Crickets...

So, I recently heard about a case in Florida in which a young African-American man was gunned down by an overzealous neighborhood watch president for "looking suspicious" (Trayvon Martin Murdered in cold blood).  According to reports, the young man went to the store to get candy and upon returning to the gated community where his father was a resident, he was followed, accosted and eventually shot by the neighborhood watch president.  Here was a young man minding his own business, simply walking down the street and he's now six feet in the ground.

What was the result of the shooting?  Crickets.  Chirping crickets, like the ones that you hear in the still of the night when NOTHING is going on.  Law enforcement did not even arrest the man that did the shooting.  He murdered a young man in cold blood and he's free.  Where does this happen?   Oh yeah, in a "post-racial" America.  Yes, I just played the race card because why else would the neighborhood watch follow a man walking down the street with candy and soda, scuffle with him and finally...shoot him in cold blood?

So, the white sheets have been stored away in favor of neighborhood watch badges.  Only in America can the police kill African-American men for no reason, regular citizens can draw down on anyone they feel is a threat because of their second amendment right and if you claim "self defense" in an altercation that you provoked, if you're the right color...you walk.  This is the same America that ducks and hides when the issue of racism, racial prejudice or any issue regarding race comes up.  It's time to stop playing games and tell the truth.  This country's economic system got a 246 year head start with free labor from slavery and the specter of slavery, the residue of slavery and the mentality of slavery (on both sides) still exists.  Every time I see someone call the Confederate flag history and heritage but get angry at the celebration of Black History Month...there's a problem there.  The values of our "Christian" nation allowed slaves and Black people in general to be treated as property, beaten, lynched, burned at the stake, falsely accused and abused for hundreds of years and no one thought twice about it.  The biblical perspective of slavery is totally different that the view of slavery that our "forefathers" had.  The biblical principle/COMMAND of love your neighbor as you love yourself does not restrict a person to loving only a certain race, but extends to ALL races and even your enemies.  In Christ Jesus we are all one...that's what the Bible says.  But what's funny is that the same men that kept the Bible from slaves were themselves slaves to their own sinful desires and lusts- and they twisted the bible to suit their own evil, selfish lust for power and money.  Their prideful attitudes regarding equality among the races led to the Klan being formed to harass black voters, grandfather clauses, separate water fountains and restrooms and have laid the foundation that the current racial landscape of the country rests on.  Christians that had the bible and didn't properly apply it cannot call themselves Christians at all- but we were labeled as the barbarians.  This is not an indictment of all white people, it is simply the truth.  Thank God that although I wrote the previous statements in general terms, they don't apply to all white people.  Thank God that there are white people that are not hampered by racial prejudices but love as Christ commanded us to.  Now is also an opportune time for me to say that I judge every person based on the deeds, not based on the deeds of their ancestors or their peers.  I don't care what color you are, if you give respect, you will  get respect in return from me.  Let me also say that there are some black people that make you wonder if slavery ever ended, but that's another post for another day.

The negative racial stereotypes that haunt African-Americans and are used many times to define us, have been in existence for hundreds of years.  From the movie "Birth of a Nation" all the way to the jigaboo, buckdancing "slaves" that embarrass us daily on the airwaves on BET, MTV and other places where OUR OWN folks sell us out and sell our young people images designed to keep us in bondage, we catch it from every angle.   They call it art, I call it modern day slavery.  Honestly, there are some that live to perpetuate the stereotypes that exist- but this case has absolutely nothing to do with that.  This case was simply a racist, self-hating man (he is actually Latino- editied 3/21/12), in his zeal and his manifest destiny mindset, taking the life of a young man that he felt did not belong in his neighborhood.  Why he even approached the young man is beyond me but I would venture to say that his attitude as influenced by some stereotype that he harbored.

But all that was heard after the gunshot was crickets, chirping crickets.  The Florida State Attorney's office has finally begun to investigate the case and the cops that responded to the scene and the police department have been less than cooperative.  I will be waiting to see when the silence will break and the facts will come forth.  For now, I expect a lot of anger, disgust and bewilderment at how this could have happened.  I pray for this boy's parents and for his family.  This is a tragic and senseless crime, a murder, that, contrary to the stereotype that exists, did not happen at the hands of another black young man.  This was cold blooded and I pray that justice prevails.  Don't let the crickets continue to chirp...make some noise and also, be in prayer that justice prevails