By the time most of the media has had
time to masticate on the magnitude of the topic, it’s Monday morning and the protagonists
have spent the weekend consulting a public relations specialist.
This is probably what happened in the
case of Gescard Isnora, a former undercover
detective with the New York Police Department. Isnora was fired March 23 for his
role in the 2006 death of Sean Bell, a 23-year old man who was hanging out with
his friends in Queens the night before he was to be married.
Bell’s death made national news when
he died that Thanksgiving weekend.
People demanded the immediate arrests
of those who shot Bell. Others chanted and marched for justice. Truth be told,
many people were disappointed when Isnora and the rest of the officers that
shot at Bell were acquitted in 2008.
Sometimes “justice” is not always in a
legal sense.
Isnora may be a free man, but his
firing means he lost his pension. In a sense his future was taken away just
like Bell’s; however, Isnora will have to think about the consequences of his
actions while Bell is resting peacefully.
Remember Isnora when donning a hoodie
or marching in the name of the late Trayvon Martin.
Martin, a 17-year old Miami resident,
was shot Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla. when he went out to get a snack and a
beverage. The person who admitted to shooting him, George Zimmerman, has yet to
be arrested.
It is possible Zimmerman may not be
guilty of murdering Trayvon. A grand jury has yet to hear evidence providing
probable cause of the 28-year old Zimmerman’s culpability.
Celebrities, journalists and even
Barack Hussein Obama II have lined in to comment about the case. In truth, I am
no different than Roland Martin or Charles Blow or Jonathan Capehart, except
that their platforms are larger.
Of course Martin’s parents deserve
answers about what happened to their boy. The rest of us should demand answers
of the men and women who passed the 2005 law that is currently used as a
redwood crutch of Zimmerman’s defense.
The Orlando Sentinel, who has been out
front of this story from the beginning, reported this week that there were on
average 13 justifiable homicides per year in Florida from 2000-05. From 2006-10
that average jumped to 36 justified homicides each year.
Arthur Hayhoe, executive director of
the Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence told the Tampa Bay Times he’s witnessed a
handful of stories like Martin’s.
But none of them have received as much attention from the public. "Most of
these cases don't go beyond the local paper," he said. "There's been
more dialogue in the last three days than we've gotten for seven years.”
I am betting that on the day Trayvon
was supposed to celebrate his 18th birthday, more people in America
will be concerned with other things. Unfortunately, it’s likely Martin and Bell
will have an additional similarity as it will be forgotten by many except for
those who loved him, remembered the incident, or are dedicated news junkies.
However, Friday’s news in the Bell
case is a reminder “Justice for Trayvon” might not come when we expect it, but
it will come. Because someone has their
freedom, does not mean they are avoiding punishment.
Writing profanity laced e-mails to the
Chief of the Sanford Police Department, like one Melbourne Beach man did, or
calling for a $10,000 bounty for Zimmerman, as one black organization did, will
not douse the inflammatory rhetoric surrounding the Martin tragedy. Not even
justice can do that.
Only time and consequences can.
