Mohler: The Central Tragedy of this Case Remains—Trayvon Martin Belongs to Us All

Can you imagine if the roles were reversed, and this was the year 2001? What if George Zimmerman were black and Trayvon Martin was white? What if President George Bush had made a public speech, in which he says that Trayvon Martin could have been his son?? I’m sure the Liberal news media would have had a wonderful time with that one.

[Greg Long]

[GregH]

[Greg Long]

GregH, the myth he is perpetrating—or if not perpetrating, then at least not refuting—is that race has been proven to have anything at all to do with this incident.

Again, a highly debatable issue and for sure one that the black community would differ with you on. I also know that neither side can prove their point unless they can find a way to read Zimmerman’s mind. And race seems to have been an issue in Martin’s mind if not Zimmerman.

Exactly, Greg!!! The only way to know if this was a racial incident is to have the ability to read Zimmerman’s mind, and yet we are being called to…well, I’m not exactly sure what we’re being called to do…based on something that is unknown and unproven!

None of those making an issue of race are decrying Martin’s racism…just what they perceive to be (by reading his mind) Zimmerman’s racism!

Speaking for myself, I suspect that Martin’s racism contributed to his death. I suspect that Zimmerman had bias based either on race or something cultural (hoodie?) that contributed to Martin’s death.

In short, I think it is at least a 90% chance that race and/or racial cultural issues had a part to play in this. I think it is naive to think otherwise.

Without excusing either side for their racism, it is worthwhile to examine why it was there in the first place. Why for example was Martin nervous about Zimmerman when he suspected he was a white security guard? Was that a legitimate concern and if so, what is the responsibility in the white community (at large)?

If we have contributed to that by racial profiling or whatever, you could make the case that we should admit we as a white community have some responsibility for what happened and explore ways to help make things better. That would start by choosing to step back from the endless arguments about why Zimmerman was guilty or not and by making a legitimate effort to understand the other side.

Greg, you forget. Zimmerman is not white. He is Latino. At least half Latino. And he looks Latino. I don’t think anyone who doesn’t know anything about him would confuse him as being white.

And there is new evidence that Martin may have attacked Zimmerman because he thought he was a gay rapist.

And as for why Zimmerman was following Martin… If I lived in a gated community that had been recently burglarized, and I saw an unknown hooded figure walking along my neighborhood at night, I would be watching him too. He was a neighborhood watchman. That’s what a watchman does.

I don’t know why you people keep trying to place responsibility on the white community. How many times do white people need to apologize for the actions of their ancestors???

As long as the media keeps fueling the racial fires, as long as black rappers keep producing songs that promote violence and drug use and the degradation of women, as long as people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson exist, and as long as the black community continues to raise children to act the way they do, and as long as black people have the attitude that “the white man owes me”, then nothing will change for them.

http://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2013/07/tears-trayvon-and-terra…

Image below:

• I highlighted the “I am Trayvon Martin” on their poster
• Comment: I guess what they are saying (trying to identify the “author’s intent”) is that they identify with him. Perhaps they feel as repressed and victims of injustice that they feel Trayvon experienced (?)
• Then I note they are calling for ‘Justice for Trayvon”. Observation: (not to be trite about this) …. ultimately justice will be done! (Genesis 18:25, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”)
• One of the women comments: “Racial profiling and stuff like that, it seems like it’s never gonna end” (Observation (the autopsy as Greg mentioned) the facts do not support that race had anything to do with the Zimmerman / Martin incident)

The article is interesting. Another man’s position is “Homicide has just been legalized in America”

[christian cerna]

Greg, you forget. Zimmerman is not white. He is Latino. At least half Latino. And he looks Latino. I don’t think anyone who doesn’t know anything about him would confuse him as being white.

And there is new evidence that Martin may have attacked Zimmerman because he thought he was a gay rapist.

And as for why Zimmerman was following Martin… If I lived in a gated community that had been recently burglarized, and I saw an unknown hooded figure walking along my neighborhood at night, I would be watching him too. He was a neighborhood watchman. That’s what a watchman does.

I don’t know why you people keep trying to place responsibility on the white community. How many times do white people need to apologize for the actions of their ancestors???

As long as the media keeps fueling the racial fires, as long as black rappers keep producing songs that promote violence and drug use and the degradation of women, as long as people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson exist, and as long as the black community continues to raise children to act the way they do, and as long as black people have the attitude that “the white man owes me”, then nothing will change for them.

Christian, respectfully, you are making my case for me. Like numerous others, you seem to place all the blame for racial tension on the black community, the media (of course) and its leaders (I despise Sharpton and Jackson too by the way).

Where is the soft approach in you guys? When do you step back and say “OK, you have a problem with white people; explain to me why.”? And then, take the blinders off and actually listen? Do you really think this 100% the fault of the black community and the other groups you mention? White people have lily white hands (no pun intended)?

PS: Whether Zimmerman was Latino has nothing to do with my point.

Instead of debating the case itself, what is interesting to me is that Mohler’s piece represents the consensus response among conservative evangelicals. And while I completely affirm the tragedy of the racial divide in our country, and I completely affirm that the Church must model unity in Christ, I fear that racial reconciliation has become something of a cause celebre.

This is troubling to me because it can easily slip into the very thing that makes racism problematic in the first place—it reduces people to the color of their skin. And ultimately perpetuates the core issues. I’m not looking for a society where race is absent but it seems that race issues have become a badge of honor within this subculture. I seriously don’t think a conservative evangelical of the TGC or T4G stripe could make any other statement about this case and be in step with his peers.

