what is a "lost boy"? what happened to the ones who survived?
Trayvon Martin, 17, was slain in the town of Sanford, Fla., on Feb. 26 in a shooting that has gear up off a nationwide furor over race and justice. Neighborhood criminal offense-scout captain George Zimmerman claimed self-defense and has not been arrested, though land and federal authorities are all the same investigating. Since the slaying, a portrait has emerged of Martin as a laid-back young man who loved sports, was extremely close to his male parent, liked to crack jokes with friends and, according to a lawyer for his family, had never been in problem with the police force.
Photo courtesy of Martin Family
Editor'southward note: The Rev. Dean-Ware said she planned on leading worship Dominicus in a hoodie, jeans and sneakers, and has asked her congregation at The Church of the Practiced Shepherd, United Church building of Christ, to follow adjust. Trayvon Martin was wearing a hoodie when he was fatally shot.
We have been hearing a lot this last week about a "Stand Your Ground" law as information technology pertains to George Zimmerman and his shooting of unarmed 17-yr-erstwhile Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman claims cocky defense even though there is mounting evidence that he actively pursued Trayvon and there still has been no arrest.
We hear a lot of support for "Standing One's Ground" laws that are all over the country. We hear about the "right to defend oneself" nether the guise of the 2nd Subpoena. Just I can't get the image of that poor child, walking home with a bag of Skittles and flirting with his girlfriend on the phone, suddenly "running for his life" and pleading for someone to help him.
Rev. Deborah Dean-Ware
The nine-1-1 tapes are chilling -- they are bone chilling. One has Zimmerman calmly speaking to the dispatcher when he begins to follow Trayvon and then the dispatcher warns him not to follow the "suspicious" (read: black) individual. The other one is a neighbor who is hiding upstairs because she is terrified by the shrieks for help (which are audible on the tape), the unmarried gunshot and then the silence, the deadly silence.
That poor child, lying there alone and dying while people cowered in their apartments in fear. Trayvon -- the latest of the thousands over hundreds of years who have "run for their lives" because they are not white. Sadly, Trayvon Martin won't be the "last."
I am an educated, white, middle-class woman. Walking downwards the street, I have never been seen as "suspicious." Nobody has ever called 911 considering they thought I was upward to no practiced. I have never been the target of the "Stand up Your Ground" laws - I do not correspond the images in people's heads when they talk about "the right to defend themselves" with mortiferous forcefulness.
I motility through this world with a freedom that Trayvon never experienced, but a freedom he deserved solely for beingness a beloved Child of God. This freedom is what God desires for all of God's children. I believe God aches for these lost ones, the ones who fall because of hatred and systemic racism.
Michael M. Krop Senior High School students carry signs and chant during a rally enervating justice for Trayvon Martin on Friday in Miami Gardens, Fla. Martin was slain in the town of Sanford, Fla., on February. 26 in a shooting that has fix off a nationwide furor over race and justice. Neighborhood offense-sentinel captain George Zimmerman claimed cocky-defense and has not been arrested, though state and federal authorities are withal investigating.
AP Photo/Alan Diaz
don't know about y'all, just I anguish for Trayvon and for the thousands of other unnamed black men and women who have run for their lives -- run from slave traders, run from slave owners, run from lynch mobs, run from vigilantes, run from police with batons and water hoses. I thank God for all the thousands who courageously "Stood Their Footing" for justice and fairness and freedom, even when it cost them their lives.
So how exercise we, this solar day, "Stand up Our Ground" against the violence directed toward people of color? How practise we embody the deep and abiding love that God has for all citizens of this world, for each and every kid whom God claims as "beloved?" How do we begin to deconstruct the systems of our gild that has institutionalized racism, sexism, heterosexism?
Well, I believe we begin past grieving together, and praying together, and crying together. We witness to the preciousness of Trayvon's life. We turn to God'southward word again equally a reminder of God's call to justice. We acknowledge fearlessly that we haven't always lived into this call for justice.
Information technology is fourth dimension to "Stand Our Basis" and remember that it is Holy Ground.
The Rev. Deborah Dean-Ware is the new pastor of The Church building of the Good Shepherd, United Church of Christ, an intentionally multi-racial, multi-cultural, open and affirming, just peace, whole earth, accessible to all congregation in Ann Arbor. You may read her blog at pastordebponders.wordpress.com/.Â
Source: http://www.annarbor.com/news/opinion/running-for-his-life-standing-our-ground-against-the-violence-against-blacks/
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