Special Guest Blogger: Amy Weisman

A few weeks ago, I read about the senseless killing of Trayvon Martin.  As a mother, I cried for Trayvon’s mother.  I cried for the state of prejudice that still exists in this country.  I cried for the fact that we live in a country where people can shoot someone & claim “self defense” without consequence.  

I felt a sense of shame, to be honest. 

I felt shame that I’ve never truly called anyone out when they make prejudiced remarks.  All I ever did was to ask people not to speak that way in front of me.  I’m ashamed to say that since I wasn’t part of the solution, I was part of the problem.

It’s time to open a meaningful dialogue about racial profiling and prejudice.  We all have preconceived notions about one another based on race, gender, religion and even the clothes that we wear.   

As parents, as mothers, we need to set a standard that not only expects, but demands, that we treat others with the same amount of dignity and respect with which we would want our own children to be treated.

Maybe if we adopt this attitude, our children's generation won't be dealing with racism to the extent that we do. Maybe they will look back on this time in history the way we look back at slavery... wondering how in the world it was allowed to go on or justified in any way.

Maybe they can evolve beyond our shortcomings. 

I notice a lot of people in this country avoiding this issue or becoming defensive about it.  No one wants to be accountable.  I hear a lot of excuses about what’s happened; people are trying to find Trayvon somehow at fault.  Perhaps some are legitimately trying to make sense of something senseless.  But I believe most people simply don’t want to admit that Zimmerman acted not out of self-defense, but as a racist.

People who aren't racist don't target black men, follow them and then shoot them dead.  Simple as that.

People don’t want to take a hard line about this because it rocks the boat.  If you’re white in this country, you know someone, probably pretty well, who is blatantly racist.  I know that especially here in the South, if you speak out, or speak up about it, you subject yourself to an argument you cannot win.

But this isn't a problem that exists solely down here.

People don’t want to truly acknowledge what goes on because that would require them to do something about it, and it doesn’t affect them directly, so it’s easier to look the other way.  Though most racism is subtle -- not meriting a national headline-- it is nonetheless there.

What does it say about us as human beings that some of us turn our heads to injustice and social problems?  I am guilty of it.  I’ve found that because I’m white, people assume they can talk to me about their racist views without it becoming an argument. 

And sadly, for a long time, they were right. 

I wouldn’t call anyone out on it.  I would change the subject or fidget uncomfortably.  I’m not going to be someone’s racist sounding board anymore.

As a mother, a white woman, and a human being, I am challenging you to take a stand about this. 

Don’t turn your head.  Think of how devastated you would feel if Trayvon had been your son.  Think about the injustice.  Think about the prejudice you hold.  Think about ways in which you can make a conscious effort to change it.  Set an example and an expectation with your own children on how to treat people.  I challenge you to be heard.  At the bare minimum, the racist people we know will realize that more and more people are intolerant of their views. 

Maybe it will make them question their line of thinking. 

I challenge you to stand with me, and pledge to no longer be silent.

Amy lives in the Houston area and is a stay-at-home mother of two boys.  

For the Brown Boys

The case is everywhere.  That of Trayvon Martin, a seventeen year old African-American boy who went out to a convenience store to buy himself a snack, and was shot dead by a neighborhood watchman.  

Seeing his picture, reading more of the details, hearing his screams on the 911 tapes, I fast forward fourteen years from now to when R is seventeen, and sob.  As the mother of a brown-skinned boy, I am truly shaken.  

When my son is old enough, we will have to have the conversation all black and brown boys must have about the police.  One day he will have to realize that the men in blue he thinks are currently the good guys, out to protect him, might very well not have his back at all.  We will have to tell him never to talk back, to be completely deferential, and to keep his hands in plain sight.  It won't matter how intelligent he is, how well he speaks, where his mother went to school, the color of Daddy's skin or where he works.  While his white friends might be wise to heed the same advice, for Riley it will have to be as ingrained and automatic as knowing his address.  

Of course, I pray that he is never stopped by the police, as these situations have the potential to go so horribly, horribly wrong.

But this case isn't just about black and brown boys and the police.  With the f-ed gun laws in this country, and especially in states like sunny Florida, any lunatic with a weapon could decide based on skin color and the choice to wear a hoodie to shoot now and ask questions later.  If he's suspicious, it's self-defense, after all.  

Those who want to discount or even defend racism will say that if you don't want to be found suspicious, then don't dress/talk/act that way.

To them I say, it doesn't matter.  Legit African-American men in suits still make some ladies grab their purses and scurry across the street.  

Once President Obama was elected, people claimed we had entered a post-racial America.  Perhaps in some ways, and in some sections of the country we have.  Black/white marriages continue to rise and more people are more tolerant of mixed marriages.  Still, despite our 44th president, this country feels like a racial tinderbox.  Every fool with fingers and internet access is now able to shoot intellectual sewage into cyberspace, letting loose all the racial vitriol held in check by political correctness and the lack of a platform.   

I hope that young Mr. Martin's death opens the doors to a national conversation about both race and guns.  May justice be served.  And please may it not be another one of the thousands of black deaths where the not black* killer goes scot free.

As a mommyblogger, I want to call on other parents in the blogging world to do something, post something on their blogs.  It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't matter if you're not political.  Urge people to sign a petition  http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin.  Maybe you don't know the details of the case.  Maybe you're not convinced he was innocent.  Listen. Read.  Think of your son, or daughter, for that matter begging for his/her life.  Think of the unimaginable grief of Trayvon's parents.  As parents we cannot tolerate violence against children.  Not from their peers, and certainly not from adults. We protect each others' children when they are little.  We stop them from running too far down the sidewalk, from stepping in front of a swing.  Let's not stop when they're teens.  

Or when they're black.  

*George Zimmerman is Latino.