I Am Trayvon Martin....

I Am Trayvon Martin….

 Preface: I know these words aren’t going to change the verdict, may not work to change the system, and may not have any significant impact on anything. I just wanted to share my viewpoints on a night such as tonight, July 13^th, 2013…..when so much just seems so wrong. And hopefully, this resonates with whoever reads this and sparks the discussions that need to be had following an event such as this.

    On the verdict of “Not Guilty

                Honestly, I am shocked and appalled that George Zimmerman was found “Not Guilty” regarding the death of Trayvon Martin. I understand that there may not have been enough evidence to prove Zimmerman guilty of second degree murder, but for Zimmerman to get off “Not Guilty,” with not even a count of manslaughter, well that is surprising and saddens me to no end. I mean all we have to do is look at the facts…. 1) Trayvon Martin was shot and killed. That is undeniable. 2) George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin with his own gun and killed him. Now it varies from state to state, but if I was to get a gun, and it accidentally goes off and I end up shooting and killing someone, I could be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter at the least; and that is if it is an accident… Now in Zimmerman’s case, this was not an accident…he intended to shoot Trayvon Martin and his reasoning for it was self-defense. Now I may be wrong here, but Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old boy…George Zimmerman was a 28 year old man, 5 ft 7 in. tall, and 185 lbs. Trayvon Martin in comparison was 5 ft 11 in, and 158 lbs. Yes Trayvon was taller by four inches but he was lighter by almost 30 lbs and was still not even old enough to be considered an adult. Are you telling me that a 17 year old can beat a 28 year old man, who is significantly heavier than him, to the point where a man feels endangered enough to shoot him with a firearm? There is no mention of Martin being a boxer or skilled in any sort of martial art….I am just failing to see how Zimmerman’s only option was to shoot Martin. Yes, it was the heat of the moment and people don’t always think rationally during altercations…but in my experience, “heat of the moment” doesn’t exonerate one of their crimes and actions.

                

And regarding the self-defense charge, in order for there to be a defender there has to be an attacker. One can’t tell me that Trayvon Martin was the attacker in this case. Let’s go through what Zimmerman said the night of the attack. “We’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood, and there’s a real suspicious guy…..” “…These assholes, they always get away….” Already there are assumptions being made, but more on that later. After the police dispatcher told Zimmerman to not follow Martin, Zimmerman says “Okay.” And the rest is history…. Now Martin didn’t have any weapons on him, he was just walking around in a neighborhood late at night. Why did Zimmerman think he was suspicious? Because he fit the profile, he was a young black man wearing a dark hoodie. Because really what else makes Martin suspicious and how does Zimmerman come to that conclusion if it’s not based on profiling?  And Zimmerman’s use of language, i.e. “assholes”, is really telling of his emotions towards Martin that night before the altercation. And then there’s the part that Martin starts running….Did Zimmerman ever stop to think that maybe the reason Martin started running was because there was a suspicious car following him around. According to testimony by Martin’s friend, Martin stated he was being followed by a “creepy ass cracker.” Now Martin’s language is questionable as well, but if someone was following me, I probably wouldn’t describe them in the nicest tones as well. And then there is the fact that Zimmerman goes out of his car to follow and pursue Martin on foot after the dispatcher tells him not to. So who is the attacker in this scenario? The boy walking alone at night or the man who feels obligated to pester and pursue a person who looks “suspicious.”

               

Now there’s a lot to be said but at the end of the day this particular case affects me dramatically because I could very well be Trayvon Martin. I could fit the profile, I could have been harassed that night, and I could very easily have the same fate as Trayvon Martin. I am an African American male. I’m 6 ft 1 in. I’m 21 years old. I weigh 205 lbs. If I were to walk in a neighborhood at night, with a hoodie and maybe even without a hoodie, I could be seen as a suspicious person all because I “fit the profile.” Doesn’t matter that I graduated from Washington University in St. Louis. Doesn’t matter that I am going to be a medical student at Washington University School of Medicine next year. Doesn’t matter that I go to church every Sunday, played football in high school and college, done many community service projects…. Because despite of what I have done, what I believe, what I learn…..a person seeing me for the first time may assume I’m dangerous or suspicious because I happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. People may profile me based on preconceived notions and schemas of what they know of people that look like me. And even if these schemas are wrong, they still happen and from this verdict, the message being sent is that racial profiling is ok. Because if Zimmerman is ruled not guilty, then what does that say of Trayvon Martin’s actions that night? If Zimmerman is not guilty, then one could say that Trayvon Martin acted in such a way that night that his death was permissible within the law. What is basically being said is “It’s a tragedy that Trayvon Martin was shot that night, but it’s OK that he did.” I, for one, do not agree with this statement in the least. Martin did not initiate the altercation, Zimmerman did. And when Martin stands up for himself, he gets shot and Zimmerman walks away not guilty.

