Sometimes you just have to suck it up and move on … on to the next protest that is. The fact the Justice Department recently announced that an independent federal investigation found insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, should not be a cause of despair, but instead has to be used to keep the protest base energized in America.
Indeed, this ruling only reinforces Trayvon’s status as a martyr, someone whose death ignited and galvanized the clarion call for change in this country. Before his death, protests were sporadic, isolated and short-lived when a person of color died under clouded circumstances, but since his senseless killing the conscience of the nation has been shaken out of its somnolence, thrown off its torpor, and has vigorously renewed the fight for the rights of all citizens guaranteed under the U. S. Constitution.
While the question of, “if Trayvon was white would he have been approached at all?” still legitimately lingers in the minds of many, prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and FBI officials obviously felt they couldn’t prove they knew what was on George Zimmerman’s mind when he accosted and eventually killed Trayvon. But by the standard of commonsense — coupled with the fact racist views are still far too prevalent in America — there clearly was a racial component to the killing.
“The death of Trayvon Martin was a devastating tragedy. It shook an entire community, drew the attention of millions across the nation, and sparked a painful but necessary dialogue throughout the country,” said U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. “Though a comprehensive investigation found that the high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution cannot be met under the circumstances here, this young man’s premature death necessitates that we continue the dialogue and be unafraid of confronting the issues and tensions his passing brought to the surface. We, as a nation, must take concrete steps to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future.”
Blacks have swallowed bitterer pills in Florida (a state that has a record of treating persons of color worse even than Mississippi) and elsewhere in America and yet we have not choked … and we won’t choke on this one. Instead, we and the fair-minded whites that support our continuing efforts at obtaining fair play and justice, will take this setback — this blow — square on the chin and continue our forward march towards full equality under the law. There will be no turning back.
“Although the department has determined that this matter cannot be prosecuted federally, it is important to remember that this incident resulted in the tragic loss of a teenager’s life,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division. “Our decision not to pursue federal charges does not condone the shooting that resulted in the death of Trayvon Martin and is based solely on the high legal standard applicable to these cases.”
George Zimmerman clearly has gotten away with murder, but not for very long. His brushes with the law since the killing of Trayvon Martin points not only to his flawed character and probable guilt, but they also foreshadow a bad end for this gun-crazed coward. Escaping punishment in this case will only empower this deeply troubled individual and eventually cause him to bring about his own downfall. It’s inevitable.
It was Theodore Parker, a Unitarian minister born in 1810, who once preached: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
[Photo: Ryan Vaarsi]
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.