Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Love is an Orientation

Home
Evangelical
Trayvon Martin and the American Judicial System

Trayvon Martin and the American Judicial System

Last updated on: July 18, 2013 at 10:08 pm by Andrew Marin

Trayvon Martin and the American Judicial System 2013-07-18T22:08:17-05:00 Andrew Marin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A few hours ago the ruling of “not guilty” by a six-women jury permeated the now infamous courtroom in Stanford, Florida, as George Zimmerman will not serve any jail time for killing unarmed African-American teenager Trayvon Martin.

Twitter is blowing up. I had to shut it off. So much heartache as well as so many crazy blasphemous 140 character statements, and nothing anyone can do about them. I pray for peace tonight and the coming days for forthcoming protests sure to happen around the country.

I did have a few quick thoughts about this situation and the American judicial system:

It’s broken and it will never be fixed. Ever.

Recent history alone:

Rodney King.

OJ Simpson.

George Zimmerman.

Any of the idiotic rulings continually letting Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan off the hook.

There is such a thing as white privilege. There is such a thing as celebrity bias. And there is most definitely such a thing as a corrupt and inept judicial system.

I have said this for years–regardless of what the “court” rules on anything, including the Supreme Court, it is of lesser importance than public engagement with the given topic. Always has been. Always will be. Just take last month’s Supreme Court ruling on DOMA and Prop 8. The law changed, but did millions of conservatives who had fought against gay marriage for years just change with it? Will those same traditional marriage conservatives now look at, and treat their LGBT married opponents (dare I say “neighbors”) differently because a law changed? Unfortunately, they will not.

The “court” can rule whatever they want and it does not mean that all of a sudden the masses’ moral convictions, strength of worldview or imputed systems of relational engagement just leave a person and then they change. That is not how the world works.

Too many people put too much stock in the judicial system “making things right.” A judge. A jury. They will never “make things right.”

Even if by law only, they “make things right,” it changes nothing for the masses within the portion of the structure that believe the opposite. If anything, it fires them up for the “injustice” placed upon them through disagreement. This goes both ways.

Famed sociologist Max Weber’s research and theory for social stratification understands that social change hinges on an individual’s value-oriented system of action (particularly with strongly held value systems like religion, politics and organizational power), which produces wide-spread characteristic shifts in social situations and structures. In essence, the actions of the corporate individual(s) determine the social structure.

This means that the system (judicial or otherwise) is broken because our individual ability to make wide-spread and consistent decisions toward value-oriented outcomes of justice filled with a process of integrity, are severely stifled. Stifled not by the system, but by our own doing. Therefore if the incapacitated mass, made up of broken individuals, create the boundaries of our current system, why would we ever think the system will then be able to save us or “make things right?”

Systemic justice is an illusion.

It is one we should all strive for, indeed. But banking on the system to lead the way is flawed.

Banking on ourselves as individuals to start shifting the trend in a new direction whether anyone hops on board or not–now that is something I believe in.

I believe in it because it is based in something we can all control–ourselves. Our actions. Our engagement. Our beliefs. Our relationships. Our outlook toward humanity.

This is why everybody is so pissed tonight. They see something horrible in an inept system ruled on by our “peers” and cannot control one ounce of it.

Riots won’t change the ruling.

Neither will peaceful protests, no matter how many people.

Even if the presiding judge sees 100 million people peacefully protesting the ruling tomorrow, it was the jury of our “own peers” that made this decision. We made this decision.

And we (humanity) made this decision, and thousands of others just like it, because we’re broken.

Change the relationship of daily engagement and by generation, we’ll effectively change the “peers” of our own system.

One might be upset that justice was not served.

But they must be more upset that we contributed to it.

Start living differently. It’s literally our only hope this side of Jesus’ return.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Bridging Opposing Worldviews

Culture

Politics

Previous Post

July 12, 2013

Big Announcement and Transition at The Marin Foundation

Next Post

July 17, 2013 I'm Sorry Campaign Through the Eyes of Others

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews Bridging Opposing Worldviews Culture Don't Drink and Drive Faith Guest Posts I'm Sorry Campaign Interviews Language Laura Statesir LGBT Living in the Tension Living in the Tension Gatherings Love Is an Orientation Love Is an Orientation Blog Love Is an Orientation Book Love Is an Orientation DVD Melinda Guerra Memory My One Sentence Bible Newsletter Our Last Option Parents & Families Politics Quick Quotes Quotes ReEngaging Civility Sexuality Speaking The Marin Foundation Theology Uncategorized Us Versus Us Videos Warren Perry Youth and Campus Ministry

Select a Month June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz