COMMENTARY | There are few things that are more polarizing in America than issues of race and justice. From the moment of Trayvon Martin's tragic death until today, America's difficult relationship with race has been at the forefront of the discussion.

George Zimmerman is guilty of murder, but he was found not-guilty by a Florida jury. The evidence showed a deeply disturbed man stalked, hunted, and ultimately killed a young man because he looked suspicious (read: black).

The verdict shows, that in the state of Florida, any black child running to the corner store should expect to be treated with suspicious and derision. This not-guilty verdict teaches white America many lessons that black America has known for a long time. Sadly, this verdict emphasizes that a black man cannot get justice in America, especially if his murderer is a white man supported by a clever new law.

We learn that any black child who deigns to protect himself from an assault by a white man with a gun should also expect to be gunned down in the street.

We learn that black families should expect that law enforcement will not treat the death of a black child by a white man to be especially important. In fact, the family should not expect any sort of vigilance or diligence in investigating the death of their children, if he is gunned down by the right person who chose to "stand [his] ground" by stalking and approaching a child, at night, on an empty street.

We learn that black families should entirely forget about the right of their children to stand their ground; black children should not be able to protect themselves against a strange armed man who approaches them at night. Black children do not have the same right to stand their ground against a white man with a gun.

We learn that black families should understand that many white people also see their children -- whether they be honor students, volunteers, or athletes -- as little more than potential suspects, and that all their activities, including evening strolls to the corner store for Skittles, should be viewed through the same lens as those white people with the guns. Namely, black children should assume that white people will view them as innately threatening. White people can approach, provoke, and initiate conflict with a black child, and that black child should not respond defensively in any form, because the white man with the gun has the right to stand his ground.

Essentially, what we learn from the George Zimmerman not-guilty verdict is that the Old South and the New South have a whole bunch in common. Not only did Florida rubber-stamp the murder of a child today, but it has created a new legal standard for lynching that is much more legal and expedient than Jim Crow.

Yahoo News asked Sanford, Fla., residents and others across the nation to react to the not-guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman case and cultural issues surrounding the trial. Here's one response.

COMMENTARY | "Horrified" is the only word I have. The George Zimmerman verdict left me sick to my stomach and terrified about what it means.

The real question at the heart of this case is whether, by virtue of the mere color of his skin and the wearing of a hoodie, a person is dangerous. Yes, said the jury. Yes he is.

Dangerous enough to kill. Martin wasn't allowed to stand his ground against an adult man who followed him first in a car, and then by foot. His sentence for doing so?

Death.

As the jury headed to deliberation, I spoke to a close friend of mine, he, himself, an African-American man and the father of a son. "If Zimmerman is found not guilty," he said to me, "what, exactly, is a black man supposed to do be certain that he is not perceived as a threat? What action can he take?"

"I don't know," was my response as his words sunk in. I didn't think that a jury could possibly find justification in stalking and killing a child, hunting him down and then blaming him when he tried to defend himself. But they blamed him. They must have blamed him, because otherwise, they wouldn't have set his killer free.

The racists will crow, they've been crowing for weeks, and will talk about how Martin got what he deserved, how Zimmerman was justified. Any opinions to the contrary will be minefields of comments so ugly, so wrong as to make any sane person question the direction of humanity.

Saturday, the hideous past of segregation and racial violence was born anew, fitting like an old pair of shoes, still warm from their previous wearing. In a modern society, it should not be OK for an adult to follow a child home from the store in the dark, first in a car, then on foot. It should not be OK for him to shoot him dead.

But our society is getting less and less modern. And my fear for my friends -- real people with real families -- is overwhelming.

• BY: DOUGLAS V. GIBBS

A scene outside the courthouse in Seminole County.

COMMENTARY | Many residents in Sanford tonight are putting their best foot forward in trusting the judicial system in the case of the death of Trayvon Martin at the hands of George Zimmerman. More than anything, the verdict has caused a frenzy of confusion, emotions and utter disbelief. While a number of people in Orlando/Sanford area felt George Zimmerman would not be convicted of second-degree murder, they at least thought he would be convicted of manslaughter.

A Sanford resident told me, "We have to respect the decisions that the courts make." As a mother of two children younger than 10, she says she has a great deal of compassion for the Martin family and the tragic loss of their son. "I have concerns when [my children] grow up how the world will be at that time."

During the verdict, mothers and fathers with their children were in front of the courthouse, hugging them close and concerned. The children of these families have darker skin tones than white America.

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A woman stands with crowds outside the courthouse in Seminole County.

Another Sanford resident, H. Duncan, said, "If a 28-year-old black male had shot and killed a 17-year-old white child, and claimed self-defense, at the very least he would have been arrested [from the beginning]."

To some, it appears there is little to no value placed on the African-American child. Based on the tone since the beginning of this horrible tragedy, many agreed Zimmerman had no right to claim self-defense when he, in fact, pursued, chased and stalked Martin to his death.

The one thing that is most notable is that people are not lashing out in anger regarding the outcome or in the days leading up to the verdict. Quite the opposite: There are tears, hurt and disappointment in the city of Sanford and in Orlando on Saturday evening.