Obama Sanctifies Cold-Blooded Murder
July 17, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
When the system's IN-justice system let the murderer of Trayvon Martin walk free, Barack Obama addressed the nation:
"The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America. I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son. And as we do, we should ask ourselves if we're doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we're doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that's a job for all of us. That's the way to honor Trayvon Martin."
First, the killing of Trayvon Martin was not a "tragedy," it was cold-blooded murder, and a concentration point of what happens every day to Black youth everywhere. And the "not guilty" verdict legitimized vicious white supremacy.
Second, this is not about "gun violence." This is about a legal modern-day lynching of a young Black man, and there is a whole history of that—with and without guns. And we don't need a lecture about "gun violence" from the president of a country that assassinates children with drones, invades countries and kills thousands and thousands, and sends killer police into the inner cities.
And then Obama says we should accept this with "calm reflection"—because we are a "nation of laws and a jury has spoken."
Ask yourself…
In 1857, should people have accepted it when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Black man "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect"?
In 1955, should people have accepted the verdict when a jury acquitted the men who lynched Emmett Till?
No. Not then, not now.
"Calm reflection" in the face of terrible injustice is immoral. Nobody with a basic sense of justice, of right and wrong, can or should be silent, or passively complicit with this outrage. People across the country, from all walks of life, have refused to accept this verdict, and they are right to do so!
And as people stand up and demand justice, that struggle needs to be increasingly linked to building a movement for revolution that puts an end to the system that is the source of outrages like the vigilante murder of Trayvon Martin.
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