We See Lies When we stop allowing ourselves to be blind to what’s true then we will see real progress.

CBS News) SANFORD, Fla. – A judge granted bail for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, but would not allow his release Friday, citing further discussions needed about the terms, including whether or not he would be allowed out of state.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester also said that Zimmerman must not have any contact with the victim’s family; must wear an ankle monitoring bracelet; and adhere to a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. The judge’s order also states that Zimmerman cannot be in possession of firearms and must not consume alcohol or controlled substances.

Taking the stand during the hearing at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center, Zimmerman addressed the parents of Martin, who were seated in court: “I wanted to say that I am sorry for the loss of your son.

“I did not know how old he was,” he said. “I thought he was a little bit younger than I am. And I did not know whether he was armed or not.”

President Obama’s election was supposed to be a signal that the United States was ready to put its painful racial history in the past. Instead, it seems the nation has moved backward as it continues to grapple with issues like racial profiling.

How and why it continues to occur, and the subsequent repercussions like the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, will be the topic of a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights hearing on April 17. It will be the first hearing on racial profiling since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“[The subcommittee] will explore how profiling harms law enforcement and the different faces of racial profiling, including state immigration laws in Alabama and Arizona that subject Hispanic-Americans to heightened scrutiny, discriminatory law enforcement against African-Americans and anti-terrorism efforts that target American Muslims,” said subcommittee Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois).

The Trayvon Martin case did not spark the hearing, although it will certainly come up given its high-profile status. It also will examine proposed solutions to ending racial profiling, such as the End Racial Profiling Act, closing loopholes in the Justice Department’s racial profiling guidance and the agency’s Civil Rights Division’s enforcement of federal civil rights laws to prevent state and local law enforcement agencies from profiling, according to a subcommittee advisory.

A witness list has not yet been posted, but according to a report in The Post and Courier, Dot Scott, president of the Charleston, South Carolina, NAACP, has been invited to testify. She has been a vocal critic of local efforts to crack down on crime in poor, Black neighborhoods, which she’s characterized is in some instances “harassment of good citizens.”

https://youtu.be/YH1wn8SWR3c

TULSA, Okla. — Oklahoma prosecutors filed murder and hate crime charges Friday against two men arrested in an Easter weekend shooting spree that left three people dead and terrorized Tulsa’s black community.

Jake England, 19, and his roommate, Alvin Watts, 33, each are charged with three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of shooting with intent to kill and five counts of malicious harassment. The harassment counts allege the victims were targeted because of their race.

Police say the men, who were arrested early Sunday after a two-day manhunt, appeared to have chosen their victims at random. Under state law, first-degree murder is punishable by death or life in prison. Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek the men’s execution.

Neo-Nazis say they are conducting heavily armed patrols in and around Sanford, Florida, and are “prepared” for violence in case of a race riot. The patrols are to protect “white citizens in the area who are concerned for their safety” in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting last month, says Commander Jeff Schoep of the National Socialist Movement. “We are not advocating any type of violence or attacks on anybody, but we are prepared for it,” he says. “We are not the type of white people who are going to be walked all over.”

The attorneys for George Zimmerman, the Florida community watch volunteer who fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, said Tuesday they have lost touch with their client and are withdrawing from the case.

Craig Sonner and Hal Uhrig said at a news conference outside the Seminole County Courthhouse in Sanford, Fla., that they heard that Zimmerman on Tuesday had contacted a special prosecutor, who will decide whether or not to press charges against him, against their advice.

They said they have not talked to Zimmerman, whose location is not known, in at least two days but in the past had spoken with him over the phone. “We can’t represent him unless he comes forward and asks us,” Uhrig said.

“We have a pretty good idea where he (Zimmerman) is,” Uhrig said, but added that Zimmerman is not answering the phone.

Uhrig said Zimmerman had called Fox News talk show host Sean Hannity, which also worried them. “We believe he spoke directly to Sean,” Uhrig said. Fox News representative Dana Klinghoffer declined to elaborate to NBC News on the nature of Zimmerman’s relationship with Hannity, saying it would be addressed on the show.

The attorneys said they still believe in Zimmerman’s story that he was attacked by Martin and fired in self-defense.

Dear White folks: 

Between the racist comments, the constant use of the race denial card (this country’s most frequently used “race card”) and the absurd claims of White victimhood, you have really grated my last nerve.

Sure, we got teary during The Blind Side and Antoine Fisher; we maybe even gave money to KONY2012 and after Hurricane Katrina; we maybe even donned a hoodie to protest the murder of Trayvon Martin.  I don’t even doubt there are individuals out there who are genuinely concerned about racism and injustice; I don’t doubt that there are many Whites that marched with Dr. King and whose “best friends” might be Black.  None of this matters if African Americans continue to die at the hands of guns held by security guards and police officers all without justice

I have heard that “we are all Trayvon Martin” over the last few weeks, yet we are not Trayvon Martin – and we never could be. White America is never suspicious. White America can walk to the store without fear of being hunted down. White America can count on justice and a nation grieving at the loss of White life. We aren’t Trayvon Martin, we are George Zimmerman: presumed innocent until proven innocent.

Read David Leonard’s entire piece at Ebony.