The Colour of Justice: Who and What Failed Trayvon Martin

The Colour of Justice: 

Who and What Failed Trayvon Martin?

Trayvon Martin

[On a personal note] “I find myself trying to separate the “Trayvon Martin Story” from the “Zimmerman Trial” – unlike many of My Liberal counterparts – maybe to ease personal discontentment with “The System” for allowing itself to be used to prop-up a “self-defence” claim over the obvious truth of “racial profiling” that lead to the death of a unarmed, African-American youth; Who had no intention of committing a crime the night he died.

However, I have to submit to the rule of law, whether it’s fair or not, and it was on the basis of Florida’s “stand your ground” (SYG) law, that the Jurors deliberated on – Was George Zimmerman’s life ‘sufficiently’ in danger for him to have shot and killed Trayvon? – And with my own eyes I watched the Defence team resuscitate Trayvon Martin in that court room with the intention of painting him as “Black”, using racial stereotypes to convince the jurors and the public that Zimmerman was right in “pursuing”, “engaging” and “killing” the “Black” in a hoodie because his “Profile” was indicative of a troublemaker of some kind.”

Who Failed Trayvon

But unfortunately, the prosecution was simply afraid to touch on race; rather they focused squarely on storytelling with the evidence and purely based on that – I gave Zimmerman, a gut wrenching “Not-Guilty” long before the verdict.

It was no hard task for Zimmerman’s attorneys to destabilize the sturdy ground on which the prosecution felt they stood on with their case of killing without justification. The needless death of Trayvon Martin was placed second to the ineffective refuting Zimmerman’s “self-defence” story – the prosecution faulted when they refused to highlight the thinking of Zimmerman when he had called the police, in his capacity as a neighbourhood watchman complained of suspicious persons, who were all “Black”.

Earlier in the trial, the star witness for the prosecution was a female friend of Trayvon, who was the last person to speak to Trayvon except Zimmerman – and the Defence turned her into a representative for all “Blacks” across America because of her heavy creole – even asking “Do you have a problem understanding English”, although it obvious she didn't  When the Defence brought out the witness, whom had her house broken into by a “Black” teenager to prove somehow that all African-American youth are “burglars” (No offense, of course); How did the prosecution miss the opportunity to expose such blatant “profiling”.

What Failed Trayvon

And it is that profiling that caused Zimmerman to leave his truck to further pursue Trayvon (despite being told not to by a 911 dispatcher) with a loaded gun, with the “SYG” law on his side, Mr Zimmerman would have 

been embolden to take the confrontation as far as he wanted it to go.

Without a doubt the highest tier of “The System” failed an unarmed teenager. The law created and supported by a fully conservative state legislature that gave so much power to George Zimmerman wasn't able to stop Dr Marissa Alexander from getting sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a warning shot into the roof of her home to stop the violent advances of her ex-husband.

It was also that same law that made the Stanford police, treat dead Trayvon Martin as a suspect and living Zimmerman free for days after the incident and as it was proven that “Justice delayed is justice denied”. The Justice Department said Sunday it will weigh criminal civil rights charges against Zimmerman, as urged by the NAACP and others. That course would be satisfying on one level, presumably addressing the actions that led to the fight, probably rendering the “Stand Your Ground” law ineffective – because the confrontation was unnecessary and triggered by “Profiling”. Just as Federal Government has done repeatedly in history it must do again in defending the civil rights and dignity of the minority – Race, Gender, Sexuality, Religion, etc.

Going Forward:

“Salvation for a race, nation or class must come from within. Freedom is never granted, it is won. Justice is never given; it is exacted.” – A. Phillip Randolph

This time Freedom will be won not in court or through the legislature but through the actions of a people angered and saddened by death and the perceived injustice following that death; we must not falter in our commitment to Trayvon Martin, Dr King, Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandela, Bob Marley, Rosa Parks or any other who spoke, stood, sat or died in our place so that we could have salvation in knowing that we are all equal.

To invoke violence, would corrupt the advances we have made through peaceful protest and processes, like the election of the first African-American President Barack Obama.

Now is not the time to be Zimmerman’s “Black” but “I am Black and I am Proud” kind of “Black”.