Beyond the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman tragedy, what will be done to address the conditions and attitudes that created the perfect storm that brought it about?
Right now, everyone is talking about the circumstances around Trayvon Martin’s death and the “Not Guilty” verdict rendered in the George Zimmerman trial. But when the protests and marches stop and when some other issue captures the attention of the news outlets and talking heads, what will elected officials, law enforcement officers, the judicial system, white, black and brown folks all over the nation do?
What will we do?
At the end of the day, will meaningful change take place? Remember the Sandy Hook Tragedy? Remember the pain, the grief and the outrage express when 26 people, 20 of them only 6 or 7 years of age, were brutally gunned down in an elementary school in New Town, Connecticut?
There was all the talk about the need to revisit and pass new gun control legislation. There was one expression of outrage and concern after the other for weeks. Congress held hearings on increased gun violence, the need for better screening, more mental health services, and reduced access to military-style guns.
What meaningful actions at the national, state or local level happened as a result of it?
Will the “Stand Your Ground” laws, now operating in over thirty states, still remain? Will more states adopt them? Will it take a black or another minority to kill someone white, “standing their ground” before serious actions to change this law will occur?
Will we admit and do something about the justice system that often does not mete out penalty or punishment in equal portions for the same offense when it comes to blacks and whites perpetrators?
And, what about racial profiling? Will each of us really take time to examine why we have and act upon the feelings we hold about minorities, the poor, the wealthy, the powerful, and every other class in which we often place people we do not bother to get to know or understand?
Given all of the attention today about Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman, what are you willing to wager that the nation, your community, or you will really do something about the conditions and attitudes behind the tragedy, and that we will see some meaningful change in the coming months and years?
At a minimum, each of us can make an honest effort to better understand what and why we continue to find ourselves in a racially-charged and divisive state. We must also be willing to own and take responsibility for our role in the problem. And, wouldn’t it be wonderful, if we all commit, based upon whom we are and where we are, to do something about it.
That could be the beginning for meaningful change to take place.