Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Trayvon Martin in America

The shooting death of Trayvon Martin has inspired outrage. Justifiable outrage. The guy who admits to killing him, George Zimmerman, has not been arrested or even charged. Even though Trayvon's only weapons were iced tea and Skittles.
But then again, he was black.
Florida has a "Stand Your Ground" law which the police are hiding behind as an excuse for not arresting Zimmerman. The law allows a potential crime victim who is "in fear of great bodily injury" to use deadly force in public places. The law expanded upon legislation that allowed deadly force in defense of "hearth and home." The law was passed by Jeb Bush and overturned a centuries old doctrine that required the potential victim to retreat and avoid confrontation if possible. Zimmerman could have safely retreated and avoided this conflict BUT he does not have a duty to retreat in Florida.
New Hampshire has a deadly force law which does not include a duty to retreat. It was just passed at the end of last year. This does not surprise me and I know there are lots of New Hampshirites who love this law.
My guess is that typical supporters of these laws are gun owning idiots who do not respect the right to own a gun. I have no problem with guns. I like them, even though I don't own one. Yet.
But I am getting a growing feeling in my gut that I better get a gun one of these days to protect myself against those who are morons and do own guns. As I watch our society move backwards towards stupidity, I believe anything is possible. And if things get crazy I will be vulnerable without a violent means of self defense. I prefer not to think in those terms, but I truly believe American society is moving from an intelligence level equivalent to a first grader to that of a pre-schooler. Rapidly.
It takes intelligence and responsibility to own a gun. I am willing to bet that a lot of gun owners, especially in NH, are not intelligent and not responsible. And I'm willing to bet a lot of them are racially prejudiced.
I'd bet the same thing about the Florida gun owning population.
This type of law is exactly the kind of thing republicans promote. Its the kind of thing they use to incite an undereducated, emotionally irrational voting base. Regardless of the potential consequences.
The outrage has forced the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI to step in to the investigation.
If the man is found guilty I hope he is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And I hope that includes the death penalty.
But we are not dealing with one case here. We are dealing with an undercurrent of hatred and prejudice in this country that has oozed out into the light of day. And I will say it a million times if I have to, I believe it is a direct backlash to the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency.
It feels to me like prejudice and hatred are more visible now, more open and freely expressed, than they have been in many decades.
Couple that with a growing sense of vigilantism, an increase in legislation with a Stand Your Ground mentality, and a climate of suffocating financial stress and unemployment, and you end up with a very angry, very uneducated, very irrational and very armed society. One that is not afraid to be vocal about their hatred, not afraid to do something about it.
This case is not only about Trayvon Martin. This case is about this country regressing to a time when racial prejudice and violence were tolerated. Even promoted.
We should not even be having this conversation in America. The situation should not even exist.
But we are a country of stupidity that does not learn from past injustices. We repeat them.
This is the climate republicans are creating. Willfully.
I despise it. I am beginning to feel I don't even live in America anymore.

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