Why We Can't Have an Honest Discussion About Race

If anyone, including me, is going to be honest, regardless of what you thought about the Zimmerman verdict, it would have to be said that the incident was a tragedy.  A young man lost his life before his time.  That’s a tragedy.

But the verdict has led to a number of protests, outcries for justice, and quite a few number of media interviews of civil rights leaders and activists.  One of the early stories included protesters chanting “no justice, no peace.”  There were other accusations that justice wasn't done, God is a white racist, the justice system is racist, and that Zimmerman racially profiled Martin. 

Now I, like millions of other Americans with an opinion about the case, have not heard any more of the trial other than what was on TV.  I, like millions of other Americans with an opinion about the case, have not heard all the facts.  With that said, what follows is my opinion and observation of what I have heard and seen.

“No justice, no peace” was the chanting of one crowd.  To me, that sounds like a threat for violence.  But let’s look at what “justice” means.  In the Zimmerman trial, the prosecutors, who are charged with reviewing the evidence collected by the police to determine if a trial is warranted, originally decided not to prosecute the case.  It was only until after pressure was brought to bear from the local community and others outside the community that prosecutors went forward with a case.  (I think the police originally didn't arrest him either until that pressure came to bear.)  So the prosecutor took the case to court, presented the case to the jury, and the jurors returned the verdict.  This is how the justice system works, so justice was in fact done; you may not agree with the verdict.  But emotion can never be a motivating factor for a jury.  As Sgt. Friday used to say, “Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.”

But why are people mad at Zimmerman?  Because he “got away” with something?  Because there was a conspiracy?  Let me ask this: why aren't people mad at the prosecutor?  The failure, if there was any, should be placed at the feet of the prosecutor for not presenting a good enough case to the jury.  Mad at the jury?  They are tasked with reviewing the facts of the case, not emotion.

Racism has been an allegation that civil rights leaders and activists have made at every part of this case: Zimmerman was racist, the justice system is racist, the jurors are racist, God is racist.  But was racism really involved?  An NBC editor tried to make it look that way when the audio tape of Zimmerman’s 911 call was edited to make it look like Zimmerman offered the assumption that the person he was following was black.  When everything was said and done, it was the dispatcher that asked him what the person looked like.  The FBI investigated Zimmerman to find out if there were any racial motives; they found none.  Zimmerman tutored black youth, had black relatives (which he reportedly lived with for a while), and came to the aid of a black homeless man being harassed by the Sanford PD.  Sure doesn't sound like a racist to me.  And then there’s the media who called him white.  When it was discovered that he was Hispanic, that label was changed to White Hispanic.  To me, that's a double standard and is as valid as the claims of racism being through around indiscriminately.

So is the justice system racist?  I’d be naive to think that there wasn't some level of racism in every aspect of our society: all ethnicities, genders, skin colors, and entities.  And there was a time in this country when racism was rampant.  I wish I could take that away, but I can’t.  But to assert that the entire justice system was racist is absurd.  The real question is, was this particular court racist?  There doesn't seem to be any indication that it was.  Certainly the same system being called racist today couldn't be the same system that acquitted O.J. Simpson of his murder charges.  If you want to call the system racist, then all of it is racist.  You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.

So were the jurors racist?  It was, in my opinion, a little unusual to have an all-female jury, but here’s something to remember.  Jurors are picked through a process called voir dire.  During this process, the prosecution and the defense get the opportunity to have questions asked of the potential jurors and reject those that they feel would not be objective in their deliberations.  (That’s a very simplified explanation, you can Google it if you’re that interested.)  So the jurors are picked in a way that helps ensure a fair trial.  The chance of the jury being racist is pretty small.  In fact, I'd say it's close to impossible to have an entire jury panel being racist against the defendant.

The comment that God must be a white racist is just so enormously ridiculous that you’d have to be completely ignorant of God to even make it.  Anyone who truly knows God knows there is no way God could be racist.  Enough said about that.

So why does race keep coming up?  I believe that some community organizers and so-called civil rights leaders feed off racial tension.  They get personal gain from stirring up racial tension: fame, recognition, money, notoriety, etc.  A vast majority of black males in this country are killed by other black males.  But there’s no personal gain from focusing on that.  Media won’t really cover it.  It’s a harder problem to fix.  It’s just easier to cry racism where there isn't any.

And if we’re going to be honest (and you have to be if you want an honest discussion about race), you’d have to accept and admit that not every incident involving a black victim and a non-black perpetrator is motivated by race.  But the race hustlers in the country will never do that because, again, there’s no personal gain in being honest.  The real victims in this environment are those that really experience racism.  Why are they the real victims?  Because when you allege racism before you get the facts, you minimize the real cases of racism.  You become the boy that cried wolf.  Racism allegations get so common place even when it becomes clear that racism was not a factor that cases of real racism are ignored.  And no one comes back around to apologize for making the allegation of racism when it becomes clear racism was not a factor (or the incident didn't occur as originally claimed – remember the Duke La Cross team incident?)

So why can’t we have an honest discussion about racism in this country?  Because we can’t be honest about racism.  But what do I know?  I’m not a civil rights leader.  This is just my two cents … for what it’s worth.