Dear Mr. President,
I don’t often say this, but “you were wrong.” I must
respectfully disagree with your remarks after the acquittal of G. Zimmerman in
the murder of Trayvon Martin. To say that “We are a nation of laws and a jury
has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection
from two parents who lost their son” is like saying you can “Stand Your Ground”
if you’re white, and you can do it with a gun, but if you’re a black teenager
using your fists, you are dead.
However, I’m going to give you the benefit of doubt, and
will assume that the reason you did not make a more proactive statement of
utter disgust is because you did not want to jeopardize either a civil lawsuit
or a DOJ lawsuit against Zimmerman for a wrongful death or a federal hate
crime.
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| Trayvon should haunt all of us until the "SYG" laws are abolished |
With that said, I cannot imagine a world where we calmly
accept a travesty of justice like the Zimmerman trial based on a flawed law
that allows a person to chase an innocent person down the street, after being
told by the police to stop, start a fight, then shoot and kill that person and
claim it was self defense. The verdict makes me feel ashamed to be a woman, a
mother, and an American.
I find it ironic that people are so afraid of “black men”
and “black boys” in this country, and yet history and countless recent
tragedies, prove that fear to be totally unfounded. NO assassinations or
attempted assassinations of our Presidents were committed by a black man, it
was NOT a black man that slaughtered 20 innocent babies and 6 teachers in Sandy
Hook, OR shot Gabby Gifford in the head, OR gunned down people at a theater in
Colorado killing 12 and injuring 60, OR detonated pressure cooker bombs at the
Boston Marathon killing 3 and injuring 264, OR blew up a federal building in
Oklahoma City killing 168 and injuring 600. And it was NOT two black teenage
boys that took semi-automatic weapons to Columbine H.S. to gun down schoolmates
killing 12 students, 1 teacher and injuring 24 others. No, these were all
“white” men. In reality we should be much more afraid of white men.
We are not a nation of laws when those laws do NOT protect
us equally, treat us equally, try us equally or defend us equally. We are not a free country when we are
imprisoned by bigotry, fear and hate. And we cannot call ourselves Christians when
we perpetuate that bigotry, fear and hate with laws like “Stand Your Ground.”
The murder of Trayvon Martin cannot be allowed to stand,
because if it does, the message we are sending is that it’s open season on
black youth in Florida… come one come all if you want to kill a black child,
Florida is the state for you, bring your handguns, chase them down, shoot them
and claim you were just “standing your ground.” A “bad law” cannot go
unchallenged, and we cannot accept the verdict from a jury given instructions
by the judge based solely on the “Stand Your Ground” Law.
We cannot rest until the “Stand Your Ground” laws are
abolished in every state where they have been passed… Trayvon Martin deserves
no less …
Most Respectfully,
Marcia Reimers,
Your Gadfly Granny
