It appears that everybody has a reaction to the Zimmerman verdict. There is great anger on the part of many and there is rejoicing in the minds of some. I am conflicted and confused.
I am disappointed in the verdict. I was convinced that the verdict would be a manslaughter decision. The "Stand Your Ground" law is a mistake and a major step back to an old west mentality where everybody carries a weapon and we see who is the fastest draw. When the event first happened and there was the possibility that Zimmerman would not even be charged with any crime because of that law, there was a great outcry of injustice. The demand was that he be arrested and charged with a crime. Eventually that happened. He was arrested and has been tried.
So we have had the trial and the jury that was accepted by both sides of the legal proceedings found him not guilty. That surprised me. That disappointed me, but I have been disappointed by the decisions of lots of legal trials. Hedge Fund managers get off from fraudulent activities. A major scammer in the Health Care in Alabama was found not guilty. Mafia bosses walk away from lots of crimes. Cases are dropped because they do not have enough evidence to convict an obviously guilty person. We live and die by that "reasonable doubt" clause. North Carolina was very progressive for a few years with a Racial Justice act that allowed those condemned to death to reexamine their cases if race was a major factor in their sentence. The Republicans have since rescinded that law. But the legal system has disappointed lots of us lots of times.
One of the times I was very surprised and disappointed by the legal system was the O.J. Simpson trial which had lots of the same dynamics involved as this trial, and it was a decision that was celebrated by the same people who are upset by this decision. It is not a perfect system. We are not perfect people. We are still a society that has deeply flawed elements in it when it comes to race relations. We are all racists. Those attitudes will continue to be reflected in our behavior. We have to continue to look at them and talk about them. We will have a lot more of these kinds of events: Hispanics against whites. Asians against black, Arabs versus Jews as our society continues to become multicultural. To claim we have made no progress in out ability to talk about them is to ignore the obvious. To think that we have solved the problems is just silly. All parents have to tell their children, be careful who you hang out with, be home before mid-night, consider what you wear and what people will think about you when they see you, say "yes sir and no sir" to adults and do be smart, see trouble, walk away, call 911. Those are not unique to any racial group.
I am old and frustrated that so many of the fights that have been fought still have to be fought again. Our civil liberties are like a little clearing in a jungle and we have to keep fighting all the vines and weeds that try to grow up in the clearing.
The Zimmerman-Martin case almost did not have a trial. There was a demand for a trial and that was held. The jury has spoken. The decision is not the one we wanted, but many of the people who "wanted a fair trial" were really just wanting to have a legal confirmation of their immediate opinion that Zimmerman was guilty. The trial was held. The verdict was given. I will put this in the O.J. Simpson file of cases I was shocked by the decision and move on.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Monday, July 8, 2013
Moral Monday - Women's Health
This Monday was focused on the suddenly passed legislation in the N.C. Senate that was a very restrictive bill on Women's health options. The crowd was much bigger than the first Moral Monday on Clergy Day, and it was made up of a lot diverse groups. This one had a lot more older women and their husbands than the first one I attended, and I think there were less African Americans in attendance. If it is any indication of the size, at the first one I went too, I easily found people I knew. At this one I did not run into anyone I knew.
As I was walking back to the car after the rally, I was carrying the sign I had held up all evening. "United for Women's Health." I passed a young woman who was walking to her car in a parking lot. She saw my sign, and as we walked passed each other, she said loudly, "Abortion is not women's health." It took me by surprise and all I could say on the spur of the moment was "Well, that is a large debate."
That debate is at the heart of much of what we are talking about. Abortion is not a good thing. Abortion is an act of violence that is not wanted by anyone I know. But the question is who gets to decide that question. There were good posters which read, "If you want to make health care decisions for women, go to med school." The question is who is going to decided whether or not an abortion is the final solution to a horrible situation.
It is a large debate because those who want to make that decision for women, who want to say when and how and if a woman can have an abortion, also want to make the decisions about whether or not a teenage girl can get the morning after pill. Those who want to make the decision about abortions also refuse to allow the teaching of birth control, the pill, and condoms. Those who want to make the decision about abortions also do not want to provide help to single moms who carry the child to full term and have the child. The people who make these rules about abortion have these funny ideas about sex and how it works so that they believe rape cannot cause a pregnancy. The people who want to make the decisions about when, who and how a woman can have an abortion have been primarily men, like bishops, popes and priests, like Senators and Representatives who are old males. As somebody in Ohio in their state legislature suggested, Men ought to be required to have psychological counseling before getting Viagra.
It is a large debate because there are just so many factors, so many issues to be considered. All the things that the anti abortion people say about abortions are probably true. All the horrors of an unwanted, unloved, unhappy, child are also true and very obvious for long term cost to family and society. So how are we as a society going to balance all these issues. I am united for women's health care because I believe that in these kinds of complicated situations the person closest to the situation, the woman, ought to have the power to make that decision. For a political party which wants to get government out of our lives, they have had a pretty aggressive agenda of getting themselves right in the middle of telling lots of people what they can and cannot do.
As I was walking back to the car after the rally, I was carrying the sign I had held up all evening. "United for Women's Health." I passed a young woman who was walking to her car in a parking lot. She saw my sign, and as we walked passed each other, she said loudly, "Abortion is not women's health." It took me by surprise and all I could say on the spur of the moment was "Well, that is a large debate."
That debate is at the heart of much of what we are talking about. Abortion is not a good thing. Abortion is an act of violence that is not wanted by anyone I know. But the question is who gets to decide that question. There were good posters which read, "If you want to make health care decisions for women, go to med school." The question is who is going to decided whether or not an abortion is the final solution to a horrible situation.
It is a large debate because those who want to make that decision for women, who want to say when and how and if a woman can have an abortion, also want to make the decisions about whether or not a teenage girl can get the morning after pill. Those who want to make the decision about abortions also refuse to allow the teaching of birth control, the pill, and condoms. Those who want to make the decision about abortions also do not want to provide help to single moms who carry the child to full term and have the child. The people who make these rules about abortion have these funny ideas about sex and how it works so that they believe rape cannot cause a pregnancy. The people who want to make the decisions about when, who and how a woman can have an abortion have been primarily men, like bishops, popes and priests, like Senators and Representatives who are old males. As somebody in Ohio in their state legislature suggested, Men ought to be required to have psychological counseling before getting Viagra.
It is a large debate because there are just so many factors, so many issues to be considered. All the things that the anti abortion people say about abortions are probably true. All the horrors of an unwanted, unloved, unhappy, child are also true and very obvious for long term cost to family and society. So how are we as a society going to balance all these issues. I am united for women's health care because I believe that in these kinds of complicated situations the person closest to the situation, the woman, ought to have the power to make that decision. For a political party which wants to get government out of our lives, they have had a pretty aggressive agenda of getting themselves right in the middle of telling lots of people what they can and cannot do.
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