Inequalities

It was my son who pointed out the sad inequality of the phrase: "No justice, no peace." We as a nation continue to struggle for that elusive mix of compassion and correction that allows us all to feel as though we really do live in the land of the free and home of the brave. We're angry and we're scared. I can say this with some confidence because I was visiting college campuses across the country from where the George Zimmerman verdict was made, and it was easy to feel the waves created by that decision all the way from Florida to California. And these weren't mere ripples, either. These were the kind of metaphorical waves that make one worry about a metaphorical storm brewing.
Riots in Los Angeles and Oakland show how interconnected this feeling is. Jurors and legal experts may want to carry on a discussion about the finer points of the "Stand Your Ground Law," the Florida statute that somehow made it okay for a life to be taken. But that's not what is being felt in the streets. People are angry. Again. They feel as though this promise of justice is made by the same people who promised equality all those years ago. It's easy to feel those good intents when you haven't had the rug pulled out from under you recently. It's easy to feel as though we're moving in the right direction because, after all, we have an African-American president. How much more justice and equality could we get?
I believe we can do better. Much better. As long as we have pinhead pundits making pointed judgements about violent crime and all the reasons why somehow Trayvon Martin deserved what happened to him, we have a problem. There aren't enough hours in a day to try and make up for the casual bigotry and barely concealed racism that still runs rampant through American culture. One need look no further than the adventures of Paula Deen to describe the crooked path that we continue to travel to find that justice and peace which continues to elude us. Rationalizing the death of any young man or woman based on their race or the race of the person who killed them remains unconscionable to me. I'm an American, and still want both.