The young Black male always ends up the one dead, and the conservative commentators act as if whites are the victims. The shooter, Zimmerman, lied to local police investigating the incident - and they took his word for it. No background check. No alcohol sobriety tests (on the shooter), but the police did conduct drug tests on the corpse of Trayvon Martin! What part of justice is that? It’s the routine part of justice that causes Blacks to distrust any form of policing and bureaucratic investigation.

Same Actors, Different Stage The Other Side of the Tracks By Perry Redd BlackCommentator.com Columnist

I’d like to ignore this one, act like it never happened… but it did… a murder at the hands of the self-righteous. Facts, unfounded. Another young brother, dead. Case closed. But then again, we cannot allow the same production to speak to how this story ends… for Trayvon Martin’s sake, as well as America’s own. In late February (Black History Month), a young Black man, Trayvon Martin, was shot and killed by a Hispanic white male, George Zimmerman. So the facts played out as yet another sad and unjust tragedy in the legacy of American criminal justice - or injustice as it stands. You see, the same actors - young Black man accused of being “the” fully loaded fireman and a dismissive policing agency - bring this production to life. But once again, this is not an act, this is real life. The young Black male always ends up the one dead, and the conservative commentators act as if whites are the victims. The shooter, Zimmerman, lied to local police investigating the incident - and they took his word for it. No background check. No alcohol sobriety tests (on the shooter), but the police did conduct drug tests on the corpse of Trayvon Martin! What part of justice is that? It’s the routine part of justice that causes Blacks to distrust any form of policing and bureaucratic investigation. Martin has been dead since February 26th, but after Sanford, Florida’s Black community organized - even calling in the oft-maligned, Rev. Al Sharpton, now real investigations might take place. Why does it take being affronted (Black victims) and outed (white-run investigative agencies) before the latter respects due process rights and laws. Shouldn’t this be police protocol? Of course, it should, but as outlined in my forthcoming book, As a Condition of Your Freedom, America is undergoing a digression from its Civil Rights strides: Despite a mistaken perception, too many in power believe that Blacks have gained too much voice in calling for an “end” to the Civil Rights battle. With this country’s sordid history of racial injustice, elected officials continue to devise ways and means to undermine those strides for equality under the law. From Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul’s call for repeal of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to the current challenge to the federal Affirmative Action law (that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this Fall 2012), any exertion by Blacks to make their offenders accountable is portrayed as a criminal act. I’m saying “no more;” these maneuvers to shirk accountability must stop. A former slave state, Florida, is steeped in racial injustice. From Zora Neal Hurston’s accounts of “strange fruit,” to more contemporary cases, such as Lionel Tate’s (the 9-year-old tried and convicted as an adult for accidentally killing his friend while imitating a wrestling move), we know as Americans what racism looks like. We also know what motivates racist acts: fear and hatred. Fear is the underlying element in violence. What someone might do will cause one to stoop to the lowest levels of human behavior… thus, we stand here at this juncture… at this time… Trayvon Martinlies victim to Zimmerman’s fear and hatred. We should also be aware that the shooter, George Zimmerman, isn’t the only one who should be arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned. The lawmakers who passed the “Stand Your Ground” law are just as guilty - if guilty only of escalating an already unstable racial dynamic in the constituent communities they represent. The “Stand Your Ground” law says a person who feels threatened has no duty to retreat and, in return, may respond with force - deadly force. You see, Zimmerman was empowered by the law, even more than by the firearm. It appears that “law-abiding” white males have a greater propensity for causing mayhem and carnage than other demographic groups of the American populace. In early March, two people were shot dead at a psychiatric clinic in Pittsburgh. It wouldn’t take long to ascertain the race of the shooter, but I digress. A more recent incident is that of an Iraqi mother of five, fatally beaten in herCalifornia home. A note calling the family terrorists was found near her body. I seriously doubt this homicide was an Iraqi-on-Iraqi crime or one where the murderer was of some other ethnic minority. We stand on the sidelines as 12 states continue on paths to allowing their residents to own handguns - with NO permits! What I know is that thousands of Black males, warehoused in prisons across America for owning handguns - without permits, haven’t killed a soul. Why is that, you think? Race. It’s a simple case of racial injustice… under the law. It is time, due season, for us to get off the sidelines, and get busy - busy un-electing irresponsible lawmakers who kowtow to the lobbying money of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Gun Owners of America (GOA). The attack on Black men is prevalent, present and active. I’ve documented far too many cases to count of race-based injustice (see www.stopattackingblackmen.com). (We know documentation doesn’t stop murderers from murdering.) We must “out” the bad guys - including police departments that undermine due process and rule of law. We must take to the streets and demand justice. We must dispel our apathy of the electoral process, if we are to thrive in this country. Notice, I did not say live, survive, or definitely did I notsay walk on egg shells. Our ancestors paid a heavy price for a stake in the American process. We cannot squander centuries of blood, sweat and tears, hoping for violent men to become peaceable. The United States brand of justice is admirable in theory, but deplorable in practice. The integrity of that brand - the U.S. stage on which its racial dynamics unfold - shall never change with the same actors. BlackCommentator.com Columnist, Perry Redd, is the former Executive Director of the workers rights advocacy, Sincere Seven, and author of the on-line commentary, “The Other Side of the Tracks.” He is the host of the internet-based talk radio show,Socially Speaking in Washington, DC. Click here to contact Mr. Redd.