The Heartbreak of Petty Complaints

Theme song: Shake Sugaree*

It's strange to be out of your home country during a national tragedy. Yes. I'm speaking of the Trayvon Martin case, about which it's hard for me feel qualified to write.

I intended, in fact, not to write about this. I was going to write about The Heartbreak of Petty Complaints. You know, things like trying to buy a monthly pass for your Clipper card and accidentally being sold a pay-as-you-go card and being unknowingly out of money when you're running for MUNI. And then the further heartbreak of trying to get reimbursed.

It's all about adding petty insult to true injury.

Besides, many far more qualified people have spoken on this important issue, among them Charles M. Blow in his New York Times Op-Ed piece.

Here is an excerpt that spoke to me:

This is . . . to howl at the moon, to yearn for a brighter reality for the politics around dark bodies, to raise a voice and say, this case is a rallying call, not a death dirge. -- Charles M. Blow

Another person whom I respect, President Obama, is intensely qualified to speak on this tragedy and that he did, even in the face of criticism from both "sides" (left and right if that really means anything), was reassuring to me.

In a sense, he echoes Mr.Blow's statement that this case represents a rallying cry -- there are so many -- and this one can be against gun violence. Why not? It's obviously a problem in our country.

I have written about this before, after Mitt Romney blamed single parents for gun violence in America, and, of course, the irony of who shot whom in this case is not lost on me. Even for Mitt Romney, it would be hard to blame this case of gun violence on single parents.

So, more to the point, President, is not the issue of gun violence but of racism. I know, sir, it's a word you cannot use lightly.

So I, unqualified though I feel, will say it for you:

Racism.

Mr. Blow mentions two things close to my heart: Trayvon's mother's grief and his own anguish regarding what to say to his (black) boys about this tragedy.

I have two boys, of course, and it would be unspeakably painful to tell them, "Boys, you watch how you walk, how you talk, what you wear, what you carry and what you share. Just remember, they are afraid and angry and they will kill you."

The thing is, and who could say it better than Martin Luther King, Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

I want my boys to live in a just world. But they don't.

The most important reason I am writing about Trayvon is Laura.

She has trusted me despite the many reasons, much larger than the two of us, not to.

And, as Martin Luther King, Jr., also said, "There comes a time when silence is betrayal."

And so I did not write about The Heartbreak of Petty Complaints.

I wrote about The Heartbreak of Racism and Injustice.

In this time of (inter)national mourning, the hope is that Trayvon's death will make a difference. Of course it will. It already has.

Laura has spoken to me many times about "those who have come before."

Like Emmett Till, Trayvon will not be forgotten.

I am just one, unqualified, person, but this I can offer Sybrina Fulton: In solidarity for a grieving mother, I will remember your son. And I hope that each tear I shed is one you don't have to.

Your Turn

What do you think about the larger issues raised by the Trayvon Martin Case? I would love to hear any gentle and well-reasoned opinions, even if they are different from mine.

*Shake Sugaree is a protest song ("we'll raise Cain but it ain't a bit of use") written by the then twelve year-old Brenda Evans and her grandmother, the magnificent Elizabeth Cotten.