Let us Remember Trayvon By the Lives we Lead

This week people all over the world people have been responding to the acquittal of the man who killed Trayvon Martin.  Though I too am outraged and disappointed by how the trial unfolded and the verdict, I would like to take this time to make a plea for greater focus on the plight of our youth in urban areas where violence and homicides are commonplace occurrences.

My hope is that this tragedy and travesty of justice will shake leaders, teachers and parents to be more vigilant and fight harder for the safety of our children.  Though there is no possible justification for the shooting of young Trayvon Martin.  But another sad fact is that hundreds of young people have been killed by the hands of other young people in our community since Trayvon’s life was taken.

Most major cities across the nation report high rates of homicides for African American youth, particularly black male youth.  Most of these are at the hands of other black youth.   A few sobering statistics:

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•  According to the 2001 Juvenile Justice Bulletin:  In 1999, about 1,800 juveniles (a rate of 2.6 per 100,000) were victims of homicide in the United States. This rate is substantially higher than that of any other developed country.  Minority children and youth are disproportionately affected. For example, 52 percent of juvenile victims of homicide are nonwhite (Snyder and Finnegan, 1998). Even after a recent decline, the overall rate of victimization for black juveniles (9.1 per 100,000) in 1997 dwarfed the rate for white Juveniles (1.8 per 100,000) (figure 2). The victimization rate for Hispanic juveniles in three States where data are available was also quite high in 1997 (5.0 per 100,000)

• ·       Among racial and ethnic groups, black youth experienced the highest rates of serious violent crime in 2010. From 2002 to 2010, rates of serious violent crime declined among white (down 26%) and Hispanic (down 65%) youth, but remained the same among black youth

• ·       According to the Center for Disease Control,  from 2008 to 2010  homicide is the 2^nd leading cause of death for young people under the age of 24 and Black males under 24 had the highest death rate due to homicides in New York State,

• ·       The Children’s Defense Fund reports that in 2009, gun homicide was the leading cause of death among black teens.

Parents, Schools, Churches, Youth Organizations must place high priority on helping to stem the tide of youth on youth crime in our communities.   The conversation and resources need to be directed at dealing with what makes young people in our communities so prone to violence and why they place such little value on the lives of their peers and their own lives.  It is not too late to begin to make a difference; we must harness the will to break the cycles of rage and violence that is destroying a vital part of our hope, our life, and our souls.  It is not enough to say my kids in my home, church, school, neighborhood, and block are doing well when all around them so many young people are losing their lives.  

It is not enough to shake our heads and talk about how bad the kids are today.  Be a mentor, fight for gun control, financially support youth organizations, become active in your local school and do what you can to let an adolescent know that he/she is valued.

 It is a horror that Trayvon’s killer’s fear and criminal/racial profiling of him led to Trayvon’s death.  The fact of fear and race prejudice is a matter that must be dealt with if we are to survive; lest we return to the days of the Wild West, where gun violence rules the day (or maybe we are already there).

  We should use every means available to call for justice for violation of Trayvon’s civil rights—sign petitions, organize boycotts, participate in elections, run for office, and write articles, tweet, and protest as loudly as possible.  But let us remember Trayvon by the lives we lead and being ever mindful that there are hundreds of thousands of young people in our communities who need to know, who must learn from us that they have a reason to live and a contribution to make to society.  Then and only then will we begin to, as my friend  Rev. Dr. Alfonso Wyatt says,” starve the beast” that is destroying our youth.

Are we searching for peace?

Recently I had a conversation with an elder man about the issue of acceptance of Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgendered (LGBT) people in the church. He was upset about all the recent noise about inclusion.  He felt that “those” people are not normal; they are not part of God’s plan for humanity and could never be recognized as normal.  He was concerned about the language of inclusion that was being expressed in an increasing number of circles. He had grown up in a community in which though it was known that “those” people existed, they were unmentionables and were never to be included in proper social gatherings.

It seemed to him that all this talk was an indication that the “gays were wanting to take over” and he was not going to have it.  I shared with him that that his sentiment is similar to that of every dominant culture that was resistant to hearing the cry for justice from a minority or so called subordinated culture.

As I listened and later challenged him on the matter of God’s created order for humanity, it occurred to me that he expresses the opinions of many of his generation. He grew up in a world where LGBT people were demonized and ostracized.  They were relegated to the outskirts, dark corners and forbidden alleys of society. They were objects of abuse, ridicule and violence.  There was no opportunity for a “normal” life unless it was in secret and even then the threat or possibility of exposure was always looming, so there were few opportunities for peace in the life of our LGBT brothers and sisters.  And at the same time, this man was socialized to believe that these people disturbed the peace of his community.

But I would venture that there are generations of people who grew up under all kinds of repression and oppression—racism, sexism, ageism, classicism, elitism, etc. that was/is psychologically, spiritually and emotionally damaging. Even he, as an African-American Elder man, must have experienced the effects of exclusion.  It seems there is always somebody somewhere who wants to belittle, condemn and restrict some so that the restrictions can make way for freedom and comfort of others.

I think the ultimate end of all spiritual/religious pursuit is peace— peace in one’s personal life, in one’s   family, community, world and certainly in the afterlife.  And it seems to me that a considerable part of understanding peace imparts a sense of justice—not vengeance or exclusion.  A sensibility that says I am accepted cared for and encouraged to share my gift of life in the land of the living and so too are others. The more I talk to people like this man, I wonder whether peace living is possible. 

The optimist in me, says that no matter how difficult a task is or appears to be, if the end or completion of it is peace, then we should, I should continue the work without violence or malice but with the strength of hope in the possibility for mutual understanding.  

Are we all searching for peace?  I believe it’s an important question of this millennia; we’ve tried all manner of hostility, sanctions, exclusions threat and force.  It is time to seek peace; first seek it within ourselves, and then encourage peaceful living in our homes, on our jobs, in our neighborhoods, and the world.  Speak out, vote, write, teach and support efforts that encourage peace