White, Middle class, Conservative

I am white, middle class, conservative.
I live in Brazil, the beautiful land of brown skin. I haven't read much about Trayvon, except on Facebook. Facebook, where my wall is in four languages: English, Portuguese, Chinese, and those statuses that I have to sound out to understand because the spelling is so creative. Because I have been blessed with friends all over the world, and all over the page of culture. There are people I love in America, Brazil, and Asia, from the good side of the tracks and the other side.
I've always been different. Growing up, it was a nagging feeling that something was wrong with me. When I was 16 and realized I felt more at home teaching at an alternative inner city school than in my suburban church, I had the thought that maybe the problem wasn't ME.
I believe you choose your culture, just as much as it chooses you. And somewhere, I chose "non-normal-American." Oh, I am proud of our country. Even more so, now that I have lived outside of it for five years. I can see every inch of blessing that I receive from being a citizen there: rights and privileges I gained from birth, not from work. But it doesn't change that:

I am white, middle class, conservative.

The man I love is black. And one day, I hope to have Cheerio commercial children. And there will be stares and looks and talks. And hopefully, conversations and laughter and love. More and more I realize that racism is only overcome through relationship. I hope to have many more relationships.
When I was 6, my best friend was black. I met her at a party at my grandparent's house and I loved her as only a 6 year old girl can. And after that I never saw her again, because I went home, six hours away. There weren't girls like that at my church. And I didn't know how to ask why not. Now I do.

I am white, middle class, conservative.
I have been living or working in beautifully mixed communities for half my life. My Facebook pictures are rainbows of color. And that is how I like it. That is my choice: intentionally. Because that is the normal I have created for me.
And when I read this article about Trayvon, (http://www.relevantmagazine.com/current/race-trayvon-martin-and-our-national-wake-call), it hits me more than all the (white) "quit bashing Zimmerman" statuses I see or the (black) "you killed my brother" statuses. Because it talks about relationship. And that I understand.

I understand the woman who fears for her husband and son, jogging at night. Not because of Trayvon, but because that is how life is. Still. I've seen it.
I've seen it when I visited a friend in boy's school, and the guard questioned my safety. I've seen it when the policeman stopped my car, asked me to get out, and asked if I was "safe" with my (mixed) boyfriend. I've seen it when the manager asked me and my friends to be "quiet" in a restaurant, when in the next section, a white group of boys were hollering.

I am an American who wants to make a difference.
And I say it needs to stop.
Those that are saying Trayvon was just a freak accident, it needs to stop. Maybe, in his case, it was. But you are denying truth--that these things HAPPEN. And they happen A LOT. And if you can't see that, you need to meet more people. People who don't look like you.
Those that are saying Zimmerman needs to die to pacify a million injustices you have felt, it needs to stop. Crucifying him isn't going to solve anything. relationships will. And if you can't see that, you need to meet more people. People who don't look like you.