“You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot I said he could have been my son,” said President Obama during a White House press conference. “Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.”
In the wake of the Martin-Zimmerman incident, America was flooded with race-baiting talk like the president’s. Obama showed no interest in objectivity or evidence during the case. All they cared to know was a black guy was killed by a white Hispanic guy. So, the conclusion was obvious to them: racism. You know, because if a white guy was involved, racism was obviously a key factor.
What was interesting about the entire case, from beginning to end was that racism was rampant, only not in the way the mainstream media or Obama portrayed it. To them, Martin was an idol, a martyr of the black community, and Zimmerman had to be the typical evil white man who decided to take action because of Martin’s skin color.
Yet, that was not the case. America soon learned that Zimmerman did not follow Martin out of racist feelings or murder him. In fact, it seemed that Martin was the aggressor, dealing Zimmerman some “whoop-ass,” as Zimmerman trial witness Rachel Jeantel described. Zimmerman was lawfully defending himself.
However, under the guidance of the media and president, we were not encouraged to look at this trial through colorblind eyes. They looked at it through tainted vision, and we were supposed to as well. Rather than wait for evidence of Zimmerman’s guilt, we like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, were supposed to immediately declare racism and call for a guilty verdict.
Therein laid the true racism. Each man fit a certain profile; therefore we knew who was who in the incident. Right, Reverend Sharpton?
Dr. James Manning of ATLAH World Missionary Church hit the nail on the head when he said to his congregation, “The only reason why you think that way (that Zimmerman is guilty) is because you’re black. You see the world, not through the blood of Jesus, you see the world through your black eyes. You have not changed yet.”
That is how Sharpton saw the case, and Manning knew it. Unlike them, he saw that it is not the color of your skin that determines your innocence. He understands that anyone who puts anything like skin color or ethnicity above Christ and the truth despises both, and seeks only to fulfill
an agenda.
Similarly, we should know it wouldn’t matter if Zimmerman was black or Martin white. Zimmerman was defending himself. Skin color was irrelevant, and the jury was right to cast such arguments aside. Zimmerman stood trial, and a case couldn’t be made against him. Not in the same way a case couldn’t be made against Emmett Till’s murderers, who murdered African American Emmett Till after he was allegedly flirting with a white woman in 1955.
Both the families of Martin and
Zimmerman need be prayed for. We need to look past skin color as we encourage each family to move forward in forgiveness.
Andrew Jenson can be reached at [email protected]