O.K., O.K., I’m giving in... Until now I’ve resisted weighing in with a response to the tragic death of Trayvon Martin.

One of my peculiar ways of handling matters that sadden and grieve me is just to clam up...perhaps because I don’t have a good way to process a reality that exposes embarrassing truths about me or my family or my homeland, my country. For a long time I have wanted to believe we are getting close to a time when bigotry coupled with our national romance with guns is disappearing in our culture. The Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman tragedy is a reminder that we aren’t getting even close.

I guess I’ve wanted somebody to rush up and reassure me that the alleged facts of George Zimmerman’s killing of Trayvon Martin were all wrongly stated, that it was a tragic accident, that maybe the careless man dropped the weapon he shouldn’t have have been carrying in the first place and that the boy carrying nothing more dangerous than a can of iced tea was standing nearby and was killed when the gun fired as it hit the sidewalk. As much as I long for a simple explanation, of course, that isn’t what happened. There is no way to put a better face on the tragedy. There is also apparently no way to keep the killing from being politicized. Fox News is reporting one way, and MSNBC is telling the story another way. When the President spoke a few days ago about his sadness and his sense of attachment to the tragedy by staying that if he had a son that son would look a lot like Trayvon Martin, I reacted to his wistful spoken thought by hearing in it grief at knowing a young boy in our country, the country for which he is acutely responsible, came to the end of his life tragically; and I heard in his remark empathy for Trayvon’s parents. But, of course, I like Barack Obama very much; so I expect the best from him, and most of the time I think I get it, we all get it. I am grateful that we have such an intelligent, empathic person as president of our country. Newt Gingrich scoffed and said the President was shameless and pandering and trying to make political mileage out of the event. Geraldo Rivera said Trayvon shouldn’t have been wearing a hoodie... and that Paragon of virtue and Christian rightness, Michelle Bachmann, reminded us that she is a mother with five biological sons and twenty-three foster children and what everybody should do is just cool their jets and wait for the truth. She went on to say that Newt Gingrich was merely saying that it wasn’t about race, that race had nothing to do with it, that race-talk interferes with the truth. Wow! It’s easy to imagine that it’s especially hard for Trayvon’s parents to adopt Michelle Bachmann’s dispassionate, calm attitude about the tragedy.

So now that I’ve stepped in to give my two-cents worth, let me say plainly what’s on my mind. When I was a working man before retirement, I was a teacher and administrator, a school person; and the focus of my life was caring for young people... for doing everything I could to help them grow up strong and able to cope with the hope and joy and pain and confusion of living, of being. I liked doing what I did when I was a working person. Now “in retirement” (an interesting label for my current state of being), I can’t shake off my sense of responsibility for young people... not just the ones I know, but for all young people. Growing up at any time and in any place is hard. When growing up happens in conditions of poverty and deprivation and absence of family support and familial encouragement, he can be hell. When a community fails to provide appropriate public schools and other public resources that nurture growth, the young people growing up there, especially those who aren’t part of an emotionally healthy family, are at great risk of being unprepared for adulthood. As a nation, as a people, it is becoming more and more apparent that we aren’t doing “right by” all our children. We are reminded constantly that support for pubic schools is being relentlessly eroded. We are steadily cutting back funding for public colleges and universities. When older adolescents commit crimes in many of our communities, our emphasis is on retribution and punishment rather than on rehabilitation. The Internet and digital media, which I use and celebrate, dominate the lives of many children; but virtual experience is no guarantee of success in a real world.

Of course, I don’t know the details of what happened between Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman. Trayvon is dead. His parents have lost their son forever. His friends won’t ever see him again. Some young person Trayvon’s age who would have one day become his life’s partner if he had lived, will never know him... and that saddens me. George Zimmerman is also a tragic human being. His life is over. Whatever nighttime game he was playing out there with his gun and pick-up, he will never ever play again. I can imagine that his grief is large... and I’d like to think his grief is for Trayvon and the young man’s family more than for himself. I’d like to think his grief is for the shame and disgrace he has brought to his own family.
I don’t know for sure what happened that night in Sanford, Florida. What I do know for sure is that we can take better care of the children in our country. We are the wealthiest nation on earth. We can afford to meet the health care needs of absolutely every child. We can provide extraordinary schooling, comprehensive and compassionate education free from bullying, for ALL our children. Our churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and clubs can be places where there is no bigotry and exclusion. Our communities, even the gated ones, can be welcoming to ALL people. We can address and solve social justice problems in our culture. Sí, podemos...Да, мы можем...Oui, nous pouvons...Ja können wir...はい、私達はできる...그렇습니다, 우리는 할 수 있다...Ja, kunnen wij...是，我们能...Sì, possiamo...Sim, nós podemos...نعم, كنا يستطيع...Ναι, είναι δυνατό