Paging President Obama: There is unrest among your constituents that requires action on your part. Some Americans are threatening to lynch a fellow American on trial for killing a teenager. The man who has been charged in the case is partly a person of color. The teen he killed was totally a person of color. Those facts are reflected in unseemly comments that have appeared in your much-beloved social media. Here are a few:
If #Zimmerman get off ima shoot the first #hispanic/white i see.
Trayvon Martin need justice! Gimme me tha pistol ill kill Zimmerman myself!
If Zimmerman win, I’m gonna go kill a white a kid by mistake.
Some of those responsible for sentiments like these have attempted to organize a “fatwa” against George Zimmerman. Many have decided in advance that justice for Trayvon Martin comes only in one flavor: a guilty verdict for his killer. Even your friend, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, believes this. He says as much in a muddled “call for justice” at the Huffington Post, in which he writes:
Whether George Zimmerman is found innocent or guilty by the jury, I am firm believer that all of us live by karmic law, and he will ultimately be punished for the death of Trayvon, no matter what. [Emphasis added]
In your first year in office, Mr. President, you blundered by declaring that the Cambridge, Mass., police had “acted stupidly” in their dealings with another friend of yours, Louis Henry Gates. Your comment came before you knew the facts of the case.
You now have a chance to use your bully pulpit more wisely. Summon up your vaunted oratorical skills and beseech members of the black community to remain calm regardless of the outcome of this trial. Explain to them and to the nation at large that there have already been racially motivated beatings of innocent white men by gangs of blacks shouting “Trayvon” as a battle cry. Underscore that one of the victims was 78 years old. Emphasize how disgraceful these crimes were — how wrong it would be to take the law into their own hands again.
Everyone knows how much value you attach to being liked. Here is a line that is guaranteed to win you new fans. Cap off your speech by noting that justice is not just blind but that it is colorblind.
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