               

There are those who may say that Martin shouldn’t have been so aggressive towards Zimmerman, but maybe he had no choice. I know for one, if I am walking at night and someone I don’t know approaches me questioning my comings and goings, and if this person has a condescending or aggressive tone, I’m not going to take too kindly to that person. One because no one would and two because I can tell this person has made a number of false assumptions about me. They have no idea who I am but they assume I am up to no good because I happen to be a certain skin tone and age. To those of you who are not black males, this is frustrating to no end. Because when these situations happen, there is this feeling that we need to be careful with our words and actions to prevent the situation from escalating. When someone views one of us as a threat, every single thing we say or do either acts to reinforce or dissuade that false belief. But at the same time there is this anger that rises up inside, because in that moment our entire existence has been simplified to the color of our skin and the false stereotypes that go along with it. And from this altercation, these instances come with some very high stakes….what we say or do can be the difference between life and death. Yes we don’t know what exactly what happened that night and we don’t know whether Martin’s aggression was provoked or unprovoked but all I know is that one Zimmerman initiated the conflict with a prejudiced mind and Trayvon Martin ended up dead that night by Zimmerman’s hand. So as a black man growing up in America, what I am supposed to take away from this? Don’t stand up for myself. Avoid putting myself in situations where I may be seen as suspicious. If someone questions me, I should tell them my whole life story so I’m not seen as suspicious. Because from this trial, it seems like that is what I need to do to ensure I live a long life as a “dangerous black male” in America. All I can say is that things are not as they should be and God willing, this trial provides an impetus for discussions on racial profiling and the negative impacts it has on the lives of people like me.

On The Christian Response

     So being the person that I am, I have wondered what the appropriate response is as a follower of Christ. The first thing to realize is that God loves each and every one of us here on earth. From me, to my mother, to Trayvon Martin, to George Zimmerman, to George Zimmerman’s lawyer. God knows the truth, He knows exactly what happened on that night and He knows if Zimmerman is truly guilty or not. But God is especially fond of each and every one of us, and we are all loved children of God, no matter what he have done or will do. Jesus died for George Zimmerman’s sin as much as he died for my own sins. So as Christians, we are called to forgive Zimmerman, we are called to forgive his defense team, we are called to forgive the system, and we are called to forgive any other people who we feel have wronged us in this trial or other situations like this one. And to be honest, when I first heard of the “Not Guilty verdict” and the thought Zimmerman walking free, forgiveness was the last thing on my mind. Even if he was found not guilty, in my mind he deserved a manslaughter verdict at the least and even though it is not a crime, he was guilty of racial profiling. But a part of me knew that as a person in a relationship with Christ, forgiveness and the thought of forgiveness was what I needed to do and talk about in my discussions with people. I read this book earlier this summer, The Shack by William P. Young and it is an amazing book that I highly recommend to all who want to enter a true relationship with God and think about what that means. But in this book, the topic of forgiveness is discussed and two things have stuck with me. 1) To forgive someone is for you to release that person to God and allow God to redeem him. This stuck with me because when we are wronged we always want to get back at a person. And even when we can quench our desire for revenge, we want leave our enemies to God’s judgment and we want God to punish them for us. But on the cross, Jesus himself says “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) True forgiveness is not to leave someone to God’s for His wrath, but instead to leave someone to God for His salvation and that is a hard thing to do. The second thing that stuck with me from The Shack is that “Forgiveness is not about forgetting…It is about letting go of another person’s throat. (272).” We don’t need to forget someone’s sins in order to forgive them and even the Lord himself has not forgotten our sins. He is an all-knowing God and if He forgets our sins, then He is limiting himself. But through His gift of forgiveness on the cross, our sins no longer impact our relationship with him if we accept His salvation. And we shouldn’t forget, to forget would be even more of a tragedy because if we forget, we submit to the system and leave open avenues for more tragedies like this to occur. As Christians, we are to show the love of Christ to the world and this love is one that loved the world so much that He came to earth himself to change it for the better. Because the opposite of love is not hate, the opposite of love is indifference.

