Seeing Trayvon: Overcoming the blindness of prejudice requires reaching across our contentious diversity

Opinion: The man who stalked and killed Trayvon Martin is cleared of all charges, and a flood of disbelief and outrage pours across my computer screen: "My sense of justice is shattered." "Florida is overtaking California in the race for 'Best State to Kill Someone and Get Away With It.'" "Michael Vick got more punishment for killing a dog." All I can see is Tracy Martin weeping over his lost son. You cannot deny people justice, make it clear that their lives are worth less, and then command their respect. This country is not an anthem or a public-relations campaign. It is a living thing, and has been wounded by the acquittal of another in a long string of killers of unarmed black men and youth. We have much work to do to create our country. I am ashamed of the one I see. A friend asks, "What do we tell our children?" We tell them to strive to leave this country more just than they found it. We give them the history to inform them and the tools to carry on the struggle. ... (more)

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