Justice for Trayvon, Justice for All

“Our investigation is color blind and based on the facts and circumstances, not color. I know I can say that until I am blue in the face, but as a white man in a uniform, I know it doesn’t mean anything to anybody.” Sanford (FL) Police Chief Bill Lee.

Well Mr. Lee it certainly doesn't mean anything to me. This color blind investigation is mere a ruse, a redirection, a deflection of the seriousness of the matter at hand.  A young boy, a black boy Trayvon Martin, was gunned down by a white man.  The white man goes free, the black boy goes to the morgue.

George Zimmerman believed that Trayvon, walking and minding his business in a gated townhome community should not have been there.  Zimmerman's racist framing doesn't allow him to see a boy walking minding his own business, his framing says that what he sees is a menace, a black menace, someone who does not belong, someone that should be removed.  Whether he intended or not, Zimmerman removed Trayvon from this earth permanently.

Accounts say that a struggle ensued somewhere.  Initial investigation by the police conclude that Zimmerman had injuries consistent with his claim of self defense.  Media Reports say that Zimmerman had been arrested before for battery on a police officer. Yet, Zimmerman was taken in for questioning and released because his record was "squeaky clean.".  Trayvon Martin was taken to the medical examiner and listed as John Doe.  When he died he didn't even have a name.

Zimmerman is still free, Martin is still dead.  His parents grieve for him.  Mothers and fathers of black and brown boys grieve for him and grieve for their own sons that are living and are at risk every single day of being harrassed, arrested, beaten or even killed.

I grieve for him and all black and brown children.  I'm tired of asking the question, when will this end?  I'm tired of no justice being served and having the real victims being treated as criminals even in death.  If the the justice system is not in our interest, if we cannot be with our children 24/7 365 to ensure they are not ensnared and taken out by hate, what can we do?

For Trayvon we can start by signing this petition to bring his killer to justice.  

Going forward, I do not know what we can do to be frank.  What I do know is that you nor I can sit on the side lines and allow the assault to continue. 

<photo courtesy of the family of Trayvon Martin>

The Johnson, The Bishop, The Unemployed

Ginger White, blew off the roof this week when she informed the media that that she'd had a 13 year affair with Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain.  Cain admitted to knowing White and to even helping her financially but denied the any affair.  Yet today, in his prolonged pomp and circumstanced farewell speech, he blamed the liberal media for his departure for the presidential race.  His Johnson had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Vanessa Long, wife of Bishop Eddie L. Long filed for divorce on Thursday, withdrew it Thursday night citing attacks over the years by the media then decided to proceed to with the filing on Friday.  The entire Long story is about unchecked power, unchecked illness, betrayal and ultimately the destruction of the lives of many people directly and indirectly involved.  I do not know how all of it will end, but my prayer is that it ends with healing.

As if the unemployed don't have enough to worry about.  Unemployed Georgians have to worry about this guy:

State Senator John Albers (R-Roswell) who has proposed  S.B. 294, the "Dignity for the Unemployed Act". The act would require those receiving unemployment benefits to volunteer for a non-profit for 24 hours a week.  Non-compliance would result in a loss of benefits.  The Labor Commissioner does have the discretion to waive the volunteer requirement if it is deemed to cause an undue hardship on the claimant.  For Sen. Albers 24 hours a week isn't a big deal: "Having someone give of their time 24 hours a week, which is part-time, to serve other folks still leaves plenty of time to look for another job,...You need to give people a hand up, not a hand out,"  he says. Folks in the unemployment line don't seem to think so and some of them already volunteer and don't want to be told to do so except for the one guy in this video.

I've been jobless and volunteered and I can tell you that it's no friggin picnic.  I had a spouse and a vehicle at the time and my church, where I CHOSE to volunteer was a five minute ride by car.  The job search was every single day, all day.  The hours spent volunteering meant that some of that job search was done after business hours.  Which is fine for a person with a car, access to a computer and a someone else with a job in the home.  How does this work for a person, who is the SOLE provider in their home, with children perhaps, no vehicle and no computer at home?  This person is spending money riding a bus, or putting gas in a friend's car, to look for work, go volunteer and go to the unemployment office to check-in and let them know they're looking for a job.  They are already spending money that they don't have to try and get money.

Now this is supposed to be the land of the free right? An individual is free to choose when and where and even if they want to volunteer anywhere.  This bill is nothing but a HUSTLE to get free labor out of people who need to be PAID for their labor in order to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.  For a politician to mandate that you spend time AWAY from looking for full employment is at best counter productive and is at worst an unconscionable thing to ask of any person with the weight of their families and homes on their shoulders.  A person with a JOB is the sponsor of this bill.  Albers is getting a check but wants the unemployed to work for a subsistence check and limit their ability to get a bigger one that can lift them and their families out of their situation.  Albers is another bootstrap republican concerned about giving handouts while at the same time stepping on the liberties of the people by limiting their ability to truly make it out on their own.

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