As I have discussed in this blog, racial inequality has been something our nation has struggled with for a long time. Something we thought was ended with the equal rights amendment, actually has never been stopped especially in the criminal justice system. This has been shown in cases like Rodney King and many like his. The shocking part is that it is still going on in present day America with cases like that of Trayvon Martin.

Trayvon Martin was born on February 5, 1995, was a 17-year-old African-American high school student who lived in Miami Gardens, Florida, with his mother Sybrina Fulton. In February 2012, Martin was visiting his father Tracy Martin in Sanford, Florida, after being suspended from school. The story goes as follows: George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch member in Sanford Florida was on patrol. On patrol he called 911 to report a “suspicious person” in his neighborhood. While on the phone George Zimmerman was told by the 911 operator not to approach or follow this person. However, Zimmerman disregarded the operator and preceded to get out of his car and approach the person later known as Trayvon Martin. The next moments are unclear as there is no footage of the incident but neighbors recall hearing gunshots and Zimmerman claims of shot Trayvon in self-defense saying he felt threatened, however Trayvon had no weapon on him merely a drink and a pack of skittles. In the police reports it states that Zimmerman had a bloody nose and a cut on the back of his head.

After nearly two months Zimmerman is finally put on trial for second-degree murder after the tapes of the 911 calls were released to the public, multiple protest broke out, and other evidence was collected. It was proven that Trayvon had no weapon on him at the time of the altercation and was doing nothing illegal. However, Zimmerman stated he thought Trayvon had a gun in his waste band and reached to use it. The case went down as a self-defense case instead of the other choice as Zimmerman using the stand your ground rule. The jury ultimately found George Zimmerman not guilty of second degree ma slaughter. No matter what actually happened that night when Taryvon was awfully killed, on fact remains. The case was just one example of how the race of Trayvon affected all aspects of this case whether it being Zimmerman’s actions, the way the department handled the case, and even how the media received and portrayed the incident.

Many people have their own thoughts of the Trayvon Martin case and I understand that, because it can be a complicated case to break down and one that holds many emotional aspects. My view, yes me the white man going to college, thinks it was in just and yes I blame George Zimmerman for what happened and I do believe it could’ve went down a different way than it did. But, I also blame the criminal justice system that failed Trayvon and his family. That brings me back to my overarching question  for this whole blog, Is the criminal justice system broken and if so what must we do to fix it or is the system completely fine and simply working the way it was always meant to be.

I know it is easy to think the system has to be broken right, we might not know how to fix it but it has to be broken. Who would create a system that purposely discriminates against people solely on the color of their skin in today’s society? That question while writing it made me laugh because it’s that exact thing that America was built on, a split between races. It is exactly what the criminal justice system was built on, and if the system was built on that fact that blacks are more criminal they how could it the system be fixed if it was never built to be equal in the first place?

I don’t expect you to answer this right now, hell or even accept it the first time you hear it. I just ask you to think about it and mull it over until my next post where I will break this down with clear and distinct evidence. The honest truth is until we stop believing everything we think we know and only accept what we learn to be true, we can never answer my question and can never fix the problem.

Links used: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/911-calls-released-in-trayvon-martin-fatal-shooting/