Trayvon Martin: Will Justice Be Served?

I tried to avoid it as long as I could but it happened today and now I have to let it out...because that's what I do...I write.

After hearing the tragic story of what happened to Trayvon Martin, I swore that I wasn't going to listen to the 911 call that featured the audio of the screams and shooting that took place that night, but this morning while driving to work I was caught off guard and I heard it for the first time...

I heard the sounds of a woman calling in a disturbance and in the background of her call you can hear the frantic pleas of a young man screaming for help and then moments later you hear a gun shot and immediately the screaming stops.  From that moment on it felt as though my heart had torn in two as I drove blindly down the street with tears streaming down my face.

I cried because at that moment, I felt Trayvon's mother's pain as I imagined the thought of my son being taken from me in such a cold-hearted manner. I cried because a young life was taken because of ignorance and hatred.  I cried because this world is becoming more and more like it's prince, yet we still refuse to turn to God in our darkest hour of need.

The sicker this world gets, the more tears we can look forward to shedding because of loss.  Media has desensitized us all to the pain and suffering that those around us endure and it's sickening.  And shame on the media for continuing to play those 911 calls for ratings! What parent wants to hear the sounds of her child pleading for his life and then being shot over and over again? Yes, people need to know what's going on but there is a thing called decorum and integrity.   

People are outraged by this situation because it is a stark reminder that no matter how far we've come in our society, the underlying hatred that has kept us divided for centuries still manages to rear it's ugly head every so often to remind us that it never too far away.

While this is sad, sad situation, it should serve as a wake up call that violence in any shape, form or fashion should not be tolerated against anyone in our society: black, white, Hispanic, Asian or other.  When black people kill each other, it's treated as normal happenstance, but when another race does something to one of ours that's when we choose to unite.

This is not a black or white or Hispanic issue.  It is a justice issue. Every parent, every mother, black, white, yellow, pink or orange, who lost a child armed with only a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea who was gunned down by a person who was breaking the law...deserves justice.  Plain and simple. 

So, yes, we are all sad and angry about this situation with Trayvon Martin, but the question now is: What are you going to do to ensure that things like this don't keep happening?

Change begins on your knees.  Be blessed.