2013 Update

2013 Update

It's been 2 years since I posted something on my blog.  First, I won the 2011 NCAA College Basketball Family Bracket competition.  Very exciting!

I had brain surgery in July of 2011 to remove a benign tumor on the acoustic nerve in my ear.  Then I had a ton of complications and got spit out of the medical machine in early November of 2011.  I spent the rest of 2011 all of 2012, and the first part of 2013 recovering and rehabilitating from all of that.  I feel the best that I have felt since the surgery.  It has been a long, challenging, difficult road but I made it with alot of help from my amazing daughter and the rest of my "village."  So, blogging was definitely not on my mind.

What has really been on my mind of late is the jury's decision in the George Zimmerman case.  Mr. Zimmerman's actions led to the death of 17 year old Trayvon Martin in Florida.  Zimmerman walked free--the jury found him not guilty under Florida law.  So far, two jurors have shared their experiences with CNN--B37 and B39 (I can't remember the other one's number.)  I have truly enjoyed the trial commentary offered by fellow blogger Frederick Leatherman (frederickleatherman.com) and Anderson Cooper's interesting panel of legal pundits--most notably defense attorney Mark Geragos, former federal prosecutor Sunny what's her name, Danny Cevallos, Jeffrey Toobin, Marcia Clark and others. 

Geragos, building on Sunny's adjectives describing the Florida prosecutors in the Zimmerman case as McDreamy and McBrilliant, called the prosecutors McLosers when the jury result came in.

That's what we all are in this case--McLosers.  Fortunately, the NAACP has led a nationwide effort to obtain signatures to the petition they have sent to Eric Holder, the United States Attorney General asking the DOJ to initiate an investigation into the case for violation of Mr. Martin's civil rights.  Mr. Holder and our President Barack Obama, both men of color have made public comments about this case indicating that the problems the case presented clearly resonate with them.

There has been so much racism, whether direct or veiled in the national conversation since Obama was elected President.  Trayvon's death at the hands of George Zimmerman (wait! he was found not guilty so can I really say that?) has brought attention to the continued racist tendencies present in the US even in the jury deliberations of the Zimmerman trial.  White people may be racist or exercising racial bias without even knowing it.  Juror B37 best exemplifies this in her comments about what happened during jury deliberations.

The great tragedy of the situation is that Trayvon lost his life.  His parents, family and friends have to live with that loss forever, long after the furor dissipates.  They are committed to making sure that Trayvon's life mattered and keeping the flame alive for making meaningful changes so that this won't happen to someone else.  I share and am in solidarity with their vision.