by: Allen Domelle
Since when has justice come down to the pigmentation of one’s skin? Since George Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges, the response has been astounding to say the least. To be honest, I’m embarrassed as an American of the response of the news media and political leaders alike. We are placing ourselves as a laughing stock to other nations.
Since the verdict, our leadership seemingly is rushing to injustice. They’ve unwisely chosen to make skin color the reason they believe the verdict is wrong. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed this week at the annual NAACP meeting that the Justice Department is “concerned about this case and as we confirmed last spring, the Justice Department has an open investigation into it.” Once a person has been cleared of all charges, the Justice Department has no right to try and change the verdict to get their desired verdict. This is injustice at it’s core!
To make matters worse, President Obama jumped into the rush to injustice by saying he could have been Trayvon Martin. Later on in the same speech he suggested that race had everything to do with the verdict. As President of the United States, his job is not to influence a verdict or give an opinion on verdicts. To make the skin color of a person the whole reason he jumps into the fray of response is unwise at best.
The Scriptures teach in Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” You will notice that God does not make a difference between the color of the skin. God says, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” Let me ask you, what color is the soul. Is the soul black, white, yellow, red or brown? According to the Scriptures, it doesn’t matter what the color of the skin is, it is the soul that makes the difference.
God understood that justice does not look at the color of the skin, but justice looks at the actions performed to determine guilt or innocence. Just because racism existed in America in years gone by does not make it right to revive the sins of the past to get a verdict we desire based on the color of one’s skin. The Scriptures teach that the son should not have to bear the iniquity of the father, and neither should the father have to bear the iniquity of the son. In other words, every case should stand or fall on the evidence presented. Just because there was injustice in the past does not mean we should be unjust today.
The greatest travesty of this whole conversation is that people are trying to make a verdict based upon race. Charles Barkley may have said it best when he said he agreed with the verdict. He said that there was clearly not enough evidence to convict George Zimmerman. He continued by saying, “I just feel bad because I don’t like when race gets out in the media ‘cuz I don’t think the media has a ‘pure heart,’ as I call it,” Barkley continued. “There are very few people who have a pure heart when it comes to race. Racism is wrong in any shape [or] form — there are a lot of black people who are racist, too. I think sometimes when people talk about race, they act like only white people are racist. There are a lot of black people who are racist. And I don’t like when it gets out there in the media because I don’t think the media has clean hands.”
Barkley then directed his comments another direction by saying, “The main thing I feel bad for is it gives every white person and black person who’s racist a platform to vent their ignorance,” he said. “That’s the thing that bothered me the most. I watched this trial closely and I watched these people on television talking about it. A lot of these people have a hidden agenda. They want to have their racist views, whether they are white or black…Their biases definitely come out. It was a bad situation. We all lost.”
I agree whole heartedly with these comments. Race should have no part in the discussion. It is foolish, and those who try to use the race card as an issue are rushing to injustice. It’s time that everyone drops the race card and let justice be determined by the actions committed.
The only one who truly knows what happened that night is George Zimmerman. If he is lying, he will not get away with it. The Scriptures teach in Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” If Mr. Zimmerman did wrong, then it will eventually catch up to him. If you don’t believe that, then ask O.J. Simpson if this is true. God will make sure justice is served, and be very sure that God looks at the soul and not the pigmentation of the skin.