Two Deaths In Florida, One Outcome Remains Unknown

Trayvon Martin, 17, stalked and killed on February 26.

by John Wood

I was saddened by the deaths of two young people in Florida earlier this year, both killed by strangers while walking home. One was the death of my granddaughter, struck and killed by a hit and run driver while walking home. The other was the death of Trayvon Martin, shot while walking home by George Zimmerman. While saddened by both deaths, I’m outraged by the absence of justice in one.

They caught the person that killed my granddaughter, and I’m satisfied that justice, in her case, will prevail. But without the outrage expressed by many of us about how the police handled the killing of Trayvon Martin, there would be no justice; and despite what is being said by the right-wing media and blogs, that’s all we want – justice.

I’ve arrived at my own conclusions about the guilt or innocence of George Zimmerman, but I’ll grant him his day in court. This is not about White against Black, but aren’t all of us sure that if Zimmerman had been black and Trayvon Martin had been white, we wouldn’t be having this discussion–that Zimmerman would be awaiting trial? I’m White and I join my Black brothers and sisters in their outrage about the circumstances of Trayvon’s death.

Of course, we should be outraged about other unjustified killings of Blacks, but unfortunately, they have become so commonplace that they receive little notice. We need to mobilize behind this movement for justice for Trayvon in hope that, in getting justice for him, it will become more difficult to kill other young Blacks with impunity.