I had very much wanted to blog about the Trayvon Martin case, about information poison and media greed.  I very much want to contribute to fixing this.  I very much want to help subside what really caused this tragedy...fear.  Yes, fear, not racism, on both their parts was the catalyst…fear and societal breakdown. You see both were in bad situations and it doesn't make sense that they would have acted any differently if the race of the other had been different.

If Zimmerman had come across a white or Hispanic teen, alone and lurking around the neighborhood in a hoodie, there is no doubt that he would have confronted him at least as aggressively as he did the 6 ft. tall black man because he was angry.  If the white teen attacked him the way Trayvon did, there is no doubt that he would still have shot him because he was afraid.  If Trayvon had been confronted by an angry black man who as neighborhood watch was determined to put an end to the crime spree in the neighborhood, I have no doubt that Trayvon would have responded violently because it is more likely that Trayvon was an angry young man rather than a racist.

I feel horrible that so many Black Americans feel compelled to invest emotionally in this case as a means of fighting against the real racism and prejudice that they regularly experience.  I would say that they have been duped here, but that isn't really a fair way to portray the overwhelming emotional pressure that must come with being a Black American and hearing what is conveyed on TV.  This case never had a chance of succeeding at any level other than civil (Zimmerman is without question guilty of acting in a negligent manner that caused the altercation).

I very much want to infuse what few are willing to discuss about how to decrease prejudice in this country. We have to focus less on trying to change how people perceive experiences and instead change the experiences.  I want to explore why people are comfortable crying about Trayvon being a child and then not being angry that he was left alone to fend for himself in a strange neighborhood (let alone with his younger brother, let alone while he was using drugs).

I want to fix this so badly, but I just spent a wonderful day in the city, with my 11 year-old child/young man, wonderfully enjoying the All-Star Game Fanfest.  We enjoyed it at very little cost, surrounded by men and women of all colors and races, one person friendlier and more polite than the next.  We were in a very secure environment...yet I never let my son get more than a few feet from me, the way I always protect him.  I am happy and tired and I don't want to battle the winners and losers that I've been fighting since the verdict came out late Saturday night.

It is a dangerous world out there...not just for Black Americans, but for everyone.  You have to be smart, cautious and you have to protect your family all the time.  Even then bad things can happen.  Neither George Zimmerman, nor Trayvon Martin, nor Trayvon's parents were smart or cautious that night.  It is not true that Trayvon could have been President Obama's son any more than he could have been mine.  Our kids would not have acted like that.  I also know that the parents of all of the criminals that preyed upon that neighborhood previously played a crucial role in the shooting that night.  The percentage of our society that is "busted up" is too high (no pun intended) and we can’t fix it until we recognize it.

If you want to change how Zimmerman behaved, you have to allow people to feel safe in their neighborhoods (ALL NEIGHBORHOODS!).  Otherwise the fear that motivated Zimmerman will never fade.  If you want to change Trayvon's behavior, then he needs to have better parenting and a better upbringing, or kids like him will never lose that anger.  He was a 17 year-old left alone to watch his 12 year-old brother in a strange neighborhood.  If they needed Skittles, their Dad should have gotten them for them before he and his girlfriend went out. Trayvon left his brother alone to go to a store and on the way back, when confronted by a strange adult for lingering, ended up in a fight rather than running, calling his father or calling the police.  Somewhere along this timeline, he was also doing drugs.

The prosecution in the summation asked us to look into our hearts and use common sense. If we really want to change things, we need to be honest about the facts and do just that...I guess I wasn't too tired.