One of the human race’s favorite pastimes is being right. I personally love it. You probably do, too. The problems start when we declare ourselves right before we know what in the world we’re talking about. That’s what’s happening – on both sides – with Trayvon Martin.
Some in the pro-life community are equating the shooting death of Martin with the tragic killing of unborn black children by abortion. Is this a fair comparison?
Well, the media has been showing us pictures of a cuddly twelve-year-old Trayvon, not the middle-finger-saluting, profanity-spouting seventeen-year-old with a gold grill whose Twitter handle was NO_LIMIT_NIGGA and who had been suspended from school multiple times, most recently for having an empty marijuana baggie. None of those things, of course, demands a death sentence. But do they paint a picture different from that of the grinning pre-teen?
The name “George Zimmerman” conjured pictures of a wealthy Jewish Floridian who got his hands on a nice pistol and joined the neighborhood watch to flex his muscles against the undesirable brown people who might wander into his posh gated community, but the truth shows a half-Peruvian middle-class Democrat living in a neighborhood that had been beset by crime.
Did Zimmerman chase Martin? It seems that way. Did he then give up and end up being attacked, his nose broken and head bashed against the ground? That’s what Zimmerman and some witnesses are saying. Footage released today of Zimmerman entering the Sanford police station doesn’t show him looking particularly beaten up — no blood, bruises, or bandages.
Is his story false? Is Zimmerman lying? Or is the footage too grainy? Was he cleaned up by paramedics?
The simple truth is that at this point, with the D.A. so far saying there’s not enough substance for a case against him, Zimmerman refusing to speak on the advice of his attorney, and Martin’s autopsy results not back yet, there is simply not enough evidence to conclude exactly what happened.
But that hasn’t stopped Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and other camera-hogs from leaping to the front of demonstrations across the country, demanding that Zimmerman be arrested. The New Black Panthers have even put a bounty on him. The president himself has weighed in.
On the other side, anti-crime groups, conservatives, 2nd Amendment supporters, and other groups with whom I am normally in wholehearted agreement are firmly behind George Zimmerman. But I have to say: not so fast. If we find out, be it by release of ballistic evidence, autopsy results, voice analysis of the 911 call recording, photos of Zimmerman’s injuries, or some other information — or through any legal means — that Trayvon was attacking Zimmerman and Zimmerman acted in self-defense, I am perfectly willing to wish Zimmerman well. If, on the other hand, there is no such evidence, then let there be a trial. And — I know this is too much to ask — let it not be a circus.
But it already is a circus. And that is the problem. Trayvon Martin has been turned into a martyr before all the facts are in. But as Bernard Goldberg pointed out:
Let’s not be naïve: If Trayvon Martin had been shot that night by another black teenager there would be have been nothing from president Obama, no nationally televised demonstrations, no demands for justice by prominent civil rights leaders, and nobody outside his immediate circle of family and friends would even know his name.
I’ll go one step farther: if Trayvon Martin’s mother had decided she didn’t want him to be born, there would have been less from the president. Her mom, boyfriend, or friends might have even told her she made a good decision for her future. In fact, she may very well have paid a white man to kill her baby.
Before the facts are in, it is inaccurate and unfair to equate Trayvon Martin with the millions of black babies who have been killed by abortion.
And what about the black youths who are killed by gang violence, often at the hands of other black youths? Goldberg goes on:
It’s a safe bet that not one in a million Americans has the vaguest clue as to who Delric Waymon Miller IV is.
Delric was a 9-month old baby – a 9-month old African American baby – who was sleeping on a couch at home in Detroit a few weeks ago, when in the early morning hours, someone fired 37 shots from an AK-47 into the house. One shot killed Delric Waymon Miller IV.
Delric’s 19-year old mother said to get away from the gunfire she grabbed her baby and took him into the basement. That’s when she saw the blood. The baby wouldn’t wake up, she said.
Police think the shooting may have been an act of retaliation stemming from a fight between rival gangs a few days earlier at a bar.
Again, I would go Mr. Goldberg one better: at least little Delric Miller’s mother gave him life, if only for a few months. At least he got to have a name.
The truth is Trayvon Martin has not yet been shown to be a victim of injustice. Delric was, and so are the hundreds of thousands of black babies who never get a chance at life.
Former NAACP leader-turned-Tea Party activist C.L. Bryant has accused Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton of exploiting the death of Trayvon Martin for their own ends. He calls black-on-black crime an epidemic and points out that a black youth is far more likely to be killed by another black youth than by a white person.
“The greatest danger to the lives of young black men are young black men,” he says.
Almost, but not quite true: the greatest danger to the lives of the youngest black men – and women – wear lab coats and are called “Doctor.”
So, hey, all you of you demonstrators, all of you media people who want to cash in on a tragedy: why don’t we stick to what we do know? Was Martin an innocent victim? Maybe. Was Delric an innocent victim? Yes.
Are the black children killed by abortion innocent victims? Absolutely.
If you had a son, Mr. President, before he ever looked like Trayvon Martin, he would look like one of them.
LifeNews.com Note: Kristen Walker is Vice President of New Wave Feminists.This post originally appeared at the Live Action blog and is reprinted with permission.