               

So when I think about this in relation to George Zimmerman, I am faced with two harsh realities. One I have to be willing to let God redeem Him and not hope for some divine punishment in his life and that I have to metaphorically let go of his throat in order to do so. Because this case is so personal for me, I find it hard to do such a thing but I am going to continually try to do so anyways. It is going to take the Holy Spirit living in me to be able to get through this night, this system, and this world we live in and be able to respond the way Jesus did, but the great thing about God is that he always provides the strength for us to move on when we can’t do so by our own power. In the words of one of my favorite Christian rappers, Andy Mineo, “And I ain’t even got it inside of me to give forgiveness, I got to find it at the place where He said ‘It’s finished.’”

-Clark Kent

I am writing this the afternoon of Wednesday, February 27^th.  I am an African American senior who is a member of a fraternity on campus. After the events that transpired last night and the subsequent reactions, I felt the need to write letters, the same way that the apostle Paul wrote letters, to various communities on campus. It is my hope that these words reach not only the all the people it is meant to reach, but everyone in the greater Wash U community. I know that this is a lofty hope but I believe that with effort it can be achieved. It is my hope and request that once you read these words, you share them with your friends, families, online, on facebook, twitter, etc. Just spread the word. I know that there are many who don’t share my beliefs and that’s fine. I just hope that you approach my message as one of love versus hate, forgiveness versus revenge, rationality versus insanity.

To the African American community:

                I am an African American so I understand. After hearing about what happened last night in Bear’s Den, I was angry. I was shocked. I was outraged. I demanded justice. But as I wondered what I would do if it was me in that situation instead, I stopped I thought about it. My initial reaction was hatred but where does that lead? Yes, it is horrendous that an incident such as this happened and no words of mine can fully describe how wrong the event truly was. But if we take the path of hatred, where will that take us? Who do we blame? Do we blame SAE? It is my understanding that a significant number of people in SAE did not know about the events until they were told secondhand by unaffiliated people after the events occurred. And if we do blame SAE, then when will “justice” be done? Will it be when the members involved in this debacle are excommunicated from their fraternity? Will it be when SAE is kicked off campus? Will that really relieve the hurt that we feel now? Or do we extend it to all of Greek life? I have heard some people say things to the extent of “This is why Greek life has such a bad reputation,” or “This is the product of the culture of Greek life.”
           As a brother in a fraternity, the simple answer to statements such as those is no. Fraternities act as independent organizations and even though we are all founded on the principle of brotherhood, we are all different. What the members of one fraternity does, should not impact how we view fraternities as a whole. If we are to make that jump, then why not make to jump to all people of Caucasian descent or all social organizations at Wash U? Where would we draw the line and what criteria would we use to draw that line? Yes, this particular incident happened within a single fraternity within the Greek Life system at Washington University. Do we blame that fraternity, Greek Life, Washington University? What about all the other discriminatory events that happen all around the country. What about the Trayvon Martin incident? What about the Mother’s Bar incident that happened four years ago? What about the racist rant against Asian Americans at UCLA a couple years ago? These incidents are not confined just to the Greek system or Greek culture. If they were, we would only see these incidents inside a Greek framework. But that is not the case, this is a problem with society in general. So what should we do? Should we punish everyone because of the hurt we feel today? Call me crazy if you want, but that does not seem like a feasible or productive solution. To quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Darkness does not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” We are faced with the task of replying with love. Whether this act was an intentional hate crime or an act of extreme ignorance, we need to respond with love, not hate.  
          I know there may be some reading this whose hearts have been hardened, in the same way Pharoah’s heart was hardened when Moses pleaded with him to let the Israelites go. Regardless, I hope these words reach the hearts of some readers. But what does love look like? Do we stand by and idly do nothing? Absolutely not. If a 3 year old child is running happily and he is about to run into the street, is it love to let him continue to run or stop him before he runs into the street? Even if it may cause him to cry and disrupt his momentary happiness, we would stop him from running because we love him. Though classes here are tough and I personally don’t know everyone at this university, I can truly say that I love this university and I love the people that go to this university and I especially love my friends here at this university. I even personally know some of the people who were at that table at Bear’s Den last night.
              It is out of love that I write this letter. This incident was reflective of a deeper problem in the world and it is out of love I act, not out of hate. If we reply with hate then two things will happen. 1) We will never be satisfied, no matter the outcome or what action the university takes. 2) If it is a hate crime then we will be no better than those who have wronged us, even if we respond in a “politically correct” way. And if it was an act of ignorance, then not only will we be no better than those who have wronged us. We will be worse. As of now I don’t know what the response will be and how the aftermath of these events will play out. What I do know is that if we take the easy route and respond out of hate, we will always be left wanting more. However, if we can be strong and can respond through love, then we will have the power to cause wonderful change and progress to happen on this campus. Be the light, not the darkness.

