If I had a son instead of a daughter with my ex-wife, who is African-American, he would have been only two years older than Trayvon was when he was gunned down for being black.  Hence, I can’t help but identify with our biracial president who said so wisely and to give people pause, “If I had a son, he would have looked like Trayvon Martin.”

No reasonable person can dispute the impetus to shoot this unarmed minor with no criminal record any longer, especially now that the 911 tapes clearly have George Zimmerman calling him a “coon”!  I can’t help but cry today thinking about losing my child this way, but for her gender.  Even as a daughter of color, I have warned my child of the perception of her being “suspicious” just as my ex-wife had been when she walked into a store and even as my perceptibly Latino ex-lover had been.  We’ve got a long way to go.

As for Geraldo Rivera (half Latino himself) talking about his “dark” son and discouraging him from wearing a hoodie, the comment that children of color should dress DIFFERENTLY than their white counterparts to avoid getting shot is tantamount to telling a woman not to dress provocatively or she’d be responsible for getting raped!  Talk about blaming the victim!  What’s even more egregious about Rivera playing to his FOX “News” audience of minimal brain cell patterns, is that he said the hoodie was “equally” responsible for the murder as George Zimmerman himself!  What the hell?

Relatives and friends of my recently passed uncle have discovered that he had no insurance.  My Uncle was in the military and lived overseas for this country.  He contributed and worked his whole life, but died without much of anything, and his lack of health insurance probably did not help, as his CPAP machine for apnea, not to mention his gastro-intestinal problems, could not have helped the fact that he died at the age of sixty (so not even old enough to receive social security or Medicare) last week.  I’m pretty furious to find out that he was another American citizen who fell through the cracks and was not able to receive optimal medical care because he could not afford it!

His VA Benefits will only cover $600 of the $2,400 funeral in Sedona, so we are taking up a collection, as his estate will definitely not be able to afford it.  I can’t stand to think that this man would not be able to be buried with dignity and would rather forego taking a trip to his memorial next weekend to be able to contribute more to his funeral expenses.