"Hero" Is An Earned Honor

The death of Mr. Tayvon Martin was a tragedy.  As Mr. Zimmerman’s attorney put it, the conviction of Mr. Zimmerman as charged would have been a travesty. The Martin family had every right to press the authorities for full consideration of the facts. However, both self-appointed and positioned spokespersons for black Americans fed an undisciplined, unprofessional and self-serving media juggernaut with hyperbolic and false racist allegations prior to and during the trial. THIS frenzy assuredly prompted the prosecution to overcharge with Murder when, as shown by all of the evidence at trial, there existed insufficient evidence even to arrest on that charge. The verdict of the jury is unassailable given the facts as presented at trial.

Now in the aftermath of the trial the same black “leaders” and media present hyperbole, conjecture and racist fear mongering in an attempt to justify their earlier wrongs to the system and Mr. Zimmerman and to further their own agendas.  I heard one black high official in the NAACP state that Trayvon Martin will occupy the same status and image as Medgar Evers, a black-American civil rights activist assassinated for his work in Mississippi in 1963. That angers and sickens me and should every American – particularly black-Americans.

  

Eyewitness evidence put Martin on top of and beating down on Zimmerman; Zimmerman’s injuries were consistent with that observation; Zimmerman claimed Martin initiated the physical encounter with a punch to the face; Zimmerman sustained a broken nose; there were no significant inconsistencies in Zimmerman’s statements; Zimmerman said the Martin had looked like he was on drugs; Martin in a store video seemed to weave; Martin had marijuana in his system; nothing showed racial bias or racial “profiling” by Zimmerman.

Conjure, speculate, twist and ignore what you will, Trayvon Martin deserves no honors for his conduct that night.  Certainly, neither does Zimmerman.  And don’t dare for political self-aggrandizement or action mention Martin’s name alongside that of Medgar Evers. To do so belittles the true heroes.

A Response.

My friend, responding to my Friday the 13th comment challenged me saying that my "espousing the need for civility in one breath and then race bating and name calling in the next" was hollow commentary.

Well, I answered that I had intended merely to identify policies and ideological positions in the political arena that I find generally detestable on the present Right. I guess that I do regret having to call the proponents "Republicans."

To clarify, I reject levels of civility that constrain responses from the Democrat Party to what I have described. On the other side, the diversity within the Democrat Party fosters elements of selfishness similar to what I decried in the Republican Party and which work to destroy opportunity for the common good. As with the Right, some of the entrenched political, social and ideological cliques on the Left, though without power to control the nation, seek their own estates no matter the costs to the common good.

After receiving over the last two years blatantly racist jokes, cartoons and commentaries from many sources who each cloak themselves in conservative Republican association and observing the "birthers" driven by antagonistic disbelief that any man of mixed racial blood could be President, I conclude that racist beliefs form a portion of what has stimulated the Republican Party. I do not insinuate. I accuse.

Friday the 13th and I am Scared

The conversation began with a discussion of Ron Paul's latest affiliation. As is often the case, a sub-topic took over and we began to discuss political perspectives of the "media." A friend countered: "I will admit that from my political perspective here on the left coast, the [New York] Times and [Washington] Post seem pretty reasonable and it’s the FOX and other Murdock-controlled types of media that is scary."

And I added: I know that this may surprise some but I agree. However, for me, the baseless inflammatory rhetoric, the racist underpinnings, the fear mongering lies, the non-compromising political extortions, the preference for oligarchical sustainment, the defense of extreme wealth inequality over liberty, the ideological purity demanded, the narrowing of constitutional rights, the duplicitous propaganda concealing political agendas, and the exaltation of unbridled selfishness of and by the Republican Party, its backers, promoters, and the "tea" swallowing, flag wearing fellow travelers who, at best, know neither history nor reality, scare the hell out of me and, in all honesty, deeply anger me.

The America they represent to me is a mockery of a democracy which was to evolve from our declaration of an endowment of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Capitalism is merely the carriage of economic progress. It must not form the engine of democracy. Most of us teach our children that capital will provide a measure of sustenance and goods but it will not provide character. So should it be with this evolving nation.