On the heels of the travesty of justice called a verdict that leaves murderer George Zimmerman a free man, the racists that banded together to keep Zimmerman out of jail are a happy bunch. They smeared victim Trayvon Martin’s character so that a teenage boy making a trip to the store and back for skittles and Arizona was portrayed as a menacing thug “up to no good”, letting his stalker and murderer claim self-defense. They’re happy because the not guilty ruling confirms that yes, they’re still living in a world where whites can kill blacks with impunity because everyone knows that white is right and blacks must be doing something bad.
So, with these thoughts in mind, I heard about the bravery of 15-year old Temar Boggs. Temar, after hearing about a neighborhood girl gone missing and noticing a minivan with a young girl inside, correctly deduced that he had spotted the missing girl and her abductor. Putting his own life in danger, he followed this van for 15 minutes on his bike, making the driver nervous enough that he pushed the girl out of the van and drove away. Temar, young and black, saved this 5-year old white girl from an old white man.
"I saw this suspicious car. I looked into the passenger seat and I saw this little girl, and I said, 'I think that's her,'" Boggs recounted, explaining that he and Garcia followed the car for 15 minutes before the man became "scared," pushed Rojas out and drove off.
Boggs carried the girl to law enforcement officials, but said Rojas was still afraid. "First she didn't want to leave my arms because she was scared they were gonna do something to her," Boggs said, adding that she agreed to go with the officials after Boggs reassured her that she was safe.
At first, when I heard this story, my reaction was of course joy. Joy that for once one of these missing child stories turns out to have a happy ending. But then, inevitably, I couldn’t help contrasting Temar’s story with Trayvon’s and I felt sick. I still feel sick. I keep thinking that what if some wannabe George Zimmerman had noticed Temar following this van, or walking with this missing white girl? What if, based on his own racist assumptions, some lunatic with a gun decided Temar was “up to no good” and needed to be stopped?
Knowing that Zimmerman received no punishment, this is exactly the sort of scenario these wannabe’s are fantasizing over. Well, fuck all you racists. In your world, Temar would be dead, a little girl would still be missing, and murderer Joe Blow’s juror would be on TV trying to sell a fucking book. You all make me sick.