To non African Americans:

                I know that some of you may not fully understand the implications of the actions that transpired last night in Bear’s Den. Yes some of you may know that it was wrong, but some people may think that we , as African Americans, are overreacting or that we need to calm down. What you must understand is that if we don’t speak up now, then when will we speak up? Being a black male on campus can be a really hard thing here at Washington University. One of my black friends was stopped in the village parking lot earlier this school year because he was changing the tire on his car. Apparently, someone saw him, assumed he was stealing the wheels, and called WUPD. Now this incident ended amicably: the WUPD officer ask him for his student ID, asked him what he was doing and then apologized to my friend and went along with his day. But what if my friend didn’t have his ID on him? What would have happened then? What if he wasn’t black but was Caucasian or Asian? Would he be thought of as suspicious then? There is always this unspoken extra requirement of us to prove we are students on campus, all because we may look suspicious.
             Why am I telling you this? So you can have a little insight into some of the realities there are into being an African American male at Washington University. Then you may be able to understand why the events last night are receiving the reactions that they are. If you are from another race of minority, then you may understand too well the struggles of discrimination and prejudice and I may be preaching to the choir. If you are not though, then you may have never faced real discrimination in your life. It causes anger, pain and resentment in the lives of people who it affects. Even though in my letter above I wrote for African Americans to respond to these events with love instead of hate, there may be some people who have hard feelings. I pray that you can understand our pain and instead of blowing us off or ignoring our pain, you reach out to us and have real and meaningful conversations. Do not be apathetic. As Bodie Thoene once said “Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.”

To SAE

                As a member of another fraternity, I understand that sometimes things go wrong. In this case, they went horribly, horribly wrong. The actions of some of your members last night were disgusting and full of ignorance. I hope that these actions don’t represent the attitudes of your fraternity as a whole and it is my understanding, though I could be wrong, that this is the case. To my knowledge, a significant number of seniors did not know these events were going on until after on when they were told by other people outside the fraternity and the leadership claims to have not known about this. However, a fraternity means brotherhood. Like a brotherhood, you are all intricately linked together. If one of you makes a mistake, it reflects back on you all as a whole. There are people who are out for blood after the events of last night and the outcry will be great. Your exec board needs to do everything it can to figure out who was responsible for this idea and make sure the proper disciplinary actions are taken. The actions of last night sullied the name of SAE on campus, even if it was only the actions of a few individuals that did so. My guess is that since this is the first time this happened, this is a new addition to the pledging process. Why wasn’t this made more open within the fraternity in the first place so that it could have been stopped before it reached in enactment phase? This really makes me question your “brotherhood,” and for all I know, SAE may be known as the racist fraternity for a while on campus. If that is how you want to be remembered then by all means do nothing.
         But, if you want to preserve your fraternity and your brotherhood then you will do whatever it takes to make sure that you right the wrongs that were done last night. Whether that means excommunicating people from your fraternity, paying fines, appeasing the public and those individuals directly affected by your actions, whatever it is may be. And then not only stopping by righting wrongs because then we are left where we started in the first place. In addition safeguards and policies within the fraternity itself need to be put into effect so that something like this never happens again. And it may be that it is not enough and your fraternity gets kicked off campus or worse loses its charter, but it is in times like this that the ideals for what your fraternity was founded on are put into question. The answer is in how you react.

