3/30/12

I've been watching the Trayvon murder reports, and my objective opinion is that George Zimmerman's version of events is suspect. My subjective opinion is that Zimmerman murdered that young man without cause or provocation, based on the evidence reported. I've been wondering though about Zimmerman's friend, Joe Oliver. Is he getting paid for all of this face-time he's putting in on this case? I do believe in standing up for your friends, but he's putting in a lot of overtime on a train wreck.

From the mounting reports, Zimmerman's actions appear indefensible. The latest evidence reported if the video at the police station where he appears to be unharmed, in contrast to the statement he gave on what happened. There's no wounds, marks, or any signs of a struggle as he depicted.

I think that Joe Oliver is Zimmerman's "face man"—a token black friend to help dispel the racial atmosphere in this case. I don't believe the racial profiling of Trayvon Martin has anything to do with racism per se. What transpired here is more stereotyping a young black man and the way he dressed, being viewed as a criminal. A young black man (and the way he dresses too) is too often viewed subconsciously as a thug or delinquent due to the visual portrayal in the video and commercial media. These media strongly influences our society, flooding us with misconceptions and preconceived notions of the race and classes, programming us to further the sell of a product or some cause. The "street gear" of the youth is hip hop fashion and culture that has swept the globe. Even older generations are revisiting their youth by dressing in "street gear". Just because a criminal commits crimes dressed in "street gear" doesn't make everyone who dresses that way a criminal.

Criminals wear all sorts of clothing. As a young black man, I once walked down the streets many times dressed in "street gear", and the people who saw me coming would cross the street or clutch their purses just a little tighter, as if they thought I meant to do them harm. I wasn't even thinking about them. But over time, it caught my attention. I was stereotyped!

Similar to Trayvon's encounter with Zimmerman, many other young men of all races are profiled by race and/or class. I had a street encounter back in 1994 that led to my current situation here on death row. I was pursued and illegally detained by a white police officer, all because he didn't know me from the neighborhood he patrolled. This officer admitted in court that he didn't see me doing anything wrong, but he still decided to follow me in his patrol car until he cornered me, searched me, locked me in the backseat of his car, and then came back to handcuff me, then threw me back into the locked car. All of this was done, admittedly, without cause. After running my name through the computer, he discovered I had bench warrants for failure to appear in court. At trial, even the court determined that the officer's actions were illegal.

Too many American youths of all races and classes are faced with this biased profiling. Many Americans have come to believe that this kind of profiling is an effective tool in navigating our streets and keeping our country safe (anti-terrorism), but it doesn't. This profiling is misleading our public by causing us to perceive each other as suspect or a threat, creating this irrational fear which often ends in tragedy, like the murder of Trayvon Martin. We should be able to rely on the guarantee of the US Constitution, where no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. We need to work on that just a little bit more.

I hope you and your family find peace and justice, Trayvon. My condolences to the family.