Racial Crime or Individual responsibility?

The country, the news media, the politicians and so called leaders are all engaged and actively pursuing the Zimmerman Zwing and the Travon Twist, gyrating and swaying to the newest dance craze.  Limbs are flailing, feet are tapping and gums are swinging to the rhythm of an ever changing tune.

At first it was the self-defense polka and then the first degree tap, it eventually morphed into the Harlem shake with everyone simply spazzing out, taking a stance, whirling and twirling to some marginal beat just to say their involved.

It seemed from the very beginning that everyone had their opinion; everyone knew who was guilty and who was not.  It was as if a thousand eyes were ever present over the incident, everyone completely aware of who did what and why and even more important they understood and had an intimate insight into the mental and emotional intonations at an almost molecular level, leaving no apparent doubt of who is guilty of what to whom.

These types of incidents are not uncommon.  Despite the uproarious media coverage creating a circus like frenzy of misinformation this case is only one of many that occur each and every day.  Thousands of young Blacks and Latino’s are involved in violence.  The culture clash is systematically destroying the future prospects of an entire generation.

The racial composition of the US population and crime are as follows:
Blacks are seven times more likely than people of other races to commit murder, and eight times more likely to commit robbery.
When Blacks commit crimes of violence, they are nearly three times more likely than non-Blacks to use a gun, and more than twice as likely to use a knife.
Hispanics commit violent crimes at roughly three times the white rate, and Asians commit violent crimes at about one quarter the White rate.
The single best indicator of violent crime levels in an area is the percentage of the population that is Black and Hispanic.
Of the nearly 770,000 violent interracial crimes committed every year involving Blacks and Whites, Blacks commit 85 percent and Whites commit 15 percent.
Blacks commit more violent crime against whites than against blacks. Forty-five percent of their victims are white, 43 percent are Black, and 10 percent are Hispanic. When Whites commit violent crime, only three percent of their victims are Black.
Blacks are an estimated 39 times more likely to commit a violent crime against a White than vice versa, and 136 times more likely to commit robbery.
Blacks are 2.25 times more likely to commit officially-designated hate crimes against whites than vice versa.
Only 10 percent of youth gang members are white.
Hispanics are 19 times more likely than whites to be members of youth gangs. Blacks are 15 times more likely, and Asians are nine times more likely.
Between 1980 and 2003 the US incarceration rate more than tripled, from 139 to 482 per 100,000, and the number of prisoners increased from 320,000 to 1.39 million.
Blacks are seven times more likely to be in prison than Whites. Hispanics are three times more likely.
http://www.colorofcrime.com/colorofcrime2005.html

Even though the statistics are frightening the reality of the situation is multifaceted and should be the cause of great concern.  These numbers rise and fall but for the most part the ratios stay the same.  The question arises and one that needs specific answers; why are Blacks and Hispanics more prone to violence?  Can it be purely economic or situational and if you placed whites or Asians in similar situations and over generations would they react and act in a similar manner?

Is the real reason for this level of depravity directly related to the conditional existence imposed upon both races due to the overlords of Northern Europeans and American societal constraints or are their other factors that should be considered?

In both cultures Black and Hispanic the family unit is dissolving, within the Black culture it is an almost forgone conclusion of dissolution and it is the family unit that binds and protects, molds and inspires.  Without the basic family there is no reason for morality, for goodness or inspiration; without the family we are simply individuals striving to survive and survival equates to violence in many ways leading those who are disenfranchised from “family” to seek out replacements, but those replacements are never as good as the original.

Whose fault is it really?  Is it the government’s fault, in some large degree I believe it is.  Their policies, their involvement and their motivations created the problem.  Like the American Indian without casino’s theirs was a dying culture, barely surviving, addicted and impoverished both physically and spiritually.

Trayvon Martin may have come from a good family; George Zimmerman may also have been reared to understand right from wrong but in that situation that ensued the two the cultures of both got in the way.  George wanted more than to be just a neighborhood watchman and Trayvon wanted more than the skittles and hooded persona, but in those moments when false dreams and perceptions collided the visions and fears of both exploded with devastating consequences.

Who’s to blame? That is a question that may never be fully answered. Neither individual should be held completely responsible nor blameless for the tragedy of that night that ended in fear and anger with the young Trayvon Martin dead as a result.

We can make all the excuses we want, try to mitigate and rationalize but in the end this is simply a case of two troubled individuals who wanted to be more than they were.  Both wanted to stand on that slippery slope of personal identity rather than find that sure footing of humility and meekness (not weakness) upholding that inner strength to choose a less violent path.  They both chose to act out on who they thought they wanted to be rather than what they should have been at the time.

This is a tragic lesson for all of us to learn.  This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Hamlet Act 1, scene 3

Both Trayvon and George were victims of their own internal lies. They both decided to dance when both had the chance to simply say no.  Let us all hope that we can be true, not only to ourselves but to those around us as well.  We are not Black or white, Brown or Yellow but Man in common, living together with the similar dreams of love, security and happiness.  Only when we all decide to drop the pretense will we be able to call ourselves a world family.