YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT MR. PRESIDENT

I watched the President give his unscheduled talk on the Travon Martin case and think he and so many others are completely missing the point.  I have no doubt he and a large percentage of not only blacks, Hispanic, Asian and many whites have felt the discomfort of people clutching their purses, exiting an elevator and avoiding eye contact on a street with people appearing to be scared in this country.  I know it happens every day and is a shame.  The last thing any civilized person would chose to do.  The problem is not the color of the embarrassed and hurt person's skin, but the perception the offending party has of that person.

So long as the President, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or any of the other so called leaders fail to realize or refuse to accept, because it alienates their base,  those who get this type of treatment are a part of a culture that invites such action.  As long as African Americans, red-neck whites and other groups fail to address the perception existing today things will not get better simply because someone demands it should.    

The fact is that even with over 50 years of actions aimed at creating equal opportunities the large majority of those who could be beneficiaries of the actions fail to change.  The Presidents was right in that many things have and are changing for the good.  I think it is time the white race should get some credit for changing and accepting those who make the effort to become productive members of our society.  I am by heritage as true a southern white man as can be.  I was born here, raised here and will die here.  I am 67 years old, was educated in Birmingham during the worse years of the civil rights movement and have raised my family here. I was never extremely prejudiced and was not raised that way but did have the background to understand where these feeling of disdain came from.

I can truly say today many of my best friends are people of color.  They are people who because of their parents, teachers and mentors have the same view of the world I think the majority of Americans share. They got their education, the amount doesn't matter, they are productive and vital members of the community and are teaching their children the values they were taught and live.  I welcome them into my church, my home and my family should that be the case.  I would never clutch my wallet, lock my door at an intersection or cross a street to avoid them.  I have and continue to enjoy their company in restaurants, ball fields and anywhere else I can share time with them.

The problem is acceptance comes with great effort.  I don't care what color a person is but I will clutch my wallet, lock my doors and avoid contact with anyone regardless of color or origin I perceive to be questionable.  I am not going to treat someone with their pants down around their knees, with a cap turned sideways and wearing a Mr. T. collection of chains as my long lost cousin, even if he is.  It is not a black and white thing.  The statistics of what someone like that has a propensity to do bothers me, and if I were a woman it would bother me more.  The President or anyone else is not going to make me open up to someone like that, I don't care what color they are.

I simply wish instead of fostering this Black/White thing the President and the leaders of any community suffering the indignities of the actions you describe, focus your efforts on changing the perception by holding the members of your base accountable to becoming productive members of our world.  This applies to our white leaders as much as to any other group.

The African-American has made and continues to make great strides in this area.  The Whites, Hispanic and Asian communities need to redouble their efforts as we are witnessing a rise in the unproductive elements of our races for some reason.  Some blame it on the taking of God out of our culture.  I really don't think God has gone anywhere.  I think we have a generation of parents of every color that have dropped the ball.  The kids are not the center of their lives any longer and we all suffer.  The majority of any group must hold they group accountable or we will lose everything.  Just quit wasting all the energy on making it a black/white deal and get on to making it a productive/non-productive thing.

Understand you can't keep blaming it on a straw boogy man and accept the fact you are going to need to step on some toes.

By the way, Travon's trial was not about profiling, it was not about what anyone should have done to get in or out of the situation.  The jury was directed to determine if Zimmerman acted in self-defense at the time he pulled the trigger.  If there was reasonable doubt of the crime charged he was due to be acquitted.   What either of the party's should have done earlier was not a part of the jury's task.  The little presumption of innocence thing applied here to.