Battle Lines Have Been Drawn

Today I thought I would cover a topic that's pretty controversial. It has nothing to do with Edwards itself - or the people of Edwards - but this country as a whole.

In the wake of the Zimmerman/Martin trial and Zimmerman's acquittal, one thing has become very apparent. Lines have been drawn in this country in ways we have not seen since the days of the Civil War.  War has been declared in this country but unfortunately the sides are not clear cut nor are they fighting for something honorable like independence. Suddenly everyone is enemy #1 no matter who you are.

This country is failing fast and there's no sign of any deliverance any time in the near future. Yet instead of the American people pulling together and deciding to fight for this country and our rights, we decide to fight against each other for no other reason then the reason to do so.

People are being attacked on the streets all over this country for no reason beyond their skin color, all in the name of "justice" for Trayvon Martin. Tell me people, exactly what this accomplishes? Whether one believes Zimmerman was right or wrong, where does the mentality of punishing everyone of a specific race as justice come from? Is it fair to "Kill the Whitey" because a jury of 6 found Zimmerman innocent? Is it fair to lump all blacks as hoodie wearing thugs because of the actions of Martin? To make matters worse, we made a whole new classification of race during this trial - Zimmerman who is considered Hispanic - was suddenly classified as a "White Hispanic". We have an entire generation of mixed children - where one parent is black and one is white - but we do not classify these children as "White African Americans", do we? However, suddenly we have "White Hispanics" in order for the media to make this case a white vs black hate crime and a civil rights case.

Here's a news flash people - take it or leave it. The media told you exactly what they wanted you to believe and you took that bait - hook line and sinker. .

The photos that were constantly shown on the news.

Martin was not an angel, regardless to what the media may have tried to paint him as. He was not an innocent kid just out buying skittles and tea. He was not the smiling kid in the photographs plastered all over the media. He was a huge "thug" (his own words, not my own) who lived for violence. He was a drug addict, a thief and a racist. His autopsy was shown to prove that he he had a history of using "Lean" - a narcotic drink made by mixing Arizona Watermelon drink, skittles and codine cough syrup.

Zimmerman was also no angel either but he was not the monster portrayed by the media. He was overly gung ho about his position as watchdog for his neighborhood watch program but he was not the racist white man that the media said he was. Along with facts about Martin, facts about Zimmerman have come to light after the trial verdict. He was a man who went out of his way to protect the rights of individuals of color when he felt they were treated unfairly.

Day after day, crimes upon people occur. Each day, hundreds of crimes take place - white on black, black on white, black on black, white on white, Hispanic on Hispanic. Yet, these crimes do not take top slot in our news. However, this incident in Florida which in all reality was much less heinous then many of the murders that take place on a daily basis, was force fed down our throats. Why is that? 

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not going to use this blog to defend Zimmerman or tarnish Martin. However, I will say that I have voiced my opinion more than once to state how I felt about this case and have had people "unfriend" me solely because my opinion was not that of crucifying Zimmerman. (My opinion is that they were both in the wrong). I've had facebook feeds saying if anyone dares to post anything in favor of Zimmerman or the verdict that they would be unfriended immediately.  People feel very strongly about this case - Why? Why this case? Why is there such an outcry for Martin who's actions and choices led to his death? Why is there no outcry for Antonio Santiago, a 13 month old boy shot in the head while sitting in his stroller by two black teenagers who tried to rob his mother? Because black on white crimes doesn't fan the flames of hatred that the media needed, even if it involved a truly innocent child killed in cold blood. Why?

Antonio Santiago - shot on March 11th, 2013.

Maybe its because the current administration figured that by focusing our attention on Zimmerman/Martin and fan the flames of racism, they could shift attention away from issues that would draw attention to them and make those in this country question their motives. When was the last time a story about Benghazi headline news? Or the national debt? Why would the shooting of one individual take precedence over more important issues?

