CHICANO CHANNEL MAGAZINE: TRAYVON MARTIN AND RACE WAR

You would think that lynchings were a thing of the past, but late February’s murder of Trayvon Martin and the amount of publicity it has generated, has shown you that in fact not only are they still occurring, but they now have received legal cover by the NRA-backed, “Stand Your Ground Law”.  Who wouldn’t support a law with that name, standing your ground is in almost every Chicanos' DNA, but when it is used to pop a little brother for no other reason than because he is black, than it is simply a legal lynching law.

The Chief of Police in Sanford, Florida, has forgotten he is only a cop and not judge and jury.  He has already made the determination, publicly, that the shooting of Trayvon, who was carrying skittles and a can of tea in his hands, was justifiable homicide under the “SYG” law.  Trayvon’s murder is the one that made the news, but as mothers began to be interviewed, many came forward with stories about their own sons being shot dead in the past few years and under very similar circumstances.  These mothers love their kids as much as we all do and are as outraged as we would be.

I am not sure that if this were to happen to me, that I would be as patient as they are to allow the justice system to run its course, but maybe that is what the NRA ultimately seeks, a race war.  Gun sales would boom and convictions for cutting down your neighbor would plummet because they would be considered “enemy combatants”, which is what that organization seems to be seeking to accomplish on a State by State level.  In Jeb Bush they had a friend, he signed the bill into law when he was Governor, much like Texas' Gov. Perry did there.  As little Chicanos growing up, we instinctively knew we had to walk differently, talk differently, be careful of the use of our hands especially at night and that applied whether the person had a uniform or not. 

Chicano Channel Magazine