To other fraternities

                Being a part of the Greek system means that people are going to hold you to a higher standard. Is it fair? No. But quite frankly, some people don’t understand that why there is a need for us. They don’t understand brotherhood. And I don’t blame them, how can you understand something that you are not a part of? The question each of us need to ask ourselves is do we really stand for the ideals that we were founded on? Are we a fraternity or are we a social club? Can I honestly say that I am part of a brotherhood? Do I know everyone in my fraternity not only by name, but do I really know everyone in my fraternity the way you would a family member? It is at times like these that our brotherhood is put into question.
       There are some people who may want to attack all fraternities on campus for the actions of the members of one fraternity. We need to not respond with anger but with understanding. Some people will not understand what we stand for and in some cases that is our own fault. We may not live up to the ideals we stand for. There are some fraternities on campus that are more like social clubs than brotherhoods and if that is the case in your fraternity, go back to your founding fathers and look to see why they created the fraternity in the first place. The thing about brotherhoods is that they rise and fall as one. Every member in each fraternity should know what goes on in the fraternity if they truly are a brotherhood. If that is the case then events like this can be prevented. And if events like this still occur, then either the brotherhood has become rotten or it never existed in the first place. In either case, you don’t deserve to be called a fraternity. So let this be a lesson to us all and a medium to get us to work on our relations with the non Greek community.

To people not involved with Greek Life

                It’s easy to say that this incident is reflective of the Greek culture and portray “frat boys” as the villains. But is that a fair statement to make? Although each fraternity is founded on brotherhood, we are all individual organizations with our own traditions and values as well. This idea of brotherhood is one that may be foreign if you are not in a fraternity. Or it may not even be foreign but you may not understand why fraternities are needed in order to find brotherhood. It is possible to make friends outside of a fraternity, yes but there is nothing else in the world like having a brother. Like having a true family away from home. I pledged a fraternity my junior year here at Wash U and I haven’t regretted the decision one bit. Yes, I have plenty of friends that are not in frats but I never really experienced true brotherhood until joining a fraternity. I have heard plenty of stories of guys who would not be at this school today if it wasn’t for being in a fraternity. Some guys just don’t fit in here at Washington University and they find their niche within the Greek system. They find where they belong. If we get rid of the Greek system, we take away the niche that these people have at this school.
        If this is a school that is truly open to everyone and people of all walks of life, then this school should also be open to the Greek system and notice that even though it does have its flaws, it also does wonders for the well being of many kids who come to this school and prevents many kids from transferring out. Because it is not about having parties or being cool, and if you believe that it is then you are wrong, whether you are in the Greek system or not. It is about brotherhood, about being in a bond with a group of guys, who will stand up for you and support you no matter what. We understand that you may not understand us, but we at least hope that you can respect us in the same way that you respect other groups on campus. We hope that you at least try to have dialogue with us instead of condemning us for an event that most of us had nothing to do with and with which most of us disagree with.

To administration

                There will be an outcry. There are hurt people. There are confused people. Some of us are wondering how something like this can happen. There will be those who want justice to be done. I just pray that the appropriate response is taken that benefits all parties involved and works to fight the issues and not specific people. I’ll state that once again: fight the underlying problem instead of specific people or individuals. I understand that reprimands will have to be given and disciplinary measures will have to be taken. In fact I would be extremely upset and disappointed in the university if nothing happened. But use this as an opportunity for growth, not to save face. There are two big mistakes that can be made. 1) You punish the many for the actions of the few. It would be injustice to condemn an innocent person as guilty and in the same way it would be injustice to extend the reprimands to people not involved with this incident. 2) You only punish people and that’s it. If you only take care of those responsible and leave it at that, then we are no better off than we were before these events transpired last night. This university wasn’t a different place before these events happened last night, it was still the same campus, the same environment. It was just exposed. Now you can try to take care of this mess and pretend things are still the same, or you can work with us to help truly transform this campus into a safer place where this would never happen again.

-Clark Kent