Trayvon.

"Usually we walk around constantly believing ourselves. "I'm okay" we say. "I'm alright". But sometimes the truth arrives on you and you can't get it off. That's when you realize that sometimes it isn't even an answer--it's a question. Even now, I wonder how much of my life is convinced." -Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

One of the things that bothers me most, almost as much as the death of an innocent, unarmed, 17-year old boy, almost as much as his racial-profiling killer who walked free, is the token reaction of "Justice is a process, not an outcome."

Yet if an outcome is unjust, justice has not been served. How much of our justice system, like Zusak wonders about his life, is convinced? The system is okay, we say, it's alright. But if Tyrone the black man killed Billy the white kid, we'd have a far different situation on our hands. Is that okay? Is that alright? 

Is it okay that the prison system is mostly young, black men? Are young, black men, as a species, more criminal? Is there something in their blood, their very structure, their DNA that makes them more apt to be murderers? No. Undeniably, the answer is no. The truth has arrived and it is not an answer--it's a question. How do we fix this? 

Trayvon Martin is dead. His mother lost her son in the terrible way that no mother ever expects to when they first hold their baby; when they first imagine a beautiful life for this brand-new human. He was unarmed. He was a minor. He was black. They say "the reality that this not about race," but if a million-person movement think it is about race, then the reality is that it is. If Trayvon was white and George was black, it would be about race. 

Justice has not been served. The process may have been implemented, but the system is inherently broken. A murderer walks free and a child is dead. Yet, the grief of a nation, though dark, glimmers with some small hope--and it's getting bigger. People care. People are angry. In a world where apathy is an infectious disease, justice for George Zimmerman, on behalf of Trayvon Martin is something people desperately want and will fight for--and are fighting for...

 

The world should take note: not everything is getting worse.