I don’t mean this in a judgmental way—good or bad—just as a sociological observation.

Greg, we don’t need a soft approach. We have already heard from black people why they feel the way they do towards white people.

I am tired of all this “white guilt”. It’s made your race soft. (I am Hispanic) Don’t you see? This “white guilt” is dangerous. It keeps you from embracing all of the good that has come from European/American Western Civilization. And it especially prevents you from preaching the Gospel with power and authority. This “soft approach” has infected the Churches, as it seems you can’t preach the Gospel to anyone of another race or religion without first taking a class on how to be culturally or racially sensitive, or asking unbelievers “OK, you seem to have a problem with Christians; explain to me why. What can I do to change how you perceive Christians?”

AM: The fact is that George Zimmerman was the only witness to what happened on February 26, 2012. Trayvon Martin was dead, and there were no other witnesses to the event.

There were several other witnesses who testified as to what happened during the event. The most important, John Good, clearly identified Trayvon Martin being on top of George Zimmerman and beating him. None of the witnesses seriously contradicts Zimmerman’s account, including the prosecution’s star witness.

AM: Trayvon Martin was killed, however, not by another African-American young male, but by a man who in a 911 call declared Trayvon was suspicious and out of place and then rejected the police dispatcher’s order to stop following him.

George Zimmerman did not call 911. He called the non-emergency police number. Trayvon was reported as suspicious not because of his race, but because of the way he was acting. Zimmerman did NOT reject the suggestion (he was not given an order) to stop following Trayvon. He OBEYED it. Zimmerman stopped following Trayvon and was returning to his truck when he was attacked. (This is quite clear from the physical evidence presented in the trial.)

AM: In other words, a 17-year-old boy who not only was in the right place, but for a very right reason–so that he could be watched over by his father.

Trayvon was staying at the home of (one of) his father’s girlfriends. His father handed Trayvon $100 to entertain himself and his little brother and left town with the girlfriend.

AM: A smiling 17-year-old boy who had gone to a convenience store to buy a soft drink and a snack was shot to death, and we will never know exactly how or why

The “smiling 17-year-old boy” walked to the convenience store and bought most of the ingredients for an illegal street drug that he publicly boasted of using—a drug that often produces highly aggressive behavior. (This was confirmed by the physical evidence in the autopsy.) Whether that’s what Trayvon intended to use them for that night or not we don’t know. We do know exactly how and why Trayvon Martin was shot to death. He attacked George Zimmerman and paid for it with his life. What we don’t know is why Trayvon decided to launch that attack. Was it an attempted gay-bashing? A continuation of his love for fighting? Fear? Anger? That is what we don’t know.

All of these factual errors are based on the propaganda put out by the professional race hucksters that latched on to the family as a meal ticket and their willing enablers in the media. Their inclusion in this piece reveals that Dr. Mohler wasn’t paying close attention to what happened at the trial, and therefore frankly, he would have been better off to have exercised his right to remain silent.

Good post, Robert. I think most of the people turning this thing into a race issue, are the ones who are half-informed and just parroting what they hear on the mainstream media.

…it seems you can’t preach the Gospel to anyone of another race or religion without first taking a class on how to be culturally or racially sensitive…

This is from our services about a month ago…

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151460773527411

The congregation I am serving in has grown to the point where I am ministering to more non-whites than whites in the last three years, even as we have doubled our attendance. Furthermore, I am the child of a 1st generation immigrant who was naturalized a few years after my birth. My personal ministry has grown to include helping many immigrants arriving here for the first time because of the opportunities afforded here to them they did not enjoy in their home country. Please, don’t tell me I don’t understand the bounty and blessings we enjoy here in this nation.

There are times to be direct, sure. But I am reminded of a line from a traditional church covenant used by many Baptist congregations: a promise “…to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech.” Being direct doesn’t give us the right to treat people with contempt, like you did in this paragraph:

As long as the media keeps fueling the racial fires, as long as black rappers keep producing songs that promote violence and drug use and the degradation of women, as long as people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson exist, and as long as the black community continues to raise children to act the way they do, and as long as black people have the attitude that “the white man owes me”, then nothing will change for them.

Whatever percentages there might be reflected in what you observe, they certainly aren’t 100%. Even Jesse Jackson stands up for Paula Deen.

There are problems- legitimate problems- behind some of the things you observe. At the same time, the problems are compounded by attitudes like yours, that excuse people’s inactivity with finger pointing and a defeatist mindset. As long as we’re using “as long as” observations, allow me to make one: As long as people appear to be as scornful and full of contempt as you seem to be on this matter, the more difficult it will be to bring about meaningful change.

Great post, Robert.

Well put

Robert, thank you for pointing out some of the errors and oversights in the article.

Trayvon was reported as suspicious not because of his race, but because of the way he was acting.

Even here, though, I think you read more into Mohler than he says. He may have said 911 instead of non-emergency, but never overtly says the suspicion was due to race.

Correct all these facts, and you the point still stands. I cannot see how what Mohler says in the article’s thrust changes because of what you have corrected. But I am willing to be corrected. Can you see that the sympathy and active response he calls for from his audience changes because of what you provide?

Mohler’s entire opening paragraph turns his article into one of race. Basically he is implying that the Martin-Zimmerman case took place because one night, a young black man was picked out because of the color of his skin. Hence the analogy of the black father having a talk with his son about what to do when he is discriminated against by law enforcement.

[Greg Linscott]

I cannot see how what Mohler says in the article’s thrust changes because of what [Robert] corrected. But I am willing to be corrected. Can you see that the sympathy and active response he calls for from his audience changes because of what you provide?