No Excuse

I'm beginning to get more than a little nauseated by the emerging narratives that are attempting to demonize Trayvon Martin as the person at fault in this tragedy. New, 'secret' witnesses have come forward alleging that Martin attacked Zimmerman and the voice on the 911 call heard crying out for help is, in fact, Zimmerman and not, as many people have assumed Martin.

To me, all this is somewhat beside the point:

Martin was apparently followed because he was an African-American male in a hoodie and therefore 'up to no good.' We live in a country where African-American man are automatically and unfairly assumed to be 'up to no good.' Let's talk about that.

Why did Zimmerman follow Martin? I'd like to know that. He's not a cop. He's a neighborhood 'watchman-' the key word there being 'watch.'

And let's say Zimmerman provides some sort of reasonable explanation for why he followed Martin- if you're 17 years old, unarmed, and some random guy starts following, maybe even chasing you and perhaps corners you, wouldn't you be scared? Wouldn't you do everything you can to get away? Don't you have a right to defend yourself? And if Zimmerman pulls a gun on you, what wouldn't you do to try and get yourself to safety?

Right now, all we know is that Martin is dead and Zimmerman is the one that pulled the trigger. Until we know more, it's unfair and just plain wrong to try and construct a narrative that pushes the supposed facts in one direction or another. That won't bring justice to anyone.

A 17 year old boy is dead. And now the narrative is floating around out there that it was somehow justified because Martin 'attacked' Zimmerman, therefore he was acting in self-defense. Zimmerman who was more than 10 years older than Martin. Zimmerman who chased him and- as far as we know, never once identified himself to Martin. And Zimmerman, who pulled the trigger.

Trayvon Martin was followed because he was an African-American male and therefore, 'up to no good.' That's the America we live in today.

He was shot because he was allegedly attacking someone 11 years older than him- and the only response to that was a gunshot. That's the America we live in today.

Whatever happened, there's no excuse for this. There's no excuse for the countless other young people who lose their lives to violence.

I'm sure that in the weeks and months ahead, more facts will come out and a better, more complete picture of what happened will emerge. Trying to figure that out now threatens to deny justice to those involved. And the fact remains that a 17 year old was shot to death because having dark skin and wearing a hoodie means you must be some kind of a criminal, apparently.

That's the America we live in today. Pretty fucked up, huh?

So what are we going to do about it? Let's talk about that.