Race, Stand Your Ground and Inconsistencies

So I just watched a clip of The Daily Show, where John Oliver talks about a black woman in Florida who fired her gun in the air to ward off her abusive husband and was arrested for it.  She was sentenced to 20 years in prison and the jury took 12 minutes to deliberate.  That's justice in the US.

David Simon on the Zimmerman/Martin Verdict

Simon says pretty much some of the things I feel.

I was with my son this past weekend when the verdict was announced. He just moved to Atlanta with his mother and her partner. This was my first visit since they moved about a month ago. We were playing video games and watching a movie Saturday night when I heard the jury had made a decision.  My son is just about to turn 13. He's black/hispanic (mom's hispanic, dad's black--I'm technically his stepdad, but have been with him since he was 3 and by all purposes am his dad).  You try to protect them from these things for as long as you can, but the fact is that he's getting older and needs to know the way the world work when it comes to being a young black male in society.  He's goofy, funny and funky, all things that make him special.  But to someone who doesn't know him and has stereotypes of young black boys, those things aren't recognized and don't matter.

I cut and pasted the entire as much of it summarized how I feel (see below the break).  You can go to the original post by clicking here.

Trayvon Martin: Audio from 102 JAMZ in Orlando

Here's some of the audio of the Trayvon Martin rally in Sanford, Florida taken from 102 JAMZ radio station in Orlando.  Included in this audio sample are clips from the rally, activists and people calling into the show.  One note is that Melony Torres calls for a Sanford boycott.  Don't purchase anything or spend any money in Sanford, Florida.

I'd like to write more about this and have a lot to say.  I haven't been able to mainly because of how much emotional energy and strength it takes to talk about this.  I'm a bit ashamed of myself for not just digging in and writing a long, thoughtful post, but I just can't find it in me right now.  Even thinking about it is difficult.  I will say one thing, the white, conservative response to this is classic character assassination and it's despicable.  To blame Trayvon for anything having to do with his killing is cowardly, pitiful and heartless.  Further, where's the investigation of Zimmerman and how is he still free?  This is disgusting.