THANK YOU GUAM

By Tim Rohr

I began this post in my head on Martin Luther King Day, when, on or about the same day, a Facebook memory jumped out at me of something that happened to one of my daughters several years ago. 

In fact, here it is:

I had a good laugh at the time, but I'm glad I saved it as a memory since it is a memorial to how my wife (who is of African descent ) and I chose to raise our children. 

In fact, at least from what I can recall, it was never even a choice. We (and I am of European and Mexican descent) never thought or spoke of race. We were just people and our children were just children. 

But living and growing our family in Guam helped - where everybody is a "mix up mix up" (to quote a Bob Marley song).

Jessica's hair, like most of our six daughters (and our five sons), was like her mother's. So the "Black guy" asked "you African American?"

Knowing my daughter Jessica, I can just see her face. This was probably the first time she was asked if she was "African American" and "why your hair look like dat?" 

Jessica probably rolled her eyes in shy disbelief and discomfort before however she answered - which unfortunately was not recorded as part of the FB memory. 

I was raised in Los Angeles, which is pretty much a "mix up mix up" place, and I myself am a "mix up," the product of a German father and a Mexican mother, though both were fifth generation American and neither knew hardly a word of German or Spanish. 

My wife was raised in the Caribbean, which is probably the most "mix up" place in the world - which is why it has produced the most unique culture and some of the world's most beautiful people - not to mention the world's fastest sprinters (Jamaica!). 

Because of where we were raised, even on the opposite ends of the continent, neither of us ever really experienced hard racism, so we were in for a bit of a surprise after we married and first moved to a town in northern Florida in the mid 80's. 

It took me a while to figure out what was going on but after attempting for several days to find a home to rent after we arrived there - and being turned down several times - I finally figured out why (in that town) black people lived on one side of the (railroad) tracks and white people on the other. Literally. 

Finally, one landlady hit me over the head with the racist reality when she told me that she couldn't rent to us "because of the Klan." I don't think there was any threat from "the Klan," but she used it to scare us away because denying us a lease on the basis of race would have gotten her in legal trouble. 

We found a place about 10 miles out of town and we were somewhat happy - even though it meant I had to ride my bicycle 10 miles to work every day since I had no money to gas up the little Datsun truck that had gotten us to that town from the opposite coast. 

While living there, I recall a couple of fun "racist" facts. 

My wife was attending school in that town and one day when I went to pick her up I heard one of her fellow students shout: "You married to a WHITE MAN?!!!!" LOL. Yes. She was. 

But my wife was from the Caribbean where everybody was married to everybody and where white people and black people did not live on opposite sides of the "tracks" as they did in that north Florida town. In fact, in those islands, there were no "tracks." We had a good laugh and went home.

Sometime later I was at a laundromat in that same town. I was folding diapers on a table and my very black first-born son was sitting on the same table. As I was in the black part of town (the other side of the tracks) and obviously a white man (though I'm a bit brown) with a black baby (my one year old son), we were an object of suspicion and one of the black ladies watching me apparently called the cops. 

The cops showed up and wanted to know what I was doing with this black boy (Timmy).  I explained that my wife was black, that this "black boy" was my son, and that these were his diapers. The cops smiled and went away. 

Anyway, within a few months, I got a job offer in Guam and we packed up and moved to literally the other side of the world where we lived for THIRTY-FIVE YEARS and raised TEN more children after "Timmy."

Thank you Guam for giving my family the opportunity to just be...well, Guamanians, and not black, white, or whatever. 

TRAYVON MARTIN: JUST ANOTHER USEFUL BODY

So here's the thing. The prosecution in the Zimmerman-Martin case had a lot on their side:

• The President of the United States who compared the dead teen to his own son (completely unprecedented).
• The U.S. Department of Justice which (unconstitutionally) financed and orchestrated protests against the defendant.
• Most of the major media dutifully carrying the president's water to keep this a case about race, and editing actual evidence to manufacture racial bias (SEE BELOW)
• Major threats of violence and civil unrest if the defendant was not found guilty.
• A judge heavily invested in a guilty verdict of some kind (thus she offered the lesser charge of manslaughter once it was evident that second-degree murder could not be proved).
• Months of 24/7 national media coverage portraying the victim as a 13 year old rather than a man big and strong enough to break the defendant's nose with a single punch.
• And ultimately a jury that had to know they would be living in fear for a long time to come should they find the defendant not-guilty.

The fact that the prosecution could not make its case was ultimately due to one thing, the testimony of the forensic expert who demonstrated that Martin was on top of Zimmerman when he was shot. Even if Zimmerman had provoked the encounter by "following" Martin, Martin still made the choice to engage Zimmerman and break his nose, and, as the forensic expert proved, proceeded to harm Zimmerman further.

The jury had absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose by finding the defendant not-guilty. They will probably have to move or live in hiding for many years. The fact that they found the defendant not-guilty is glaring evidence that the prosecution itself had none - which is why in the end - the prosecutor told the jury to judge "with their hearts". In other words, "ignore the evidence", "don't use your brains", "go with your feelings."

Sadly, this is what many have done, gone with their feelings. The great tragedy though, is the suspension of brains to protect Barack Obama. Because ultimately this is his campaign, which is why he interjected himself into it from the beginning. Otherwise, it would have been just another shooting, which happens hundreds of times per day in this country.

Obama needs division, strife, unrest, and crisis, to "fundamentally transform America." It's right out of his community organizing Saul Alinsky handbook. Trayvon Martin has been just another useful body in that campaign. Watch and see.

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NBC's EDITED RECORDING
ZIMMERMAN: This guy looks like he's up to no good. ... He looks black.

THE FULL CALL:
ZIMMERMAN: This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something. It's raining, and he's just walking around looking about.

DISPATCHER: Okay. This guy, is he white, black, or Hispanic?

ZIMMERMAN: He looks black.

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