More Conversations Needed On Race & Justice

After the verdict in the George Zimmerman trial in the death of Trayvon Martin, there was a call for communities and groups to have conversations about Race & Justice. I'm lucky to live in an area where people took that seriously and as the conversations developed, I became involved with a small group who were and are leading that effort. The conversations have been important and good - talking with people about jobs, economic issues and most recently about health care. Basically the conversation has evolved into how diversity and diverse populations are impacted by all of these things. We've talked about the elderly, minority populations, religious differences, etc. Now the reality is that my community is pretty white. But there is diversity. There is a large Mennonite population that is sometimes misunderstood or left out. There is a Hispanic population associated with the agricultural nature of the local economy.

After our last meeting on health care everyone was feeling pretty good. There was lots of participation, alternative suggestions  on how people get and communicate information. In many ways, we got comfortable about our conversation. We talked about meeting again in March, struggling a bit with where to go next. And then it happened! A new verdict coming out of Jacksonville, Florida. A mistrial was declared on the First Degree murder charge for Michael Dunn in the death of Jordan Davis. Dunn was found guilty on all of the other charges.

There has been confusion and frustration at the verdict. I haven't heard anyone criticize the jury, the judge or the prosecutors, but there is frustration and concern and I share it.

I think it points out that we can't have these conversations soon enough. We also can't dance around the issues. We have to try to talk this through. The question or the point, is very basic - should our children, any of our children, be open to shootings or death by any means because they play loud music or wear a hoodie? My own opinion is that none of our kids deserve this. But what values are in play that allow white men to shoot others where black men would be punished immediately. Ten shots fired in self defense or standing ground.

But that's just my opinion. There are others and there are struggles in understanding how people act certain ways - playing loud music, carrying guns, etc. Conversations about Race & Justice really do need to take place all over the place. People really do need to talk through values and reasons why. We'll be better for it. Let's get started.