The best news I heard over the weekend was that riots and violence did not follow the exoneration of George Zimmerman in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
It was a hopeful sign that the rule of law still applies in America, and that the racial tension that sparked riots in the Rodney King case 20 years ago may be easing.
And the most disappointing news was the outrage from some faith groups, none of whom had the privilege and the responsibility of sitting for weeks in a jury box and listening carefully to all the evidence and all the legal arguments.
The National Council of Churches said the “shocking impunity granted by a Florida jury to a man who stalked and killed a black child” proves that racism is alive and well.
The president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, said: “It is hard to imagine that if an unarmed white teenager had been shot and killed by an African American man that the verdict would have been the same. The legal system has had its say, but justice has not been served.”
Justice is often portrayed as a blindfolded woman holding up a scale. That blindfold conceals, among other things, the skin color of victims and defendants.
What really happened the night of Trayvon Martin’s tragic death? Were Zimmerman’s actions above reproach? Did he act in self defense? We will never know. But we do know that under our system of justice, a person is innocent until proven guilty, and that six apparently intelligent, sincere and dedicated jurors agreed, after hearing all the evidence, that the state did not prove him guilty.
Our justice system is imperfect, but it is the best we have. To undermine it by second-guessing this jury serves neither justice nor the important cause of racial equality.
Zimmerman may now face federal civil rights charges. Again, I say let the justice system work.
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