It will be wrong and a serious mistake to undermine or ignore the depth of the wound, the frustration and the sorrow among African American community over the Zimmerman trial. It is a wound that may be temporarily pacified but can erupt if not treated from the roots.
The Question : Is the discrimination against young African Americans in the job market, university admissions, ...etc is pushing young African-Americans to poverty and despair which in turn pushes them to crime and violence. Or is criminal trend among some young African-Americans is the reason for the discrimination against them.
For me the answer is clear. If there was no recent history of discrimination against African Americans, then, both analysis would have the same probability.
But knowing how deep was the racial discrimination against African Americans in the not so distant past, it is clearly the former not the latter. I can say after living in America 4 years in the late seventies early eighties, and being a frequent visitor since then, America didn't succeed in integrating the African American minority with the European American majority.
Money and Education can make a good looking guy who will not scare people when he joins them in the elevator. I am referring to President Obama's recent remarks on Trayvon Martin's death.
An African American father who could not find a job, can not put his children in higher education, so they can't find jobs and steady income. Naturally a poor, uneducated person will not have a good appearance and that is why he scares people in the elevator.
African and European Americans are all Americans and destined to live together indefinitely. No gated community or guns or even machine guns can keep them separate . Trayvon's death regardless of the trial, should trigger serious, honest debate about where is the chicken and where is the egg in this explosive issue
Hamad S Alomar
Riyadh
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