I use Twitter as my news source. Some would say that’s
ridiculous. Maybe it is, but all I really want to know is the 140 character
gist of what’s up. If I want to know more, I’ll go to the internet or the tv
after that, but it’s rarely necessary. I have an extremely low tolerance for
television pundits. Anyway, you can imagine my dismay when the last news I got
on Twitter (before losing my internet connection last weekend) was the verdict
in the Trayvon Martin trial. I call it the Martin trial because it seems like Trayvon
was the one on trial.
If a person can’t walk down the street to the convenience
store and back without being considered “suspicious” what can they do? I know
that being a black man in this country is not easy and I’ll never know what
it’s truly like.
I just want to say this: The way we treat people is the way
they tend to become. If we treat a child with contempt and distain, they grow
into an angry, bitter adult. If we expect the worst of a child and we
continually tell them they won’t succeed in life, that’s usually what happens.
If we teach young people they should fear others and hate others, they won’t
question it. It’s a rare individual that
can break out of that. No one is born a
failure or a success. No one is born a
bigot or a saint. We make them. And I
weep for us all.
