MountainMornings

How many of you are the parents of boys? When the Rocker was born, Bob inexplicably started calling him “Sport” and sailing him through the air as if to say, ‘tough it out, you’re a boy!’ When my baby boy turned ten, he refused to smile for pictures anymore. For the life of me, I couldn’t get him to show his pearly whites. I was also informed he would never cry at a movie; “Never,” I said? Nope. Pre-adolescent boys are trying to figure out what it means to be a man, and with the right guidance, most grow into kind and caring, tax-paying adults who will dutifully smile for the camera and change their own baby’s diaper.

Trayvon Martin will never get that chance. He went out for some Skittles and got shot point blank in the chest. There are too many unanswered questions about this FL case: why was he tagged a John Doe when the ME knew his name and address; what was the “conflict” that made the initial prosecutor step down, and why did he ignore the lead homicide investigator who recommended that his killer, George Zimmerman, be charged with manslaughter that night; who leaked Martin’s school records;

…and most importantly why on the day of the killing, when the Sanford FL Police formally requested that the prosecutor charge Zimmerman, did the then Chief of Police, Bill Lee, state publicly that there was no “probable cause” to arrest or charge him. We can see in the newly released video, that Zimmerman, in handcuffs, is not in any distress and shows no bruising.

We all, and I mean all Americans black, white and brown, teach our teenage boys different variations of the same theme – stay safe, carry condoms, and please don’t jump off the roof cause your buddy did it. Yes, be respectful of police authority. One difference in our affluent NJ community was a history teacher, who was also a lawyer, and told her students that when they are stopped by the police – and believe me the Rocker was always getting stopped by the police – and asked if they could conduct a search of your car, that you had the right to ask if they had “probable cause.”

This is the Rocker at 17, post-dreadlocks and pre-Prom in our garage, or should I say his band’s music studio. He did have occasion to ask the police in our small town those two magic words. Because being stopped when your tail light was out, or your inspection sticker was overdue, or you were wearing a hoodie was never a good enough reason to search your car.

And carrying Skittles with your hand in your waistband is not probable cause for killing a teenage boy.