Bruce Beckerink
Franklin, TN

I’m scared and disappointed.
To Juror B37 – if Zimmerman “got the ball rolling” but “went over the top” how is that he was justified in taking a life exactly? I’m not blaming you – you did your job, according to the rules you were given, but the question is still valid. When someone chooses to arm themselves with a weapon that can take a life, and use it, how can what amounts a mistake in (at the very least) judgment be let go without consequence? Shouldn’t the tie have gone to the runner (aka, victim) in this case?
To the contributor who shall remain nameless (whose response to this site was seen on the PBS Newshour the other night), who’s tired of all the racial talk, that racism doesn’t exist, I hope you’re simply simple, otherwise I’d have to conclude that maybe your just so much like so many people – it’s hard to see yourself for who you might really be. Racism is there – not everywhere, but there enough, just under the surface in a lot of places.
We’re a white family. No, we’re a family of color. 19 years ago, we adopted a boy of color – mixed race, but to a good deal of the world he’s black. He looks a good deal like Trayvon Martin.
Since my son turned 12, he’s been my size or bigger – long legs, walks fast. Over the past seven years, I’ve seen this happen time and again. He’s ahead of me by a good distance, walking into a store. Me, walking in behind, able to see how the staff reacts as he walks in, unbeknownst to them that this black kid walking in the store belongs to me. I can see it plain as day – radars on and red flags go up as he enters the store. Only when the staff sees that he’s with “that older white guy,” do they relax. I’ve sometimes made a game of keeping my distance, finding the security guy and watching his reaction as he realizes he’s been wasting his time following my son around. Profiling happens all the time.
As a white guy, I’ve been in way too many situations where folks around me have been willing to let their guard down – make some comments (nod, nod, wink, wink) about blacks, Hispanics, whomever. Racism, culturalism is there, just under the surface – in way too many places.
What scares me is that what happened to Trayvon Martin could happen to my son, and that so many folks don’t see this as a problem. My kid, who like a of 19 year olds of any race or class, doesn’t choose to dress like he belongs to the county club set (seems that’s a criterion for not being lumped into the thug category by the cultural myopic set who think that white, middle class khaki’s and golf shirts are required decorum), but who’s looking forward to one day being a police officer and works hard at his lawn care business could just as easily chosen to stand his own ground when followed by “some guy thinking he’s doing good” (as Juror B37 implies) – and maybe lose his life.
I’m not advocating gun control – we live in a society that simply won’t let that happen (although laws like the one in FL do need some “adjusting”). But, what I am advocating is that we hold individuals who choose to arm themselves, and take the sort of action Mr. Zimmerman took, to be held accountable when they make mistakes. If enough Zimmerman’s are held truly accountable, maybe there will be fewer things happening requiring this sort of accountability. It’s just so unfortunate that it will take more lives to be lost before we’ll be able to collectively come to our senses, if we ever really will.