Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Top Five People I'm Angry With (The Trayvon Martin Murder)


     Anger is a powerful emotion. Celebrities, politicians and even prophets from the Bible have found themselves enraged.   This most recent event involving the murder of young Trayvon Martin has caused anger to swell in all of us. I literally felt my breath vacate my lungs, upon hearing how Trayvon was hunted down and killed like a stray animal.

     I am not what you would consider a news junky by any means.  As a matter of fact, I intentionally steer clear of the news because of all the graphic and violent stories that continue to invade our minds.  But as every TV, Facebook, Google and Yahoo news site displayed the tender, baby face of Treyvon Martin, I couldn’t help but become drawn in.

     My husband and I discussed this tragedy at length one morning causing our blood to boil. Yet another senseless death mounted upon the backs of African Americans, we argued.  I by no means believe African Americans have the market on suffering.  My experience as a previous business owner taught me that other races have their own share of affliction. But it seems that these senseless killings continue to be the unsolvable thorn in our proverbial side.

     Number one on the list of who’s to blame is George Zimmerman. His self-proclaimed neighborhood watch position was a sad attempt to assuage his endeavor to become a real police officer.  After Zimmerman gave his “account” of what happened, the Sanford Police department (SPD) quickly released Zimmerman and washed their hands of this whole big mess. It is my belief that the SPD’s eyes must be clouded right along with their judgment. You and I clearly see that Zimmerman is, as the old folk say, “guilty as a fox in a chicken coop.”

     Running a close second is the Sanford Police department.  What kind of Cracker Jack (no pun intended) station are they running down there? What audacity and ignorance they displayed in trying to justify this murder under the guise of this idiotic “Stand Your Ground Law”.  And now they have resorted to the old ‘blame the victim’ routine. The Sanford Police knew Zimmerman exhibited psychological problems.  Yet they continued to pacify Zimmerman, allowing him to call 911 more than forty-six times over the past eight years.

     Third on the list is the states district attorney. He too was confused regarding how to handle Zimmerman’s vigilantisms and made no attempt to bring charges upon him.  Now he claims to be gathering all the facts.  George Zimmerman who had nothing better to do with his miserable life, chased down an innocent kid and killed him.  Those are the facts. Additionally, CNN reported this from one witness, "(Zimmerman) was standing over the body, basically straddling the body with his hand on Trayvon's back," said Cutcher, adding that they called three times to him before he finally asked them to call police. "It didn't seem to me that he was trying to help him in any way. Police have not released Cutcher's official police statement." No surprise there.

     Fourth in line is the neighborhood itself.  Most of the community understood Zimmerman to be a ticking time bomb, yet they allowed him to carry on with his keystone cop tactics. A few neighbors called 911 and offered their account of the event and even testified that they too were annoyed with Zimmerman overzealous antics. All a little bit too late. I would however like to applaud Mary Cutcher and her roommate Selma Mora Lamilla, for running outside seconds after the shots were fired, in an effort to decipher the situation.

     Rounding out the top five people I was angry with is God.  Yes for a second I felt awful as I asked God Why?  
“Why does this keep happening to your children?” I yelled.  
     I sat in my car for a minute expecting God to answer me in an audible voice.  I heard nothing.  Real people like Trayvon Martin or fictional characters like Tara, from my novel Breathe for Me are subjected to unprovoked, unfounded, seemingly senseless, violent and abusive acts.  I wanted to know why your children, who are the least among us, must be subjected to this. I would imagine many people share my troublesome thought.  He told us “All things work together for the good…” Really?  All?  

     I believe I have the type of relationship with God where He expects me to come to Him with the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’m sure He is just as pained and hurt as we are from the things that happen in this world. And He being All-present  and All-knowing  continually  searches the Earth to and fro’ looking for someone who is willing to step up and say enough is enough.  What leader, prophet, elder or average citizen has the appointed purpose to stop all of this nonsense? I don’t have an answer yet but I know God will one day reveal it to us and it will all make perfect sense. 

     If your top five didn’t make this list, then by all means get it off your chest and share it with the rest of us.  


-Author Terri Whitmire
www.Terriwhitmire.com