There has been a media firestorm surrounding the death of Trayvon
Martin, the 17 year old tragically killed in Florida
last month. Martin, who was unarmed and black, was returning home from a 7-Eleven
when he was gunned down by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, who is half Spanish and half white, had a permit
to carry a concealed weapon.
Photo from: AP
The tragic death of Martin is undeniable. A young man cut down before even reaching the age of
adulthood by the hand of an adult, is a tragedy that has a unique sting to
it. Anytime a child or teenager is raped or murdered by an adult; it always
cuts deeper and this is no exception.
Now, much of this case is still pending but it appears this
was a murder and if it was race motivated or not, is anyone’s
guess at this point. The only person that could answer that for certain is
Zimmerman and Zimmerman only. If it is in fact a hate crime, then Zimmerman wouldn’t be the first
or the last white man to kill a black male. Just as there will be black males
who kill white males.
The motives for individuals involving any violent act have
to be taken at a case by case basis. There is crime and murder everyday involving
all races in a variety of ways and this will continue happening everyday, until
the day every man exists this earth. In fact, the more the population grows, the more
tragedies there will be, it's just simple math.
What is interesting to this author, is the relevance of this
situation in terms of race and the charge of racism. How often do we look and say that these events
that take place so often daily are racially motivated? And if they were, then
it would be a racist committing a murder. There is nothing you can do to stop these
events from happening; it’s up to each of us individually to do so.
Racism and terrorism is the necessary evils of a free and
open society, it's consequences we have to live with. We don’t have to like it, but
it's individual responsibility that will keep them at a minimum, not exclusion
and division; they only fuel the fires of the very same things they are
against.
However, don’t tell that to those people who make a living
off division, collectivism and race baiting that bit; it wouldn’t fit their
agenda. And wouldn’t you know it, as soon as this tragedy started to simmer towards a boiling
point across the country, the usual suspects had arrived (well at least half anyway) all feasting
on this tragedy like pigs at a trough. Under a guise of racial justice, you can’t
help but notice the stench of wicked self promotion, racism and cynicism trailing their
every move, like freshly flattened skunk; beneath a tire on the road to collectivism.
Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson Sr have become synonymous, if
not the face of every national crime, injustice, slandering etc etc involving a
black victim and a white perpetrator or instigator, for the last forty years. Both of their
entire careers and livelihood, have been made possible by racism, and the dividing
of people based on race and creed. But above all, the creation of national
headlines based on isolated incidents, is where their pockets get lined in
emerald.
I could understand the national outcry if we were seeing an influx of
murders like this happening everywhere but that isn't the case. We live in a
country of 300+ million; it’s statistically unavoidable to not have incidents
like this happen. Even if this case was involving the grand wizard/master of
the KKK, it’s still an isolated incident. One person killing another person isn’t
indicative of anything broad or sweeping.
In this case, we have a potential racist who uses self defense
and felt his life was in danger even though the kid was unarmed while Zimmerman
was. Zimmerman felt fear for his life even as he was following the young man. Pretty
damning to me and he should be tried and/or punished accordingly. You also have
the police department who didn’t arrest Zimmerman or at the very least detain
him for questioning. This is also worth an investigation from local or state
authorities. But how this is a national story is beyond me.
Even our own President’s Press Secretary, Carney said as much
earlier this week:
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to Trayvon Martin’s family but obviously, we’re not going to wade into a local law-enforcement matter.”
But that didn’t last long, as we all know by now. The
president, true to his populist DNA, flipped the script and appeased to those
calling for justice when the media began to run with this story. By doing so he
did the exact opposite of what he said (and it was the right thing to do then
and now) just days earlier, he waded into it. And why wouldn’t he? A populist running
for re-election following the breeze of the assembling masses? Surprise…surprise.
Titus Livius said it best:
The populace is like the sea motionless in itself, but stirred by every wind, even the lightest breeze.
Mr. Livius, I would like you to meet our President of the United
States, Barack Obama; he is the Pacific
Ocean in terms of populace seas. Our President however isn’t a
race baiter, he isn’t out to divide anyone more so than any politician is by
political nature. Al Sharpton however does not share that trait with our
President. These were his quotes this week concerning this tragedy speaking at a rally in Sanford, Florida.
Notice the vast amounts of pronouns and the context and which how they are used.
“Violence is killing Tray Martin, on’t act like we are the ones [who are] violent. We didn’t shoot nobody.”“I want our people to understand that how you behave is going to be a reflection on this case”
“[No matter] how angry we get, don’t let them make you act in a way that they will say, ‘see, that’s what to think with Trayvon.’”
“We are going to act intelligent, we going to act dignified. And, we’re going to be determined. We may be angry, but we’re not mad dogs. We’re too smart to fall for [that].”
This is deliberate, divisive language. This is man who’s made a career of divisiveness. Outside of working as James Brown’s manager (that must have been pretty cool to be honest) for a brief stint, what has he done to create anything or provide a service before getting his own show on MSNBC? He’s been a preacher at some point just like Jesse Jackson was and just like Jesse Jackson, he has only made a living creating movements and rallying around isolated incidents to gain national exposure for his own personal gains.
Al Sharpton has appeared on numerous television shows, has tax fines from the IRS and leans, been fined by the FEC for breaking campaign finance rules – the man is opportunist, and a hot mess of greed, corruption and exploitation. I would call him the biggest leech and scourge on the black community but that distinction belongs to Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson hasn’t made the trip to Florida from what I have heard as of yet, but he did offer up this tidbit:
"Blacks are under attack."
From whom you might ask? “Big Business” is according to Jackson.
Blacks are under attack, indeed. But the attacks are coming from within, under a masquerade of outrage while concealing the truth that is self promotion via division and sensationalism. After all, if we eliminate racism what would that do in terms of job security for these two? Jesse's on a roll, apparently it is big business that is responsible. Exploitation is big business (just ask MSNBC and Al Sharpton) because it's always turning profits; to bad that there is a victim and family in mourning to make this happen.
