While being a husband, father, and reverend I have been
asked by many my reaction to the recent verdict in the Zimmerman trail. My
intent is not to inflame, hurt, or debate but only to open up my own perspective
to enlightenment and change. My only initiative
is that we can move forward in a different course of action and dialogue that truly
listens to each other and not only a diatribe of our own views.
The verdict: Four African American and two Caucasian competent
women listened to the evidence presented by both parties and applied all evidence
to the law as instructed by the judge. When they received the evidence presented
to them, after they evaluated it and applied to the law as it was written. They
acquitted a Hispanic male. While the
verdict is not one many people had wanted I can’t not seem to find injustice in
the legal process itself. While the “stand your ground law” is flawed, the jury
did not allow their own emotions, race or gender to sway their decision. While
many people may be upset with the outcome, those six women had a very difficult
task and should be commended, not condemned, for their civil service. It is not a flawed justice system or an illegal
injustice just because the outcome did not justify our own needs or agenda.
While there will be ongoing debate about the actual facts of
what happened that night, the truth remains no one except Martin, Zimmerman and
God know exactly what happened. We cannot begin to project what was the intent of
the heart of Zimmerman or Martin. Martin could have been running for his life
as a scared child or he could have been disrespectful thug out to beat up a “white
ass cracker”. Zimmerman could have been
out to hunt down and kill someone he perceived as a thug criminal or he could have
truly feared for his life. People can speculate all they want but no one can possibly know the intent of either parties actions. All we know is the results of the
actions. The result was a young precious life was cut short because of fear.
I see the problem is bigger than one verdict and one trail.
For me I see the problem is fear. Our society
has produced an environment where fear has created one armed person to volunteer
to patrol the streets out of fear someone might take something or harm someone
else. One young man is fighting for his life out of fear of the first man. We
live in a society where hundreds of young people have died on the streets of
Chicago, Detroit, Miami, and Memphis and many other cities since this one death
occurred. I am not at all trying not to say the Martin family is not hurting or
his death was not a tragedy. Just that it is repeated daily, with other
families hurting that don’t have media or political attention. No parent should
have to bury their child. When it because the norm, we have failed miserably as
a society. Sadly enough in many places in our nation it has already become the
norm.
So how do we combat this fear? I'm not sure but I don’t pretend it will
be easy or comfortable. I do believe Jesus had the right answer that is by love. Love is easy to say but hard to do. We must be open and willing to love everyone. Those like us and those we deem
strangers. We must begin to view everyone as a child of God. Every life lost is
not a loss of one specific race, religion, political view but a lost to us as a
society. We need to understand that when we begin to love like Jesus teaches us
to love, then we automatically becomes less fearful of one another. Laws can be
fixed that is the easiest part, laws we already have in place can be enforced, but
if we look at the reason why a teenage boy would rather risk jail and carry a
gun just so he can feel safe. We must
begin to address the fear that is ruining us and dividing us as a society that proclaims
freedom, opportunity, and unity.
We need to begin to realize each of us place a self-imposed
value system of who we feel God should punish and that God should give a second
chance too and we call it justice. The simple fact is we only use the injustice
card when we don’t get the outcome we wanted. The trail may or may not have had
the outcome you think was justice, however if we don’t attempt to love and address this fear we all know deep
down is there, we have failed all generations to come. Will it be
uncomfortable? Yes. Will it take great effort? you bet. Will we hear things we
might not want to hear? Of course. But we only react because we don’t approve
of the verdict then we have failed all children. If we can do that, look beyond a verdict and
into the future of all children then maybe we all can find some redemption in
this tragedy. I think we all can agree that we would all like less fear in our
life for our children to feel safe and secure. My prayer is that each of us can view the
stranger in the dark not as a treat, not as something to be feared, but as a precious
child of God.
