(ThyBlackMan.com) The killing of Trayvon Martin on a rainy Sunday night on February 26 of 2012 was tragic. The investigation by the Sanford Police Department made his death even more tragic. The chief of police over ruled his lead investigator who wanted George Zimmerman charged with manslaughter. To have had a youngster lose his life for nothing more than being a youngster, that is carrying out the act of going to the store to get a bag of candy and drink of tea, did not set well with the black community of Sanford and indeed people of justice around the world.
To have a police chief tell a nation that the killer should go free because it was the unarmed dead youngster’s fault sent a shocking message through the Sanford black community and around the world. That message was that you could be innocent of committing a crime, walking in your neighborhood and still end up dead, and the killer goes free, as long as the killer said you put his life in danger, even though the killer pursued and shot you. It did not make
any sense then and does not make any sense now.
The sentiments of those who protested for Mr. Zimmerman’s arrest and prosecution for the murder of Trayvon Martin appear to be as strong today as it was when they gathered in Sanford, Florida on March 22, 2012, in numbers exceeding by some estimates as many as 30,000. The marches and protests surrounding the killing of this youngster have placed this city of 54,000 in the world’s spotlight.
Now that the trial has begun with the choosing of jurors, we are seeing a diverse line up of different personalities reflecting a variety of opinions from the Sanford area. Some are good and some are bad. Blacks in Sanford are 30% of the population. They have been through the years in a tug of war with the white majority population represented by its city government. For the most part, Sanford blacks settled into an uneasy relationship with a city commission of four whites and one black. It has been long understood that the city, which has a city manager form of government, whites were in charge.
A city manager form of government is one in which the city council hires a manager to run the day-to-day affairs of the city. The city manager reports to the city commission in much the same way a chief executive officer of a corporation might report to a board of directors. Usually the city manager is responsible for the hiring, firing and general management of the city’s business affairs. The mayor in such an arrangement is among one of the several commissioners. He has one vote just like the other sitting commissioners when it comes to enacting measures governing the city. The mayor additionally carries out ceremonial duties related to city governance.
The city of Sanford, until 1983, elected its city commissioners at large, meaning that the entire city electorate voted to put a commissioner into office. This method of electing governmental representatives was a hold over from the racially segregated days of “Jim Crow” in the South. It literally guaranteed the election of whites to the city commission as it diluted the black vote. It was a 1983 federal court decision initiated by blacks that forced the city of Sanford to elect its commissioners on a district-by-district basis that gave the city its first black commissioner.
The federal court also directed the city to draw a majority black district that would guarantee the possibility of a black being elected to the commission each election cycle. Today, Sanford boasts its first black city manager, since its incorporation in 1877. Before his appointment approximately one year ago, Sanford had never had a black manager work in any capacity in city government. It is under these circumstances that the racially tinged trial of George Zimmerman begins.
Staff Writer; James Davis
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