We Are All Trayvon Martin

Devina and I attended a rally in downtown Lansing yesterday in honor of Trayvon Martin.

We had learned about the event, which went from 4:00 to 7:00, from a Facebook posting earlier in the day which is why, I assume, the number of attendees was smaller than I expected. (I estimate the crowd at a couple hundred; my seven-year-old says it was more like 71.) Most of those on the State Capitol lawn were people of color and the vibe I felt wasn’t as unified as at previous rallies. For some reason I was conscious of my whiteness – I felt like pointing out that Trayvon’s murderer, George Zimmerman, is a slovenly Hispanic dude whereas I’m a slovenly Irish guy – and it seemed like Devina and I were given a wider berth than necessary but maybe it was my imagination.

In addition to Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero – who started out slow but found his groove – the speakers included a couple of preachers who made more references to the Almighty than I could count, Lansing Police Chief Teresa Szymanski, a woman who lost a son to violence a few years ago and read a religious poem she had written while grieving, State Representative Joan Bauer (D-Lansing), a woman who sang about letting go and letting God, Sakinah Tillman from the Black Law Students Association of Cooley Law School and a woman from the NAACP. (There were others but we arrived late and left early.) The organizer /emcee, an energetic, likable guy whose name I didn’t catch, did a superb job and should be commended. He kept things moving and kept the crowd pumped up.

I respect both the unity of the black community and its suspicion of outsiders – we white folks haven’t exactly earned their trust – and the right of people of faith to practice their religion. But I showed up yesterday ready to commiserate and left feeling like I didn’t belong. I know the event was about Trayvon and not me but I just wish there were a way to grieve together, to feel sorrow, anger, disgust, rage, frustration, sadness and compassion together, without factoring in the way we each appear.

Plenty of white people would personally haul George Zimmerman’s fat ass to jail if we could. Most thinking, feeling people want justice for Trayvon and his family. (Conservatives who are trying to paint Trayvon as a pot-smoking thug are doing the bidding of the NRA and deserve to be dismissed out of hand.) And not everyone gathering at rallies across the country takes comfort in promises that God will ensure Trayvon didn’t die in vain. I won’t take this opportunity to slam religion but I didn’t expect to have to bow my head last night while pastors prayed to Our Loving, Merciful Father Who Sacrificed His Only Son for Us.

It’s up to us to right the grievous wrong that took place in Sanford, Florida, on February 26. It’s up to us to repeal “Stand Your Ground” laws – which the mayor pointed out are really “Shoot First and Ask Later” laws – and demand Zimmerman’s arrest and tell our politicians that enough is enough, that the Second Amendment isn’t a license for bigoted morons to gun down black kids who like Skittles, that the founders of this country didn’t intend for the right to bear arms to trump common sense and for innocents in Tucson, Sanford, Columbine and Blacksburg to die when unstable losers decide to take their frustrations out on the rest of us.

The feeble protestations of conservatives notwithstanding, this is about race. Comedian Andy Borowitz’ Facebook status from a few days ago supports this assertion:

"Remember when that black guy killed that white kid and it took forever to arrest him? Me neither."

Rally photo courtesy MLive.com.