How do people view justice?

            Yesterday the verdict for the suspenseful Trayvon Martin case came in, and while I felt numb to the continuity of racial profiling in my life and in the lives of minorities in America, I became frightened by the responses my friends shared across social media. From declaring what we already knew about racism in America, to announcing that George Zimmerman better watch out before another vigilante attack is taken into the hands of somebody else, their ideas of reparation are those that I can't get behind. How do people view justice? This question popped into my head after reading threat after threat (between the occasional candy crush update) to George Zimmerman's life on my news-feed. Certainly if Trayvon became Tracy, a white Florida teenager, this entire situation would be different, but because Trayvon  was born an African American male--born into an already existing tension that he had no say in, his death has fueled the fires of this tension to keep it going. I admit, it's difficult to answer what justice actually is when we are each influenced by our personal experiences, but I can definitely say that justice is not a daily stirring of fear  into the lives of George Zimmerman and his family; nor is it the sole labeling of his identity as a criminal so that wherever he walks people stare at him as if he is going to do something wrong. I can not witness this as due justice because I'm already a walking testament of living a life like people are forcing Zimmerman into living. Justice is not forcing someone to inherit the struggles of minority populations but rather exercise  using and losing their privilege in situations where they  can help benefit minorities. Through our comments, responses and people's actions, we are treating him how we all as minorities are treated and I worry its not as progressive as we can be.

             I may not know exactly how to find justice in this situation, but I do believe that we'd come closer to finding it if we stopped focusing on hurting this one man. We need to keep in mind  it's not just about this man  inflicting pain on a community, but rather there is a broken, perpetuated and ultimately fictionalized social hierarchical system in place that needs to be changed; that a system with hundreds of years of influence has affected the way we all view one another.

Our energy might be better invested in change than in payback. #Knowjustice #Knowpeace