A seventeen-year-old walks out at night looking to buy a pack of skittles, the consequence- his life. Trayvon Martin was a regular African American kid, but in the eyes of George Zimmerman he was a threat, he was a threat because he was black, because he chose to wear a hoodie. George Zimmerman, a self appointed neighborhood watch admitted he killed Trayvon Martin, yet; he still isn’ behind bars. Stop and think for a second, do you think that is right do you think that Trayvon deserved his life to be taken, just because he was black or because he looked “suspicious” and George Zimmerman isn't even in jail because of the Florida law which protects him because he said that he was acting in self defense.
If you take the time to look deep enough into this incident you can see that Trayvon Martins death was caused by prejudice. I am willing to bet that if Trayvon was white George Zimmerman wouldn’t of followed him around and ultimately shot and killed him. I am also willing to bet that if it were a black man who shot a white boy the black man would already be in jail as we speak. Prejudice leads to injustice even in the smallest circumstances. Even I myself admit that when I walk down a street and I see a black man dressed poorly or when I see a Middle Eastern man some ideas cross my mind, but even so does that give me the right to shoot them? Does it give me the right to do anything to them just because of the way the look. Why judge them by there appearance and not by there actions? ask yourself; is it fair to judge a race by the action of a few people? It is not right, that is not what I call justice.
We as the people and as society have duty to protect the innocent. When an incident like this happens we should try to make sure it doesn’t happen again. And luckily thats what people are doing. The know that this kind of incidents can’t just pass by easily or that they can’t be set aside. From the protests in Orlando to the Hoodie Marches in Manhattan, people want to make sure that there voices are heard and that George Zimmerman should be arrested and convicted. Because next time it could be you or somebody that you love or Know.
People fear the unknown. They fear what they don’t understand and usually fear and imagine the worst, and the worst case scenario. We could argue that to Zimmerman, Trayvon was like the unknown and that he feared him and didn’t understand him. Maybe Zimmerman feared the worst and thats what caused his reaction. Yet, however you look at it doesn’t give him the right to go out and kill somebody. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird people fear Boo Radley and make up the worst rumors about him, just because they don’t know much about him. In there minds he is a savage, he is a Monster, yet; how can you judge what you don’t know and understand and if you do judge it why does it always have to have a negative connotation. As the book progresses we can see that Boo has a heart and that he in reality has good intentions. But no matter how bad people think that Boo is they don’t have the right to kill him just like how George Zimmerman didn’t have the right to kill Trayvon Martin.
A couple days ago I finished reading an extraordinary book titled Monster. The book revolves around the case of a 16-year-old black boy named Steve Harmon who is on trail for murder. Steve didn’t kill the man, yet the jury judges him by his physical traits and by the way he looks and dresses. In the jury’s minds and in the bystanders mind he is a Monster because he is a black male . When somebody dies the easiest thing to do is to point a finger at somebody and who better than an African American. In the people’s mind the fact that Steve was black was enough to make him a suspect. “Half of the jurors believed you were guilty the moment they laid there eyes on you, your young your Black. What else do they need to know?”(pg. 78&79). Just like in Monster, Trayvon was judged by his gender and race, what other excuse did George Zimmerman need to shoot the kid other than he’s Black and looks “suspicious”.
Trayvon had a life. He had family and friends that loved and cared for him and who were waiting for him the next day or once he got back from the store. He was young he had a lot to look forward to, college, and sports among other things. He was the victim of racism prejudice and stereotypes, he was the victim of an unjust society, his death wasn’t his fault some people might call it being at wrong place at the wrong time. But that still doesn’t take away from all the suffering his family and friends are going through. And the worst part is that his killer is still roaming the streets free of all charges just as if nothing had happened, but people want to make sure that this doesn’t got unheard. “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King J.R.
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