From the Roads in Florida and Georgia

I’m on the road for another day or two, traveling in Florida and Georgia; it’s surprising to get this intimate take on the news about the tragic, unnecessary death of Trayvon Martin in Florida.
by Charlie Leck


He was just a boy with a hopeful life in front of him. He had a broad, bright smile and glistening eyes. He’d come to this town, Sanford, in Florida, from his home in Miami. He was visiting family. On a perfect, spring evening, he walked to the corner store to purchase a bag of Skittles. What a perfectly, ordinary teenage thing to do. However, on his way home Treyvon encountered George Zimmerman, a self-appointed, vigilant dude who apparently had nothing much better to do with his time than watch for bad guys. Zimmerman carried a pistol with him. He was emboldened by a relatively new law in Florida that was commonly called the Stand Your Ground Law. It’s a dumb law. It may as well be called Shoot to Kill!


Zimmerman contacted the police and told them he spotted a suspicious looking fellow in the neighborhood. Was it because he had never seen this Miami kid in the community before? He described the boy to the police. They told Zimmerman to fade out of the picture. They were coming to check it out. They told him not to make contact.


For some reason, Zimmerman confronted Treyvon anyway. Something went wrong. Did the bag of Skittles threaten the adult? Did Treyvon somehow challenge Zimmerman?


Oh, my!


To the adult, but confused, Zimmerman, Treyvon looked like trouble. Ask yourself: why? “Why did the boy look like trouble?” There is only one inescapable answer: "He was black!"

Had Treyvon been white – a middle class kid by the name of Trey, who was on the debate team at the local, private academy, he would still be alive today.


That’s harsh!


Indeed, it is! Sometimes, the truth is harsh.


Something is terribly wrong in Florida. They passed an obnoxious law that should be immediately repealed. The gun lobby and the people and organizations that sponsored it won’t stand for repeal. They all argue that the law makes sense.


For God’s sake! Use your brains! Make sense and resist nonsense.


Minnesota’s Governor will veto such legislation if it is passed by the Republicans in the state’s legislature. Thank goodness!


All of this reminds me of too many cowboy movies I saw as a kid. My father called them “shoot ‘em ups!” He was right. They were stupid. So is any kind of Stand Your Ground Law.


If you feel a reasonable sense of threat to your life or person, you may use a gun to protect yourself – even if all the kid has on him is a bag of Skittles!


I just don’t know what to say in the face of such stupidity! Veto it, Governor! Tell them to go straight to hell!