John David's Blog: Life--Observed and Reported - Posts Tagged "stand-your-ground"

I'm going to tell you a little story.

It's about a boy who had run away from home, after getting in some trouble at school.

After a while, he knew he had to go home, because at age ten, seriously, he didn't have many other options.

On the way home, just around the corner from his house, he decided to call ahead to give his parents a little notice of his arrival.

The boy went up a neighbor's walkway towards the front door, thinking to knock on the door and ask to use the phone.

The garage door of the house was open, and on the way past it, the boy looked into the garage and stared at the wonderful toys inside, several motorcycles, a classic car, and more.

He didn't stop moving, enter the garage, or touch anything on his way to the front door. On the porch, he was about to knock, when he heard the sounds of a loud argument from within.

A man and a woman were shouting at each other, with loud, angry voices, and the boy thought that now wasn't a good time to ask to use the phone.

He left the property, walking quickly away, not stopping or touching anything. About 75 feet down the street, he heard the sound of someone running, turned, and saw a very large, angry man chasing him, yelling "Hey you! Hey!"

He ran up the road a ways, and into a nursery, the man only steps behind. The boy ran around and around the small office on the property, yelling to the people there "Help, Help! Call the police!"

Nobody did.

The large, angry man caught the boy, jerked his arm behind his back, and put him in a choke hold. He was yelling "I got you! I got you!"

The boy was very scared, hurt, and confused, both at the man's actions, and the inaction of the people at the nursery. Why was this happening? Why didn't anyone help him?

The police arrived, and took the boy into custody on suspicion of "trespassing." The boy thanked God that they did, because he felt much safer in handcuffs in back of a patrol car, than he did with the angry man choking him and twisting his arm.

A couple of years ago, a boy with a very similar story was chased down and KILLED by a large, angry man for the crime of walking through a neighborhood not his own. His name was Trayvon Martin, and if you haven't heard his story, maybe you should read about it.

Trayvon hadn't gone up any walkways, past any open garages filled with wonderful things--but he was killed anyway.

The boy who did remembers that day, and is thankful that he is alive today, unlike Trayvon. Besides race, the difference is that the large, angry man in one boy's story had a gun, plus the desire to use it, and the other one didn't.

Life and death, decided in an instant.

One boy is alive, and is telling you his story today.

One boy is dead, and will never be able to tell you his.

I have been following this heartbreaking story from very early on, and I was one of the first people to sign the petition to even have this case brought to the light of day.

A question that has come to mind of late:

Why is this case so polarizing, for so many?

The numbers seem to break almost exactly down the middle, with both sides completely convinced that they are absolutely right, and the other is dead wrong.

There is little or no "gray area," of opinion.

There are a very few who have said, and rightfully so, "Let us wait for the outcome of the trial, the facts will come out."

Is it simply a matter of determining the "facts?" Of finding "justice?"

Or of something else altogether?

I wonder how many of Zimmerman's outspoken supporters would be so vocal about his "right" to "defend" himself if Trayvon had not been a "person of color?"

And how many of Trayvon's supporters would be crying for blood if Zimmerman was a "black" man?

Would the "facts" of this case be any different if both parties were of the same "race?"

Would the "investigation" have been any different?

What about the "presumption" of guilt or innocence?

If so, then we really are talking about a racial issue, a racial divide, and not about a factual one. It is inescapable to see this any other way, apparently.

We all can, for the most part, agree that it is not a "crime" to be one race or the other.

We can also agree that it is possible for both to be in the "wrong" place at the wrong time.

Apparently the glasses through which we all view the world are still very much "colored."

Perhaps there is hope that our children will learn to see their world "clearly."

For we most certainly do not.