Stuck in Neutral

"The more hurried I get, the more behind I become..."

 

 

Wow! Did not see that one coming! Who would have thought the trial of the year, the George Zimmerman trial, would cause to much social unrest in our already socially unrested country. The table was set from the get-go. A twenty-nine year old "cop wannabe" who volunteered to be a neighborhood watch captain, is now cast as Satan himself. He spilled innocent blood. He not only shot an unarmed man, but the man was really a boy, and worst of all, he was black.

If you listen to the agitators and the "race baiters" now that the trial is over, you would think we have an epidemic in our country with white on black violent crime, most of which goes unpunished. Before we go down that street, lets first visit the facts. According to globalgrind.com in May of 2012:

Black-on-black murder is at an all-time high. It was revealed that each year, roughly 7,000 blacks are murdered and 94 percent of the time the murderer is another black person.

According to a study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 1976 and 2011 there were 279,384 black murder victims, which means that 262,621 were murdered by other blacks, resulting in the 94 percent figure.

Let that statistic sink in for a minute. In that 35 year period, we lost over 1/4 million young black people to murder. For our country, the beacon of freedom and democracy, to host such carnage is beyond belief.

In Chicago, during the last decade (Jan 1, 2003 thru December 31, 2012), almost 5,000 people were killed. That is about twice as many that have died in Enduring Freedom (active war zone Afghanistan) since the start of the conflict. Of that almost 5,000 deaths in Chicago, 75% were committed by black people to mostly black people. I bring these statistics up only for one reason - we have a HUGE problem in our country with people killing people. I really don't care about the color, ethnic origin or sex on who is the killer or the victim. What I care about is that people die when they should not have to.

What is almost as sad is our country is stuck in neutral on race. We have made zero progress since the OJ trial or the Rodney King event. Are there still some problems with white on black crime? Absolutely! Are there also problems with black on white crime? Absolutely again! Every time the opportunists try and divide this country more after an event like the Trayvon Martin tragedy, we all lose. George Zimmerman was a out of shape, cop wannabe who happened to have a conceal permit for a gun. On a dark rainy night, made up of extraordinary bad decisions and circumstances, a young man died and the man who shot him will have to live with that for the rest of his life.

So where are we on race relations in our country. We are better than the days of separate bathrooms and drinking fountains. However for 2013, we are nowhere near where we should be. People of color should not have to fear police. If anyone is being "targeted" only for the color of their skin, the police department should undergo a house cleaning from the top down. By the same token, black crime inside or outside of the black community should NOT BE TOLERATED by anyone, regardless of their color.

I am upset about the number of black youth that are in jail in our country. I am upset that 40% of our black youth cannot get a job. I am upset that many of our black youth are stuck in failing schools across the country. However, what I am most upset about is the number of black youths who are being robbed of their lives due to senseless violence.

Am I concerned about race? You bet I am. However the race which matters the most to me is the human race. To move the human race forward, we need to figure out how to get unstuck from neutral knowing we all don't look the same or act the same.