a surprise to me. It just adds further proof that racism is still very much alive.

For those of you who somehow still don't know anything about the case, Trayvon Martin was a seventeen year old African-American male from Florida who was gunned down by neighborhood vigilante George Zimmerman. The reasoning for the slaying? Zimmerman claims that Martin looked suspicious because of his hoodie and acted in self defense. It was discovered that Trayvon was unarmed and was carrying a pack up skittles and a can of sweet tea. Yes, a child gone forever while he held a bag of candy. And yet this still doesn't warrant the proper reaction from me as it should because it's nothing new.

Now, racial profiling leading to acts of violence by the police have been well documented over the years. From Amadou Diallo in the Bronx, to Sean Bell in Queens, to the most famous infamous case with Rodney King the police have long been getting away with brutality and murder against minorities. The thing that makes the Martin case standout is that he wasn't killed by the police, he was murdered by another citizen. Now first let me remind you that vigilantism is illegal. Yet, even though Zimmerman acted illegally with no justification, he was never even arrested. Let me say that again. Zimmerman was never even arrested for shooting an unarmed person who was not committing a crime. The part that saddens me the most is that you know it was racially motivated. If Trayvon would have been a seventeen year old white teenager named Taylor there would never have been any doubt in Zimmerman's mind that he was out of place in that neighborhood. Although Zimmerman says it wasn't a matter of race, his 911 calls are saying otherwise. But of course like other important leads in this case, the police have came out and said that they must have "missed" that part of the emergency call. It is honestly insane how the police are doing everything to avoid bring Trayvon justice.

So now the question is what to do. In 2012 there is no reason for minorities not to take a stand for injustice they are still receiving. President Obama kept quiet about the issues until recently (remember it's an election year, that's just the game) when he said "if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon". Besides, the President cannot take on every local issue. So no relying on Obama to fix our problems, what needs to be done? Maybe we should have a 2012 L.A. riot and burn half the city down? Or maybe we should do as Geraldo Rivera says and stop wearing hoodies. Or maybe we should just stick to the same routine and have Al and Jesse do some interviews and marches, and move on to the next one. Whatever it is something has to be done. I don't mean having another black male throw their life away by killing Zimmerman out of rage. I mean something has to be done legally. For far too long the criminal justice system has not been in our favor. As unfortunate as it is that this kid had to die for nothing, let's not have his murder be in vain. We need to use this as opportunity to gain justice the legal way, and hopefully we won't have anymore tragic stories like Trayvon Martin.