Was justice served? Or did we fail Trayvon Martin?

As I sit here, sipping my iced coffee, "Lean on Me" playing on Pandora, I have to wonder about the state of the world today and where it is heading as I release my daughter out into the world and on her own. Is it really safe to do so? Will she be respected by everyone, or only people like her? Can she walk outside at night to buy Skittles and not have to worry about looking suspicious to some over-zealous bigot on neighborhood watch? Have I offended anyone yet? Seems to be pretty easy theytheytheyto do as of late. If I did, good. You needed to hear it, and who better from than me? As a mother and a woman, I worry about safety probably more than I should. Having grown up in Queens, NY, I do have a certain ease about me when I am out and about on the streets, whether it be daylight or dead of night. But my daughter, with all her inherited street smarts, doesn't have that innate sense of awareness and badassery that would make me feel better about her leaving home.

Fucking crazies are everywhere and they look like you and me. Normal folks with families, jobs, and homes...yet because they have hatred in their hearts for a color, a sex, a religion, they pose a serious threat to our society. In 2013, there are still raging racists in the world and they live among us. They still focus on the differences between us instead of embracing everyone as human, and therefore, inherently the same. No, what they see is a nigger, a spick, a kike, a retard. What they see is a perceived threat...to themselves, to the integrity of their neighborhood, to their sensibilities. What they are is ignorant. Thinking like this sets us back decades to before Martin Luther King, Jr. marched for peace, water fountains were labeled "whites" and "colored" and certain folks couldn't choose a seat in the front of the bus. Back to a time when different meant bad.

Prejudice is not a part of our initial make-up, it's a learned behavior. Ever watched a group of young children from multiple ethnic backgrounds playing together? Unless their parents are vocally racist, each child has an equal chance of playing with anyone they choose. Why? Because they are all children and they all want to play. The color of your skin, the shape of your eyes, the accent with which you speak...none of that matters when you need one more girl to play princesses on the playground. The moment a parent intervenes, the second they begin to show that child how to shun those who are unlike them, to look down upon differences, is the moment prejudice becomes a part of that child's way of thinking. More often than not, there is no turning back from that moment. And then there are two...and so on, and so on. Spreading like a fungus, hatred becomes the norm and acceptance goes out the goddamn window and for what? Because my hair isn't blonde and straight like yours? Because that little girl has a black bob and almond-shaped eyes? Because that boy speaks with an unfamiliar accent? Seriously?

Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old honor student, selfless volunteer, churchgoing, loving son walking in his neighborhood getting some snacks. But because he was wearing a hoodie, and was guilty of being black, he's no longer alive today. Because some racist prick on neighborhood watch, carrying a gun as though he were an official member of law enforcement due to Florida's genius Stand Your Ground law, decided that a black kid wearing a hoodie is a threat to his safety, that child is dead...his mother forever heartbroken. A child dressed like many his age, sporting a hoodie...something my own daughter often chooses to wear when the weather begins to dip...he was seen as dangerous. George Zimmerman followed him, hunted him like a dog, scaring the shit out of an innocent child. A child he intimidated enough to cause him to be punched in the nose. I don't know about you, but if I am punched in the nose, I'm punching back...harder and more than once. What I also know, is that even if I were able to carry a gun, I wouldn't shoot the person who hit me. Would you kill a fly with a machine gun? Think about it. Trayvon reacted like a scared child. Zimmerman reacted like scared racist. Was the boy that much more frightening and dangerous because of the color of his skin? He carried no weapon. How dangerous could he be? Are Skittles now considered WMDs?

The Florida justice system is ridiculously flawed. The Stand Your Ground law wasn't put into place to create a rash of homicides, yet since states began adopting their own versions of it, that's exactly what has happened. Due to the vagueness of the law and the circumstances which would make it legal to use deadly force when imminent danger is perceived, homicides are on the rise...killing people who perhaps belong in jail, but certainly not dead. "In any place that person has a legal right to be" is the provision for where you can invoke that law. But wasn't Trayvon in a place he had a legal right to be, as well? Shouldn't he have been able to protect himself in any way he had available to him when being faced by a bigot with a gun? Where were his rights under the law? Come on Florida lawmakers, explain that one! You can't because your law sucks. Within it lies a double standard...and you'll never admit to it.

Was justice served? My opinion, no fucking way. A man was allowed to kill a child because of his irrational fears of someone who was different. Did we fail Trayvon Martin? Sadly, the answer to that is yes. He was guilty of nothing more than having darker skin than George Zimmerman. What is our country coming to when we can rationalize this kind of behavior? Not only rationalize, but justify and make legal. Is it any wonder I'm scared to let my daughter go? Are you friggin kidding me right now???