This hurt my heart…to hear this juror say that George Zimmerman was “guilty of murder, but they couldn’t prove it under the law.”

I’ve been wrestling with what to do about this verdict…because feeling sad, angry, and upset doesn’t seem to be enough right now. I feel like I have to do something. But my struggle has been – how did we…as a country…get here. How was what Zimmerman did – legal? Was Zimmerman profiling Trayvon. Yes. Did he follow and provoke Trayvon. Yes. Did he put himself in a situation where he felt his only way out of it was to pull out his gun and shoot Trayvon. Yes!

But as juror B29 explained it, all of that is legal in the United States. So let me summarize where we are in this country: it is legal to start a fight, then if you’re losing – or at any point therein YOU feel YOUR life is in danger, you can shoot him and claim self-defense.

Like President Obama said, “We are a nation of laws.” And this is the law. That’s the way the law is written. The police won’t arrest you because you haven’t broken any laws. And if you eventually get arrested and go to trial, that’s the way the judge will instruct the jury to interpret the law. And that’s the interpretation a reluctant jury will use to acquit.

Then my beef is with the law. That’s who I’m pissed at…the law – for allowing such morally abase circumstances to be legally binding. And I’m pissed because this is my country…the country I love. But my love is not blind to its historical failings. At one point, it was legal to own black people. Then when that wasn’t legal anymore, it was legal to segregate, discriminate, not hire, deny housing, and restrict transportation to black people. It was also legal to fight, kill, and strong arm Native American Indians just because this country wanted their land. It was also once legal to restrict the rights of women and forbid them to vote.

All this illegality, once the law, has now been replaced with more socially just and moral laws. So too should these laws concerning self-defense.

I’m not a lawyer, nor am I an expert on the law. But I don’t have to be in order to join the movement to change it. There needs to be influential pressure put on lawmakers to review these self-defense laws and arrive at a more conscientious, just, rendering of social governance – one that reflects the enlightened will of the people.

Influential pressure is applied by using the resources we have, to make it in their best interest to review and modify these self-defense laws. Our votes are one thing, but they’re not the only thing. Twitter, Facebook, and social media are great resources. Sit-ins and protests are also attention-grabbers. Boycotts hit them where it hurts – in their pockets. All these resources, which I call power resources, must be used for one single purpose…or we will accomplish nothing. That purpose is to control the message. We, the people, have to control the message so the lawmakers here the will of the people and respond in kind. And our message is, “THIS LAW IS UNLAWFUL” #THISLAWISUNLAWFUL.

Make a :30 second video on your cell phones or tablet saying why you believe THIS LAW IS UNLAWFUL. Start the video by saying, “This law is unlawful because…” Tweet it. Post it. Share it on every social media you have. But most importantly, DM (direct message) your governor, senators and representatives (if you know who they are), and a famous media outlets…like CNN – more specifically a reporter at that news outlet. If you are going to a protest, start shouting it and rally to crowd to shout it also. Bring signs with the slogan on it. Once the media starts reporting it, that’s when we know our message is being heard. For a unified people shouting a unified message will put influential pressure on lawmakers to act accordingly.

Yes, George Zimmerman had a fair trial. And he was acquitted according to the law. If that be the case, then we all need to arrest the law and put it on trial. For the law has failed to protect Trayvon’s right to life, liberty, and pursuit of skittles and ice tea.

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