Reaction Inside

Last Saturday night around 10:00 pm, as we waited for our final standing count of the day, news broke that the jury had reached its verdict in the George Zimmerman murder trial. As we waited for the officers to whistle us to the ends of our bunks, almost every set of eyes was focused on the decision. In a place like this, where every man in here has dealt with court, and conviction, and sentencing, following trials is as natural as following football. Throw in the racial overtones the case presented and you couldn’t find a man who didn’t have an opinion. Hear the jury foreperson say out loud “not guilty” and you could feel the collective tension in the building rise.

           

It was an interesting next few days and it gave me a chance to analyze my own thoughts on the matter. As with most circumstances in here, my opinions - always asked for - somehow managed to upset both sides of the argument. I guess that means I’m on to something.

            

Does Trayvon Martin’s death have broad social implications? It shouldn’t, at least not any more so than the tragic death of any other young person in this country from random gun violence. The leading cause of death for black teenage boys in this country is shootings. Trayvon Martin is just one of too many young black men who will not see adulthood because of our nation’s obsession with guns. I’m not disparaging the Second Amendment. The fact is, in this country getting shot is as American as apple pie.

            

Trayvon Martin didn’t have to die. Unfortunately, too often we act in a careless, impulsive manner. We put a course of events in motion which soon take on a life of their own. We are at the mercy of the situation we began. It’s one of those laws of human nature as applicable as gravity: our actions have consequences. It’s my story of prison and divorce. It’s George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin’s story as well.

            

Trayvon Martin had every right to walk from the “7-11,” back to his father’s apartment by way of those public streets in that neighborhood. No one has a right to profile a person legally walking the street because he happens to be young, black, and wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

            

The irony of profiling young, black men in white neighborhoods is they aren’t the ones committing the crime there. Black on black crime is far more prevalent than black on white. It is simply prejudice fostered by ignorance that makes white people recoil when a black teen walks through their neighborhood.

            

So Trayvon Martin was legally entitled to be where he was. But, so was George Zimmerman. Zimmerman is the kind of neighbor we all want. He cared about the area he lived in. He knew the people who lived around him. He volunteered to keep the neighborhood safe. How many people, after coming home and finding their home burglarized haven’t wished they had a neighbor who watched what was going on and was willing to call the police? Zimmerman also had a right to carry a gun.

            

Both participants had every right to be where they were and behave as they did. Isn’t that usually how things start out before they go awry? The race baiters are wrong. This isn’t about “open season” on young black men. There’s simply no evidence that Zimmerman was motivated to act by any racial animus.

            

There are problems facing young black men. They kill each other at alarming rates. They are imprisoned at significantly higher levels than whites or other racial groups. But, is it color or class that matters? I keep telling the guys in here that black college graduates have the same low unemployment rate as white college grads. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of black families are one parent families. There is a direct correlation between one parent families, poverty levels, and a lack of higher education. Class, it seems, matters more than race.

           

I see it in here every day. The young black men I share this prison pod with almost all came from broken, single parent households. They knew more people who’d gone to prison than college. And, the crimes they committed: drug dealing, robbery, murder, almost always victimized other black citizens. No, Trayvon Martin’s death wasn’t about his color.

            

But it also wasn’t about self-defense. In here you know what they call a grown man who follows teenage boys: a predator. Zimmerman should have left the kid alone. And more parents, hindsight being twenty-twenty, would tell their kids to watch out for a “perv” on the street.

            

No one knows what led to the altercation between those two. And another senseless death resulted; and two families are forever changed. The prosecutors sought fame by grandstanding their case. They fed into the crowd’s call for blood, for retribution. The talking heads used both these men as caricatures of their biased views.

            

What are we left with? We see the words of a woman, Trayvon Martin’s mother, who after the jury returned its verdict simply stated “Lord, I lean on you in my darkest hour.” The next morning she attended church.

           

I’m not sure what justice is in a tragedy like this. But, I know what grace is. And grace matters more.