The uproar over the Zimmerman verdict is misplaced, because as tragic as the circumstances of that case are, the real tragedy is found elsewhere.
For well over a year now, the strains of the shooting death of Trayvon Martinhave been heard almost nightly on the evening news and performed vigorously in the dailies’ op-ed pages. They finally reached a deafening crescendo in the hours following the jury’s verdict in State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman.
While Zimmerman is without question not guilty of the charges that were brought against him, he is also not innocent. The same can be said of the victim. They each acted stupidly on the night of Feb. 26, 2012, resulting in the death of one and the lifelong branding of the other.
As the Zimmerman case was winding down Thursday, 1,200 miles to the north the decomposing body of another young black was discovered — that of 17-year-old Darryl Green, found lying facedown in an abandoned house in Chicago’s south side Englewood neighborhood, according to Breitbart News.
Unlike Martin, Green wasn’t shot out of fear or killed by mistake. He was murdered and his body left to rot.
Also unlike Martin, Green did nothing to contribute to his death. He simply did the right thing by refusing to join a gang.
Breitbart News reported:
Meanwhile, members of the media including Reverend Al Sharpton and Reverend Jesse Jackson focused on the “not guilty” verdict in the George Zimmerman trial over Trayvon Martin. The only media outlets that have covered the murder of Darryl Green are The Chicago Sun-Times and ABC 7 Chicago. The New York Times’ Joe Nocera mentioned Green in passing in a blog post devoted to highlighting gun crimes across the country. President Obama has not commented on Green’s death. Neither have any other politicians, including local Congressmen Danny Davis and Bobby Rush, or Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Neither has anyone at MSNBC, CNN, ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, The Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, or throughout the Hollywood community.
If the media and the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons and all the rest are sincere in their desire to search out and eradicate tragedy in black America, they should focus their attention on the Darryl Green’s of the world, and let the Martin and Zimmerman families grieve in peace.
If they’re looking for the injustice directed at African-American youth, they won’t find it in the normally quiet suburbs of a central Florida town — they’ll have to walk the mean streets of Chicago’s south side neighborhoods.
