Cynthia Davis: Media is responsible for racial unrest

In her latest column, former Rep. Cynthia Davis, R-O'Fallon, explains how the media is responsible for racial unrest.

As a child growing up on the South side of Chicago, I don't recall even noticing the differences between skin color.  It was a non-issue.  We judged our neighbors on how well they could play "Old Maid", "Kick the Can" or "King of the Hill".  I don't remember any riots or being afraid to walk down the street.

When I attended college in New York, I was the pianist for an all black choir on campus called, "His Voice" and I also played the piano for one of the five choirs at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Nyack.  When my boyfriend would come to visit me, we were the only two white people in the entire Church, but we were happy and they appreciated the way I played the piano.  To this day, if an emergency were to break out and someone needed a pianist capable of playing "Black Gospel", "Southern Gospel" or the music of Andre Crouch, I could come to the rescue.


The Martin-Zimmerman story is still dominating the news because the media outlets are obsessing over the race question instead the facts of the case.  Unless a person sat through all four weeks of the trial, it is unfair to criticize the jury.  It's hard for me to understand how a "jury made up of one's peers" could be all women when the defendant was a man, but that's what the lawyers agreed made up his peer group.
Even the Huffington Post which is left of center writes this:

The facts of the case: 

The anti-gun proponents never seem to miss one opportunity to strip away self-defense rights.  Waiting for the police is a great strategy, but what if they don't show up in time to help?  When I took my "Learn to Carry" class, my instructor made sure we all knew that if we ever shot someone, even in self defense, it would make our lives very complicated for a long time.  Yet, there may be some who would rather live through a full blown trial, than to suffer a worse fate.

Even those who would never shoot a gun still may want to be protected by others who are available to save their lives in a true crisis.   This is one reason why our nation's founders put the second amendment into the Constitution.

I believe most Americans care more about the content of our character than the color of our skin.  Proof of this is in how sports teams are selected and how we qualify blood and organ donors.  It's about getting the job done.  We must never allow the media to define or diminish our American Spirit!