Shooting of Florida Teen-Ager
By Francisco PS
A black man in a hoodie isn’t -shan’t- be any less or more threatening than a white man in a hoodie; however, according to Mr. Zimmerman’s actions, this isn’t true.
On Saturday night of February 26th, the death of 17 year old teenager Trayvon Martin resulted after George Zimmerman, 28, followed him from a store in the gated community he lived until the point where he shot Trayvon Martin. There was no reason for Trayvon Martin’s death and it could’ve –should’ve- been avoided if the voluntary watchman, George Zimmerman, had obeyed the police officer’s orders to not assault the innocent and acquitted teenager who had only been at the store to buy some skittles and an ice tea his little brother had requested.
Prejudice can easily lead to injustice if one acts against someone he does not know or understand. Racial prejudice is something related to the case since Mr. Zimmerman hadn’t reported any “suspicious” behavior until he noticed Trayvon Martin’s skin color: black. Now, ask yourself, would Mr. Zimmerman have shot the pedestrian if he had been white? If Mr. Zimmerman would’ve been black or Hispanic and the pedestrian white do you think they would’ve immediately sentenced Mr. Zimmerman to jail? With that in mind, I do believe that this case involved racial prejudice.
Individuals own the responsibility to protect and respect different cultures and races just as equal as their own: thus, George Zimmerman been a white Hispanic, he never had the right to assault Trayvon Martin for his “suspicious” appearance or anything he was holding in his hands. Anyone is innocent until proven guilty, Trayvon Martin wasn’t guilty of anything and he was just starting his life as a young adult; for this exact reason, Mr. Zimmerman hasn’t been brought to justice…. There is not enough evidence to sentence him to any amount of jail time even though we all know he is guilty and responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death.
Nobody to this point knows what was going around in Mr. Zimmerman’s head as he decided to shoot. When people fear what they don’t understand, they act without giving their actions any second views or thoughts to how it might affect others and or himself. Are we really that good of humans when we go around prejudicing, questioning, or assaulting others because of their race? We all have moral values, it doesn’t matter what race you are or what skin color you are made of, moral values are moral values and they derive from within one’s own self.
Gender also comes to play in this case, if Trayvon Martin hadn’t been a male, it would’ve been more probable for Mr. Zimmerman to have not assaulted him since it is always a bit more probable for men to commit more crime than women. Gender stereotypes relate to both women and men, it’s a stereotype to say that men commit more crimes than women, but it can still be true. Having said that, Mr. Zimmerman’s thoughts on a “suspicious” female pedestrian would´ve been different from his thoughts of a male; this is so since he wouldn’t really expect to come across a crime-committing woman.
A black man in a hoodie walks into a bar and everybody looks at him suspiciously, a few minutes later a white man in a hoodie does the same, but no one looks at him they way they looked at the black man… it’s wrong to prejudice, but then why do people do it? Why do they fear what they don’t understand? Why don’t they understand? He is just a person like everybody else and deserves to be treated the same way. About 50 years ago from now the Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. gave his speech, he had a dream, a dream that still – to this day- hasn’t become true. Trayvon Martin was innocent and he´s death was caused by the prejudice from a guilty man who still walks free in the streets, Martin Luther King Junior’s dream has obviously not become true, not even to this day.
