There's nothing to celebrate.

It disturbs me that some are actually celebrating the acquittal of George Zimmerman. I didn’t follow the trial closely, so I can’t say whether or not the prosecution failed to prove its case, and I know that proving someone is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt is a high standard. But I also know that Trayvon Martin went out that night to get Skittles and George Zimmerman went out with a gun looking for supposed bad guys, and Martin is the one who is dead. I’m not a lawyer, and, as I said, I didn’t follow the trial, so I don’t know if Zimmerman should have been found guilty, but Zimmerman did set into motion a chain of events that led to an innocent young man’s death. Trayvon Martin is dead. Dead and gone. His life is over. And he would not have died when he did if Zimmerman hadn’t reacted to his presence in such an irrational way.

Many of those who are celebrating are saying that Zimmerman had a right to pursue and confront Trayvon Martin, and they seem to think that his actions were excusable if not entirely reasonable, but from what I know, Zimmerman based his suspicion of Trayvon Martin primarily on three things: his age, his sex and his skin color. Trayvon was a young black male. But so what? We know that he was staying in the neighborhood at the time, so he had a legitimate reason to be there, and he went out for a snack. I don’t think he was peeking in anyone’s windows. I don’t think he was poking around anyone’s car. I don’t think he was harassing anyone, or turning over garbage cans, or engaging in vandalism. So why would it be reasonable or excusable to find him suspicious?

I think it’s ironic that Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer because the night Zimmerman stalked and killed Trayvon Martin, Martin was a member of the community, at least that night he was, and it was Zimmerman’s job to look after his welfare. Zimmerman killed someone he was supposed to be protecting.

But those who are celebrating Zimmerman’s acquittal say Zimmerman had his rights, and it was excusable if not reasonable for him to have found Martin suspicious. And many go on to claim that Martin should have responded differently, and that it was up to him to defuse the situation either by getting away from Zimmerman or calmly reasoning with him. But what about Martin’s rights? Why wasn’t it excusable if not reasonable for him to have found Zimmerman suspicious? Why was he obligated not to pursue and confront Zimmerman? What many seem to conveniently forget is that for Trayvon Martin, it was Zimmerman who was the weirdo in the neighborhood acting suspiciously. If I had been in his shoes, if I had been walking home alone at night from the store and Zimmerman started following me, I would have been scared to death.

This was a tragedy. I don’t think there’s anything to celebrate here. I know that bad things happen to people all the time--that’s just the kind of world we live in--but even if we can’t prevent every senseless death and every injustice, I think we can do a better job at maintaining a civil society in which a teenager, no matter his or her skin color, can feel reasonably if not absolutely safe while walking to and from the corner store for candy.