The grand tradition of the all-white jury came through for the man accused of killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. "Not guilty" of second-degree murder, "not guilty" of manslaughter, either.
Yours truly isn't shocked at the outcome. The die was cast in the beginning and America's preoccupation with stereotypes and assumptions played out on a grand scale. All the defense had to do was make the jury wonder if George Zimmerman did America a service by snuffing out a "typical ghetto thug." From all indications, it worked.
And so goes a story that's played itself out time and again with depressing regularity. You know, the one about how a black American was killed out of various racially motivated assumptions, only for his killer to walk free with few, if any, repercussions. It's an age-old story with no end in sight.
Knowing that Zimmerman will likely spend the bulk of his life sheltered away from understandably angry black Americans is cold comfort to Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin. They have to live with both a dead child and the relative freedom of the man who murdered him.
Meanwhile, other black parents are left wondering if their son or daughter will end up being the next victim of someone entitled of their preconceived notions and assumptions. As I've said before, it's a story that's as old and as predictable as the sun rising and setting.
I think it's high time for me to acquire a passport and think about life outside of the United States for a while, for my sanity's sake. Any black American wanting to start a family should do likewise.
