“Stand Your Ground” Laws

We love to claim that there is equal opportunity and fairness of treatment in America.

But it is reality that anyone of us born white has a tremendous advantage at birth to live a good life, as compared to people of other racial groups, particularly the case with African Americans.

And the most dangerous life is faced by young black males in their teens and 20s and 30s.

Not only do young black males face the constant threat of violence and danger in heavily black communities in the cities, with the horrors of drugs, gangs, and poor slum conditions so common in America’s urban centers.

But even for those who are “middle class” or live in integrated communities, their daily lives are a nightmare!

It is hard to find work, hard to get a good education and go to college, hard to shop since they are constantly watched because of ingrained fears that they might steal items from department stores, supermarkets and other retail establishments.

But also, at a young age, they have to be informed by those who love them that they need to recognize that other people who are white, and sometimes even Hispanic or Asian ethnicity, may look on them as suspicious, simply on the basis of how they dress, how they walk, how they speak, how they behave, and if it is felt that they are in a neighborhood that arises suspicion as to their intentions.

This is what led to the murder of Trayvon Martin, ironically by an Hispanic man, George Zimmerman, who thought 17 year old Martin was in the “wrong” neighborhood, and was up to no good, and therefore, was perceived as a threat that allowed Zimmerman to “stand his ground” and use his firearm to end the life of a young man, who if he was white, would not have faced the death penalty issued by Zimmerman on his own decision, as if he had the right to be an executioner and claim self defense.

This situation involving Trayvon Martin is a great human tragedy, but for more than Trayvon Martin himself. It is a warning to every young black male that he is part of an endangered species that can become hunting material as much as a deer, a bear, or any other animal.

It cheapens the value and worth of human life, and it sets up a potential for a never ending Holocaust, which may likely also cause a counter reaction of response, which can only bring about a civil war, which could make our official Civil War seem trivial by comparison!