TRAYVON MARTIN - The Florida (National?) Judicial System Dropped the ball!

Thoughts By: B. Brown (BREG)


I literally had to let a couple of days go by before I responded in writing (via Social Media) to the verdict in the State of Florida vs. Zimmerman trial. I was saddened and disappointed, but I was not surprised when the "NOT GUILTY" verdict was announced. The bottom line to me is that the Prosecution (The State of Florida) did an absolutely terrible job in attempting to convict Zimmerman on Second Degree Murder and/or Manslaughter. As I watched a couple of video excerpts from the trial, I kept saying to myself, they (the Prosecution Team) are not even convincing me that Zimmerman didn't act in self-defense, and that's when I had to start preparing myself for a "Not Guilty" verdict.

No, I'm not an attorney and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night (Comic Relief). But I do have several close friends that are attorney's, and I am a LegalShield Representative. From my perspective, I believe that the prosecution left so many angles open for debate and did not focus on the main facts during the trial which to me are Zimmerman's lengthy history of calling 911 for suspicious people and activity in his community, making the comment "They are not going to get away with it this time ...," blatantly disregarding the 911 operator's request to stop following Trayvon, actually getting out of his vehicle to confront Trayvon, argue, fight and kill an unarmed 17 year old. That evidence seems to be enough to convict a person of at least manslaughter, but with a very suspect Prosecution Team, coupled with a six-person (five white & one of color) jury that obviously thought it was ok for Zimmerman to kill Trayvon; a terrible precedence has been established in the State of Florida.

Prayerfully, there are other states that have different laws that would not allow a person to get off freely after killing another person in the manner that Zimmerman did. Under no circumstances can we allow people to believe it is open-season on our young men of color here in the United States.

Yes, we have to raise and teach our young men of color how to act and conduct themselves in different situations. You see, we must understand that young men of color are the most commonly profiled people on this planet, specifically here in the United States. So learning to think clearly, with positive long-term & short-term goals will allow our young men of color to "KEEP IT MOVING" no matter what challenges & obstacles they face. We are all products of our environments, but we have to continue to strive for greatness no matter what; and it starts with us as Parents and Adults doing our very best to instill certain qualities into our children.

We have to vote for the right people to get into office and vote on the right laws & amendments that are put on the table for citizens to vote on. When we do the research and pay attention to what is going on around us, we have a much better chance of making informative decisions that will help our communities rather than destroy them.

I have Prayed for Zimmerman and released it to God, because Zimmerman has a tough road ahead of him for sure, and I am definitely Praying for the entire Martin Family because they are experiencing tremendous pain right now.

One Love!!!

Another Tragedy in our Schools!!!

By: Barry Brown

I personally had to wait and let some time past before I could write about what happened in Newtown, Connecticut. It is another tragedy that has rocked our nation, and it is truly sad.

From my experience in education and formerly working at a school on a daily basis, this truly unfortunate incident has made me look back on some of the situations I was in during a school day, and I thank God for keeping me safe along with the other staff members and students at the school. We experienced 10 students fighting at one time, drive by shootings, unauthorized visitors, confiscating drugs and weapons from students and the list goes on in reference to the dangerous situations that arose on almost a daily basis.

When you look at a school, you automatically want to believe it is a safe place to be, and in most cases, a school is a relatively safe environment. However, a few things have changed over the years that have changed the dynamics of school and what actually takes place at school in this day and age. One of the most powerful things that has been taken out of schools is Prayer. Is there anything Spiritual covering over our public schools today? The other interesting piece that is missing in the majority of our public schools is adapting to the times. We are in 2013!!! The majority of the schools that I have visited over the years are still teaching the way they taught in the 50's & the 60's, and of course we don't have those type of students anymore. As of matter of fact, a lot of parents introduce their children to adults by using the adults first name (that's not good). You see, we don't necessarily have "Leave It To Beaver," yes sir and yes ma'am children anymore. Society has changed tremendously and our education system has to change with it!!! The safety of the staff and students has to be first and foremost because how can teaching and learning take place if no one feels safe in the so-called learning environment? There are a lot of parents that are not sending their children to school to learn, the children are basically coming to school to be babysitted and then the parents assume the school is going to teach the child everything that the child is supposed to know ... manners, life skills, etc. It's an amazing idea, let me as a parent not prepare my child for school in no form or fashion, and then send my child to school and expect the school personnel to teach my child how to do everything. Wow!!!

I remember and actually still have the proposals that my co-worker and I submitted to several Superintendents of the school system that we were working in at the time. We actually met with those Superintendents to present and discuss our proposals of increased security and school-education based community outreach, and each time, nothing materialized. What we have seen is the continuous decay of a lot of our public schools across the country because no one (including myself) has truly attempted to breakdown the status quo. It is time to take a stand. A new model for operating schools must be created to work hand-in-hand with what is going on in our overall society for us to see a significant difference. --- http://www.reachthemtoteachthem.com

Let's spend the money on more security at our schools. One Police (Resource) Officer is usually not enough to stop any attack. With the overwhelming influence of violent video games, movies, music, reality tv, social media, the internet in general, etc.; the parents and children of today are faced with far greater challenges then parents and young people of just 10 - 20 years ago.

We definitely have to look at mental illness and how we address it across the board because we have a lot of adults and youth alike that are suffering in silence, and when they hit the point of no return, it can be a terrible situation not only for themselves, but for others too.

I am staying optimistic because I have tremendous FAITH in GOD, and I believe that we are going to close the gap on mental illnesses and troubled souls so that incidents like what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT will not happen on a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis. These type incidents need to be significantly rare in occurrence.

My Prayers and Love are with the families of the victims and the entire town of  Newtown, CT. May God Bless you and keep you!!!

Happy Holidays to All!!!