It's been 18 days and counting since 17 year old Trayvon Martin was gunned down by volunteer neighborhood watch Captain George Zimmerman, walking home from a convenience store inside his father's gated community in Sanford Florida. His killer still has not been charged, and Sanford Police still refuse to release the 911 tapes.
The Failures of Integration: How Race and Class are Undermining the American Dream, a book written by Georgetown Law Professor Sheryll Cashin , are amplified in the case of Trayvon Martin. African Americans work hard, play by the rules, pull themselves up by their boot straps striving to achieve the American dream. They move into gated communities believing they will be insulated and safe from the underclass. But they are not insulated, nor are they safe, because in the end they were born black in America.
What is the difference between a black man protecting his home, and a white man protecting his neighborhood?
The black man protecting his home from a mob of drunk, teen aged, white males, was arressted, tried, convicted and imprisoned. His sentence was later commuted.
The white man protecting his neighborhood from an unarmed, teen aged, African American male has not been arrested.
It's not easy being born black in America.
1 comment:
"And they want us to sing God Bless America?"
and pledge "with liberty and justice for all"? Change the "with" to "seeking," or "pretending there's" and say it loud when these public professions of faith are demanded.
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