Selective Outrage in Trayvon Martin Shooting Death

Greg Howard, a Chicago teen, was killed by a gunman who opened fire in the vestibule of an apartment building.

Monae Turnage, a Baltimore teen, was shot to death in an alley and left hidden under a pile of trash.

Ervin Jefferson, an Atlanta teen, was shot and killed by private security guards.

I find it interesting that not one of these killings has generated anywhere near as much news coverage, fomented nearly as much public outrage as the slaying of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

Indeed, Howard, Turnage and Jefferson were black and unarmed, just like Trayvon. They were shot and killed in the last month, like Trayvon. They leave behind grieving family and friends, like Trayvon.

But President Obama hasn’t felt compelled, so far, to lament the “tragic” deaths of Howard, Turnage and Jefferson. The U.S. Department of Justice hasn’t opened up an investigation into their slayings. And protest marches in memory of Howard, Turnage and Jefferson have not been held as yet in cities throughout the country.

So why is Trayvon’s shooting death being treated differently than the shooting deaths of the other three black teens?

Because Trayvon’s shooter,George Zimmerman, is un-black, whereas the shooters who took the lives of Howard, Turnage and Jefferson were black.

The implication of that double standard, that selective outrage by the president, the media and the black community, is that the violent death of a black youth is less tragic, less offensive if it comes at the hands of a black killer than if it comes at the hands of a white, brown or yellow.

But, as the poet John Donne famously wrote, “Each man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind.”

Indeed, it should not matter the race of a shooting victim. It should not matter the complexion of his or her killer. The deaths of innocents diminish us all because we are all part of the human family; we were all formed in our mothers’ wombs by our Creator.

So send not to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls not only for Trayvon – God rest his soul – but also for Greg, Monae, Ervin and all this country’s teen shooting victims gone to soon.

Speaking of standing your ground

Wasn’t it a black man from south side Chicago who said

“They bring a knife to a fight, we bring a gun”

Oh wait, that was the president. And his charming wife who just gushed about teaching South Chicago values to her daughters.

The faux outrage over Trayvon is being incited by the media that refuses to tell the real story. Based on the police report, the emergency room doctor’s report and an independent witness, Trayvon attacked Zimmerman after he had ended his surveillance of Martin and was returning to his truck.

The police report and the emergency room doctor BOTH listed the fact that Zimmerman had a bloody nose, was bleeding from the back of his head and the back of his shirt was wet and stained indicating that he had been struggling with Martin.

The independent witness states that he saw Trayvon attack Zimmerman from the back and got him on the ground. Once on the ground, Trayvon, who was larger than Zimmerman, got on top of him and was beating his head on the ground. What Trayvon didn’t count on was Zimmerman having a gun and using it to get him to stop beating his head on the ground.

If the disingenuous, biased media (DBM) would tell THIS story about Trayvon and stopped doctoring his photos and hiding the fact that he was a kid who was fairly regularly in trouble in school, the feigned outrage over his death might come to a quick halt.

And, all of these outraged people might find it interesting that Trayvon was laying on a morgue slab for 3 days BEFORE his family noticed that he was missing!!!

So, the outraged types might want to shift their focus a little to those kids who were murdered by other black kids. The problem we have now is that the DBM has created this situation and pushed it to get it out of hand. The genie they got out of the bottle is very ugly and there is no way that they can peacefully get this genie BACK in the bottle!!

This is truly a “be careful what you wish for” moment for the DBM, because now they are stuck with a situation that is out of their control!!

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