General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFrankly, I would have been better off to not have known Trayvon Martin's name...
Only if he were allowed to go on about his business that fateful night, so that he would have gotten back home safely without being molested and killed by a gun toting vigilante... I don't think that I would have learned his name.
Only if George Zimmerman wouldn't have felt that he needed to carry a gun while watching his neighborhood... I don't think that I would have learned his name.
Only if the cops and the DA would have done their jobs and arrested for prosecution a man who stalked and killed an innocent child... I don't think that I would have learned his name.
Only if simple justice didn't have to be conditionally based on race and class... I don't think that I would have learned his name.
But instead I now know is name, as does the rest of us.
So, we find out that we have to know his name in order to shed light upon the injustices, prejudices and fears that still plague our society. His name is now another reminder that we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that all things are equal.
As they're really not, right?
And every single day, I see that it's so easy for many of us to connect that dots. It serves as a tool to see with open eyes what is really happening all around us, if we choose to take notice, of course.
And I want to emphasize that it is a CHOICE to see what is really going on. Trayvon Martin's name serves that indicator to show who has made the choice to see and who has not.
To see the same actors at play
Those who allow injustices and inequalities to hold court in America. Cursing, whether someone is a racial or religious minority, or a woman, or a person who is not confined to some kind of narrow definition of "normal" sexuality, even someone who thinks that people are more important than banks or corporations
We are appalled to find so often that these are people who so frequently find themselves at the short end of the stick.
Yet, you and I know that it doesn't have to be that way. We could be better as a society.
However, we as that society, have allowed injustice and inequality to exist as some sort of legitimate right.
That fears and prejudices are somehow entitled, as well as patriarchy and politically ingrained zealotry. How have these things come to represent the American Way? I will posit that none of their defenders will offer any logical or reasonable answers as to why this has allowed to come to pass. They will scream, they will brandish weapons, they will excuse their own hypocrisy, they will defame and lie
They will do anything except speak the simple truth: That a decent America wouldn't allow these things to come to pass.
So because of this, we have all learned Trayvon Martin's name.
Now that we know his name, what will we do with it? What we all will achieve from the learning of his name to determine what kind of America we all want it to be?
I'm not going answer this question...
For it's an answer that we are all required to seek out and find. An epic struggle from both sides to arrive at that answer.
So be it, whatever IT is.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,517 posts)Nothing to add but K&R...
SwampG8r
(10,287 posts)great show
they voiced a similar sentiment from the stage to open the show
there are a lot of names i dont want to know
i am old and the names i wish i never heard pile on and on
since i was a tiny child i have been hearing about people i have no earthly need to know about
some of them i heard about like trayvon when the knowledge was too late
to paraphrase skinner "dont make america suck people"
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)pacalo
(24,721 posts)Major Nikon
(36,818 posts)The reallly sad part is it was all foretold before the shoot first law went into effect. Makes you wonder how many more people are going to have to die before the people in Florida realize that CCW and shoot first laws are a bad idea.
CTyankee
(63,889 posts)It's a shame that they get to come here on DU and post stuff that justifies conceal carry. I know it is a Supreme Court decision. I just don't think it is a progressive Dems position, even tho the Dem Party has given up on it.
I had a family member murdered with a "legal" gun bought for "home protection." Her killer was her step-grandfather who had a drinking problem and was afraid he was going to be written out of his dying wife's will. Anger, alcohol and the readily accessible loaded handgun in the nightstand was just too easy. She was killed instantly with a shot to her left forehead. Her mother and grandmother were wounded but survived the gunshot wounds. The grandmother died two weeks later. The mother is still alive.
These are terrible scenes that I revisit in my mind. It is an awful thing for a family to deal with...my brother was never the same after his daughter was killed...
Ecumenist
(6,086 posts)that we have no business knowing but for the fact that they were murdered for no other reason than they were black and instilled fear in someone who decided that that gave them the right to take their young unfulfilled lives.
SemperEadem
(8,053 posts)So because of this, we have all learned Trayvon Martin's name.
Very well stated.
GOPrefugee
(18 posts)indepat
(20,899 posts)our national character and soul. Those who do not believe in every person's right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, unless revoked by all due process, are not worthy of, imho, and have no business, living on these shores.
mainer
(12,018 posts)of seeing justice served.
Yes, it's always easier to believe the world is all pretty ponies and cotton candy. Obliviousness is a gift.
annabanana
(52,791 posts)There was enough work done for America to elect a black president, but not enough work to let us not know the name of this poor kid. Is it that every generation has to wrestle anew? Is there no accumulated wisdom allowed on this subject?
How can there still be so much vitriol?