Let me inform you of just how uneducated the national media and the government would have us be. During the Zimmerman trial, how many of my readers were aware that the President signed an agreement with Russia in order to bring 15,000  Russian troops into the US to assist with an upcoming "disaster"? Originally when I heard this story, I had thought it was typical conspiracy theory BS. Unfortunately, it is not false information. The truth is that nobody knows exactly why these troops were brought into this country - some believe that it might be because our own US military cannot be used against civilians in this country. Who knows for sure. But I look at it this way - if the US Government cannot afford to pay our military and are constantly making budget cuts, why would they pay for a foreign military?

Since I'm on the topic of our troops, were you also aware that during all the the Zimmerman/Martin attention, the government announced that because of the failure by Congress to end budget sequestration that the government might force the services in fiscal 2014 to freeze military promotions, suspend recruiting and halt all change of station moves?  While everyone's attention was focused on a trial that had no true effect on our lives, the government was playing a slight of hand. Hope you like Edwards people, because if the Government gets it way, you won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Hope all you military guys got your promotion this year because it not, you're probably going to be stuck in your current rank for a long long time, because it doesn't look like anything will be changing anytime soon. And where does it make sense that we're going to pay for 15000 troops from Russia but we can't afford our own military troops?


 I will admit, I have never been an Obama supporter and I have never voted for him, I felt the other opponents were a better choice for our country. Yet, for the last 5 years, we have been told that if you do not support the President, you are a racist, especially if your skin is white. When it comes to politics these days, the color of your skin determines if you are allowed to have an opinion or not. Even before the first election, when Obama was campaigning this was made apparent when a the word "articulate" was used to describe Senator Obama and was deemed a racist comment. (Ironically, the white man who described the Senator as such was Joe Biden, who became Obama's running mate and later his Vice President).  I will be the first to admit that I believe the current President and his wife feel that they are either Royalty or celebrities other than just an elected political figurehead. They jet set all over the world taking back to back frivolous vacations on the taxpayers dimes while telling the American people that this country is in financial crisis and that this country cannot pay its bills.  The government shuts down the White House (a building paid for and maintained by our tax dollars) saying there's no money to pay for tours for groups of school kids or visitors to DC, yet celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z and Beyoncé can go in and out like they live there anytime they want  and perform private concerts (again on the tax payer's backs) because they are "good friends" with the first family. School children are going hungry at school because the First Lady has made severe caloric limitations and foods given at school lunches while her and her children eat high on the hog. Yet, hey, Trayvon Martin is much more important for the American people to know about then what is going on in our own back yard, right?

This administration has done absolutely nothing to bring the American people together. Instead, it has seemed to do everything in its power to cause animosity between the people, drawing lines between the races. The President has broken into normal broadcasts in order to issue statements about the death of Whitney Houston and to speak openly about his feelings about Trayvon Martin, yet upon the death of Margaret Thatcher he failed to attend or send anyone as a representative of this country to her funeral.  When a cracked out singer who dies of an overdose takes precedence over one of the greatest women to have lived, you have to start questioning the decisions being made.

I'm definitely not a politician. I wouldn't even consider myself an armchair politician to be honest.  However, I am beginning to feel I'm the wrong color and even the wrong nationality for the current administration to support and represent me.  I am not black, I am not unemployed, I am not an illegal immigrant, I am not gay. I do not need government assistance, or a free cell phone, or Obamacare.  However, I am a middle working class, college educated white female who is married to a military member. I own guns, I own a gas guzzling vehicle, and I pay my own bills and my own way. This puts me in a very unpopular minority in this country.  It also puts myself and my family at risk now, when this country is so heated in hatred in a war of black vs whites. 

In closing, I'd like to leave you with a few quotes a very wise man. A man of color who understood that you don't stand with your hand out for freebies but knew the importance of struggle, suffering and working to make this country better. A man who understood that people all needed to stand together, not separate themselves based on skin color, in order for this country (and mankind in general) to survive. This world needs more Martin Luther King Jr's and less of the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons of this world.. This country needs leaders who can bring us all together - the more we're divided against ourselves, the easier it is for us to allow our government to force us to look one way while we should be looking the other.

"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent"

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools"

"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars- must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation"

Until next time...