He Was Only 17 in Madman's Dream...



It’s been nearly three weeks since Trayvon Martin was murdered and George Zimmerman still hasn’t been brought before a judge or even arrested for that matter. That in itself is criminal. What’s tragic is that you’re looking at these names and drawing a blank; that’s partly because the media has been slow to pick up on the story and the rest is your reluctance to pay attention to the world on the outside of your bubble. While you’ve been busy talking about Whitney Houston, Tami Roman, and practice, someone’s son was gunned down for nothing more than being Black in a place where he shouldn’t have been.

What happened before and immediately after George Zimmerman fired the fatal shot (or shots) that robbed Trayvon of his future is still unclear, but what I see in 1080dp is that the value of Black lives in America hovers somewhere between dogs and South Dakota, but I just may be overestimating. The lack of action by the Sanford, Florida police is appalling, but the delayed reaction by the District Attorney and Florida’s Attorney General lead me to believe that they condone the actions taken by Zimmerman that day, despite the fact that 911 dispatcher told him not to follow the “suspicious looking Black guy”.

The call has now been released to the public and in my opinion paints a very vivid picture of Zimmerman’s angst to not let this “asshole” get away. You can hear in his voice that he was probably bouncing in his seat waiting for some action and regardless of whatever he was told at the time, he was going to spring into action. For those few minutes, we were able to see into the mind of a killer, a hunter, disguised as the neighborhood watch. Zimmerman appointed himself as the block captain and was armed that day for what reason exactly?  There are so many questions that haven’t been answered, hell, they haven’t even been asked.

For example, how is a slight 17-year-old with an iced tea and Skittles suspicious? Was it the hoodie he was wearing or simply that he was Black and there was no reason for a Black to be in that community. Trayvon Martin’s presence alone solved all of the recent break-ins the neighborhood suffered, at least in George Zimmerman’s mind and he was intent on making sure he did his job as the block captain.

How do you tell a mother her child has been killed for nothing? What do you tell a father when a grown man attacked then killed his son? If you’re Police Chief Bill Lee, you tell them it was a clean shoot and the man who took your son’s future record was “squeaky clean”, despite the fact he had been arrested for resisting arrest and battery on a police officer, but those charges were dropped, while charges in this case were never considered. What do you tell a community that registered at least eight 911 calls, saw a fight, heard screams for help silenced by gunshots? Obviously you tell witnesses they didn’t hear the scared teen screaming for help, it was the guy with a gun.

Zimmerman is said to have suffered a bloody nose and his back was wet from grass, undoubtedly from the scuffle that ensured when he attempted to apprehend Trayvon and before he decided that he couldn’t take an ass kicking. What do you tell a country that’s allegedly entered a post-racial era, by not acting to find justice, by not providing comfort in the form of answers to grieving parents and a shocked community? You tell them noting. Nothing but, don’t re-nig in 2012! 


Leave a respond