Race matters, because as a society we allow it to matter. Race matters because no matter how enlightened, or free, or Christian we claim to be, we have decided to embrace the differences in each other, instead of the common bond.
American history is not a story of one culture, but a multitude of cultures. American's are not just one people, we are many people striving to become one. Within that struggle to become one we are confronted by differences that should strengthen us, but in reality they are used to drive the us further apart by those who are terrified by the common thread that brings us together. In President Clinton's first inaugural address, he hinted on that common thread:
"Our democracy must be not only the envy of the world but the engine of our own renewal. There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.
As long as we are willing to come together as a people, whose hopes and dreams will be realized as one great nation and not a nation of factions we can overcome the tyranny that the idea that Race Matters has shackled us with. Our democracy, our idealism, our strive to ensure our children have a better tomorrow then we started with yesterday is what makes us great. Our self-righteousness, our belief that it is what it is and nothing can change that is our greatest weakness. It is not what it is, it is what we as a people make it.
The comment that President Obama made that "if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," was not as some suggested because Trayvon was black. Whether Trayvon was white, black, mulatto, Asian, Arab matters not. The greatest tragedy is we still live in an age where laws, or attitudes allow any of us to believe something is wrong with another fellow citizen because of our ignorance.
Whether or not a Florida law gave him the grounds to use his firearm on a seventeen year old boy armed only with skittles and an ice tea, Mr. Zimmerman deprived Trayvon Martin of his due process. We are a society of laws, laws protect us and guarantee our rights. We are not here to stand in judgement of each other. That is why we have a court system. We are not supposed to take the law into our own hands, that is why we have law enforcement to protect and serve the population. Trayvon was entitled to the same rights to defend himself that Mr. Zimmerman will hopefully receive in the Florida courts.