That was the question my neighbor's fourteen year old son asked, butting in on our conversation about Trayvon Martin and the focus on 'hoodies'.
"Mom-every kid in America wears hoodies. It's the style. But does everyone in America carry a gun?"
He got a can of soda out of the refrigerator and joined us at the table. Usually my neighbor's kids just pass through with the polite 'hello's". The only other time Josh gave his two cents on a subject being discussed by adults was at a family BBQ when the subject was the banning of plastic bags. A staunch environmentalist, he amazed the adults by quoting statistics to back-up his words. And I remember him walking away with that look on his face- that realization we all had at fourteen.
Adults don't know what they are talking about.
Josh told us that Trayvon's "murder" was the number one topic of conversation at his school all week.
"We never talked about the hoodie. Most of us wanted to know why this guy was carrying a gun. Why carry a gun if you don't intend to use it?"
"Everyone in my class is just sick of all the attention going on Trayvon. What about the guy who shot him?"
My neighbor and I tried to explain to Josh that the police department is under investigation. That we, along with the majority of Americans, believe that Zimmerman should have been arrested and the gun confiscated.
If a police officer shoots someone in the line of duty- his (or her) gun in confiscated right away. The cop is taken off the street while an inquiry is performed.
"Yeah- I bet those cops thought a kid wasn't worth all the paperwork." Josh said.
"Because he was black?" his mother asked.
"Maybe- but it's any kid or kids that want to do their own thing. Man- me and my friends were hassled last week for walking in the library parking lot. We were in the way of some jerk who was in a car."
My neighbor didn't know about that.
"What happened? What did you do?"
"Nothing. We just kept on walking." Josh took his last sip of the soda and stood up.
"Do you think he would have shot us if he had a gun?"