I didn’t want to write another post on the whole Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case. Enough people are offering their opinions and the media is certainly doing more than their fair share in keeping the case at the forefront of everyone’s minds without me adding my two cents worth. When asked if I would write a follow-up to my initial blog, I said, “No, absolutely not. Let America begin to heal so that eventually cooler heads may prevail.” And I meant it. And yet, here I am, fingers going where my mind really doesn’t want to go anymore. And it all started with a conversation with my granddaughter. When I happened to mention one evening that even the jurors and George Zimmerman’s parents were receiving death threats, I was surprised by her emphatic, “Good … they should!” This was definitely not the reaction I expected from my typically tolerant teen, and it was then that I began to think we, all of us, needed to be talked down off the ledge of anger and emotion so that some truly meaningful dialog could take place, conversation that might, just might stand a chance at helping avoid similar disasters in the future by helping us figure out what really went wrong and what should have happened and what we can do to ensure those things that went wrong do not go wrong next time. So here I sit on a Sunday night, writing the column I never intended to write.

First off, let me just say that death threats against George Zimmerman, his parents, the prosecutors or the jury are not helpful. It adds fuel to an already out-of-control blaze and never have two wrongs equaled a right, to use an old cliché. Death threats against anybody, for any reason, are a tool of the under-educated and the mind that is limited to using acts of violence as a solution to a complex problem. Most of us realize this and the majority of those who uttered such foolishness out of emotion in the hours immediately following the verdict will have, by now, allowed their wiser, saner minds to kick into gear and are feeling pretty foolish, hoping nobody heard or remembers what they said a week ago. The rest are in the minority and would prefer to add to the problem rather than be a part of the solution. That mentality is undeserving of any response.

So much has been said about this case and the ultimate verdict that my head spins. I’ve heard that it was definitely a racist crime, that the outcome of the trial was a result of Florida’s now-infamous “Stand Your Ground” law, that the jurors were somehow coerced, that the prosecution did a poor job, that the prosecution should have gone for a lesser charge, that there were an extraordinary amount of gun-related deaths in Chicago over the July 4th weekend and nobody cares about those, that a white kid was killed by a black kid and nobody cares, that black-on-black crime is flourishing and nobody cares, that Trayvon Martin was on top of Zimmerman beating him to death, that George Zimmerman was on top of Trayvon Martin beating him to death, and on and on and on, ad nauseum. Some of which is true fact, but not pertinent to the issue at hand; some of which is exaggerated or only half-truths; and some of which is blatantly untrue. Not surprisingly, depending which side of the issue you weigh in on, you have a different story to relate. However, none of this is helpful and all of it is designed, whether intentionally or not, to distract our attention from the core of the issue. The core of the issue can be narrowed down to a few simple questions: is shooting a gun into an unarmed person’s body at point-blank range an appropriate use of force? Should a community security guard be allowed to carry a loaded weapon? Should said security guard be held accountable for firing that weapon and taking the life of an innocent, unarmed person whom he had no reason to believe was committing a crime? We will never know exactly what transpired that night. A friend argues that Trayvon Martin was atop George Zimmerman beating him savagely and George Zimmerman feared for his life. However, as his injuries did not appear to support that assumption and the only “eye-witness” is unreliable, we don’t know. We cannot know what George Zimmerman thought was going to happen. The first step here is to understand and admit that we really just don’t know who was beating whom, for how long, or how badly. Since we don’t know and cannot know this, then, is a moot point and must be left out of the equation, so that we can come to some fact-based understanding. What we do know is that when George Zimmerman initially contacted the police to let them know he saw somebody he was suspicious of, he was told by police to stay in his car. We know he disobeyed that order by police. Disobeying a direct police order is a crime. That is an undisputable fact. We know that Trayvon Martin was initially guilty of nothing more than walking on the street on his way home from a local convenience store. That is not a crime. We may strongly suspect that George Zimmerman’s reaction to this young man was altered by the fact that he was African-American, but we cannot know this for a fact, so it is a supposition at best and really cannot be considered in any intelligent discourse. All the other comments about other crimes and incidents that have taken place in other places, other times, no doubt deserve analysis of their own, but they are not relevant to this situation and should not be a part of any conversation about Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. As I see it, there are only two things that could have been done in the initial scenario that would have resulted in a different, happier outcome. The first is that George Zimmerman could have stayed in his car as ordered by the police and either let Trayvon Martin have a safe journey home or let the police come sort it all out, which would have been appropriate. The other is that, immediately upon sensing Mr. Zimmerman following him, Trayvon Martin could have turned and gone back into the convenience store, if it was in fact close enough, and called the police or a parent to report that he was being followed, which would also have almost certainly resulted in a less disastrous outcome. What is the lesson here? I think it is two-fold: we need to really review procedures for security guards who patrol public areas. Should they be armed with loaded guns? Probably not. A Billy club, a can of mace, or even a stun gun should be adequate for most situations. And if we as a society are teaching our children to defend themselves, let us also teach them that to do so should be only as a last resort, that the best option is to get into a safe place and call police, a parent or other trusted adult. This should apply whether the person is Caucasian, African-American, Asian, Hispanic or Middle Eastern. It should be the advice we all give our children, regardless of race.

I am not saying that racism wasn’t a factor; quite possibly it was. I am simply saying that it isn’t the key factor we need to be looking at right now in order to prevent a repeat of this very tragic outcome. The issue of racism is a whole other issue, as is the issue of whether Stand Your Ground laws should be repealed and whether stronger gun regulation laws are needed. Those of you who know me know that I most likely have opinions on those issues also and that sooner or later those discussions will appear on this blog. For today, though, let’s stick to one issue at a time and maybe, just maybe, we can stay focused long enough to make a difference. And last, but certainly not least, let us not threaten death or bodily harm to jurors and lawyers who are just trying to do their jobs. It isn’t a reflection on them, but on us, and it helps not at all.