Tel-Chai Nation

Another of countless subjects that I'm coming around to late, here's the case of George Zimmerman, a Floridian of Latino descent who shot a black youth named Trayvon Martin, and has been persecuted by the left for committing what appears to be self-defense, as the current news suggests:

Court records show George Zimmerman had a pair of black eyes, a nose fracture and two cuts to the back of his head after the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

The medical records were part of evidence released Tuesday that prosecutors have in the second-degree murder case against Zimmerman. He has entered a plea of not guilty and claims self-defense in the Feb. 26 shooting outside a gated community in Sanford, Fla

ABC News first reported Zimmerman's injuries from the medical records. Some of the injuries were previously reported by The Associated Press based on video showing Zimmerman with police officers following the shooting.

Zimmerman, 28, who faces a potential life sentence if convicted, said he only fired his handgun because Martin attacked him. If Zimmerman prevails on his self-defense claim, a judge could dismiss the case before trial.

Local station WFTV also reported Tuesday that an autopsy report showed the only injury Martin had -- aside from a fatal gunshot wound -- was broken skin on his knuckles. The injury noted in the autopsy report could support Zimmerman's claim that Martin punched him in the nose before slamming his head on the sidewalk.

It is beginning to look like this might have been a case where Martin attacked Zimmerman for no apparent reason.

This was a most definitely alarming case of race hustlers like the new Black Panthers and Al Sharpton exploiting Martin for the sake of inciting against the non-black society, and some of the media bias surrounding the case was atrocious too, including the editing scandal at NBC. And why exactly haven't they also condemned murders committed by blacks against blacks, as this op-ed wonders (H/T: Betsy's Page):

But what about all the other young black murder victims? Nationally, nearly half of all murder victims are black. And the overwhelming majority of those black people are killed by other black people. Where is the march for them?

Where is the march against the drug dealers who prey on young black people? Where is the march against bad schools, with their 50% dropout rate for black teenaged boys? Those failed schools are certainly guilty of creating the shameful 40% unemployment rate for black teens.

How about marching against the cable television shows constantly offering minstrel-show images of black youth as rappers and comedians who don't value education, dismiss the importance of marriage, and celebrate killing people, drug money and jailhouse fashion—the pants falling down because the jail guard has taken away the belt, the shoes untied because the warden removed the shoe laces, and accessories such as the drug dealer's pit bull.

Supposedly all of this is just entertainment and intended to co-opt the stereotypes. But it only ends up perpetuating stereotypes in white minds and, worse, having young black people internalize it as an authentic image of a proud black person.

There is no fashion, no thug attitude that should be an invitation to murder. But these are the real murderous forces surrounding the Martin death—and yet they never stir protests....

While civil rights leaders have raised their voices to speak out against this one tragedy, few if any will do the same about the larger tragedy of daily carnage that is black-on-black crime in America.

The most recent comprehensive study on black-on-black crime from the Justice Department should have been a clarion call for the black community to take action. There is no reason to believe that the trends it reported have decreased since 2005, the year for which the data were reported.

Almost one half of the nation's murder victims that year were black and a majority of them were between the ages of 17 and 29. Black people accounted for 13% of the total U.S. population in 2005. Yet they were the victims of 49% of all the nation's murders. And 93% of black murder victims were killed by other black people, according to the same report.

Less than half of black students graduate from high school. The education system's failure is often a jail sentence or even a death sentence. The Orlando Sentinel has reported that 17-year-old Martin was recently suspended from his high school. According to the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Office, in the 2006-07 school year, 22% of all black and Hispanic K-12 students were suspended at least once (as compared to 5% of whites).

This year 22% of blacks live below the poverty line and a shocking 72% of black babies are born to unwed mothers. The national unemployment rate for black people increased last month to over 13%, nearly five points above the average for all Americans.

The killing of any child is a tragedy. But where are the protests regarding the larger problems facing black America?

That's a very good question, and it may be years before it's ever answered.

Labels: racism, United States