Black and white

I am brokenhearted and dismayed that white Americans (and even some black Americans) are totally missing the bigger picture in the Trayvon Martin killing. When government institutions show such a blatant disregard for the lives of black people, it is institutionalized racism. Most black people know that the Trayvon Martin killing is far from an anomaly. What they also know is that, were the races reversed in this situation, Zimmerman would have been arrested and on his way to trial, if the police would have even allowed him to live long enough to make it to trial. White people have, historically, been killing black people with impunity for 300-plus years in America. Furthermore, to add insult to injury in the Trayvon Martin case, and so many others involving black victims, it's "blame the victim."

Remember how outraged white America was when O.J. Simpson was acquitted? So where was their outrage for the countless white women who are killed by their white husbands and boyfriends? Or is their outrage only reserved for when a black man kills a white woman? The O.J. Simpson fiasco gave white America a taste of what black America has felt in this country for centuries. —R. Session, Detroit

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