The Trayvon-Zimmerman beef just the most recent one.


While in MMA parlance there was a “victor” & a “vanquished”, neither are winners. Both, in the saddest terms, lost.

They each suffered from a grave misunderstanding; a simple failure to communicate wisely.

Instead of one identifying himself (in a neighborly & courteous manner), & one explaining his movement (wholly unnecessary & undignified but, in light of the circumstances, helpful, possibly even defusing), Zimmerman drew a gun as Trayvon copped an attitude.

That a jury found a prosecutor reduced to emotional appeals (when was the last time anybody publicly addressed a 17 year-old millennial as a “baby”, “a child”, or a young black man since the Jim Crowe South “a boy”, in a system that sends 18 year-olds to war & the ballot box?) because of the hollow body of evidence surrounding the crucial 4 to 5 minutes of the actual altercation (where even in this age of hyper surveillance, so little surfaced, especially concerning that initial fateful lunge) may have made them empathetic but also cognizant of ‘2 tragedies do not create a triumph’. Vengeance should never be confused with justice.

Juror B29 aka “Maddy” who, predisposed to convict Zimmerman for 2^nd degree murder, nonetheless came to her logical senses instead of her gut feelings of “he got away with murder”. Think about it: would anyone favor a judicial system based on hunches? Such a system once existed; it was called witch-hunts.

Hence, the acquittal of a man whom most of those who know him – his family, friends, co-workers, & neighbors – view as a mindful community organizer.

Of the much maligned profiling, let's be blunt & face the reality: it is done routinely, daily, intuitively, on every initial encounter, on any romantic date, with every first impression. And, unofficially, at the institutional level too, notwithstanding the idiocy & inanity of cavity searching grandmas at airport security check-ins. From urban to suburban mothers & teenagers, to police departments, political campaigns + NSA, profiling remains a (hidden) fact.

It forms part of the iterative sequencing to collective information in those original databases – the DNA & memory banks. Until improvements occur either in precog mind-reading technology to access someone’s intention (nothing really to look forward to) &/or the underlying crime data with respect to violent assaults involving a firearm, certain demographics will continue to draw scrutiny.

The cause(s) may be open to discussion (poverty, discrimination, singled-parent households, et.al.) but the data is incontrovertible: just as young white males demonstrate a higher propensity for mass murder, so too black male youths with chronic homicidal shootings (a disproportionate rate relative to population of up to 10 fold). These are hard, though not immutable, facts. They outline an uncomfortable profile of actual current demography. What racks the collective conscience is that such profiling singles-out entire groups knowing full well that 98% of their members don’t fit it.

So it’s sobering that a person with a hoodie, or a skinhead for that matter, can’t hang out in the rain without drawing suspicion or, worse, ire then dire consequences.

All but the arguing & hurt feelings are over. Where to go from here?

In the spirit of reconciliation as opposed to retribution, how would Lincoln & King react? With malice toward none, of course.

Respect & value of one & all -- as in everyone -- begins with self-esteem which differs from narcissism & consumptive vanity.

Moderns inherit the legacy of heroic ancestors, near & far. People who envisioned a future with less hate, if not its complete elimination & replacement altogether, embodied in the Hillel-Jesus principle.

The NAACP, NAN, & many like organizations could do worse than to shift the narration of race from one that emphasizes a history of whips, rapes, nooses & lynchings – physical, psychological & otherwise, generalized as domination / subjugation with a seeming animus of role-reversal in the contemporary context – to the more aspirational yearnings that were the foundation of the quest for emancipation & freedom. Namely, how a small but significant band of committed souls, standing on religious doctrine broke the chains of time immemorial in achieving an ideal: abolition. They precipitated a chain-reaction leading to the global multiculturalism which humanity enjoys today, from which humankind can now platform to higher consciousness & compassion in service of eradicating disease, poverty, suffering &, perhaps, even mortality itself.

Both mainstream & social media + POTUS too tried feebly to fit the drama into B&W frames despite the chromatics coloring up a hazier bronze for the world now pixilates in ever deepening nuanced shades. Jacko might’ve overstated ‘We Are The World’ but the browning of America is undeniable. A chocolate nation…including White, Milk, Dark, Semi-Dark... think Ellington's Black, Brown, Beige... add tan, pink, & red…

Yeah, it sounds like a leap but it's analogous; & that’s why this chocolate stuff matters, & one reason why people invest faith & hope in it beyond their time & effort. They believe there's more to it than just a substance itself.

For chocolate, a global trading good, whose enormously long value chain -- grown in the tropics, typically manufactured in the northern latitudes, & often consumded in a 3^rd -- spans thousands of miles & embodies millions of people, builds a fragile socio-economic bridge on which exchanges of currency, commerce, contacts, connections, collaborations & culture (the various C-spots of its essential worth) flow. Rewarding everyone along the route with fair compensation & basic respect in order to flourish should be a fundament.

Hotel Chocolat provides a rich metaphor here & an example. It reminds that all have to check in & out, transient as a bar's melt, of life itself. Given its temporal nature, the goal therefore is not to increase misery in keeping with some bizarre notion of 'life as a struggle', a torturous course, but to maximize pleasure all the way around the lot in sync with the rhythms of it.

This company professes just that in its "Engaged Ethics" creed of enterprise -- an overarching approach to sustainability so that the better time-honored ways of cacáo, engendering prosperity & progress, survive long after this generation of visitors is gone.

In the meanwhile, have a pleasant stay.