Trayvon Martin Lessons

So this depressing-ass weekend has resulted in me saddened by the verdict. My first attempt at coping with this tragedy was to lessen the pain by creating a verb, either Trayvoning or Zimmermaning. But I couldn’t decide exactly what the situation meant to me. Does it mean being racially profiled? Or does it mean getting away with murder? Or does it mean shooting children? What exactly is being Trayvon-ed!

After a lot of reflection and with a lost for resolution, I, instead, have made a list of what I learned from the case:

1.       You will be judged not by the content of your character but by the bullshit of your social media. Be careful what you post.

2.       If you are a teenager, don’t fight adults. They may lose the fight but they won’t lose the war.

3.       If you want to get away with murder, fight a child, lose, kill them, and then plead self-defense.

4.       Racial profiling is inevitable. If you are a tall, muscular, Black man you should become shorter, workout less, become pale, and/or get a sex change.

5.       If you are Black, don't do things like wear hoodies at night.

6.       If you are Black, don’t walk toward your house at night.

7.       If you are Black, don’t go out at night.

8.       If you are Black and you’ve done nothing wrong, you are lying.

9.       If you are Black and you see a white man walking toward you, RUN AWAY.

10.   If you are Black and you are in a neighborhood, you should get down on the ground and place your arms behind your head so that the neighbors know you aren’t up to trouble.

11. If you are in the neighborhood watch, you have the right to police your neighborhood as if you were a trained officer with a gun. 
12. The State of Florida is not welcoming to Negro-kind.

So that last one may have been a little racist but this was a racially charged act. The 6 jurors all agreed that Trayvon was PROBABLY guilty of something and Zimmerman had the right to stalk him because of how suspicious he looked. And even though the 911-operator told Zimmerman NOT to leave his car, during his self-inspired pursuit of the most-likely-up-to-no-gooder, he was within his legal bounds to put himself in a dangerous situation. And no matter the result of said pursuit and said danger, his heart was in the right place. So he is innocent by conscience?!?

In short, I, as a Black person, should be okay with the Zimmermans of the world killing Blacks legally because they are good samaritans? Not to sound crazy but #FuckThatNoise.

The point is there are stereotypes against us all. Sadly, we can’t change everyone’s mind. And Black people repeatedly racking up the statistics for violent crime and filling up the prison system kinda looks bad on our part.

I guess the only thing we can do is be conscious of stereotypes against us, take the proper steps to avoid these situations, and hope for good circumstances.

Life sucks, and then you die.