On February 26, 2012 in Sandford, Florida, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black boy, was gunned down by George Zimmerman, a middle-aged man of Caucasian and Hispanic descent. But, as we know, Zimmerman was not arrested. Instead, around midnight on that night of February 26, 2012, the State’s Attorney was called in to meet the Chief of Police, and Zimmerman was let go…without a single picture being taken of his nonexistent “bruises” or the recording of key witness testimony.
Fast foward to over one month later, and Zimmerman–with a history of managing to evade convictions after arrests and a father who is a retired judge…hmm, you do the math–has not been arrested.
Indeed it has already been universally aknowledged that witness Mary Cutcher’s testimony was squelched and her reputation smeared because she did not see Zimmerman ”standing his ground” or any other sign of “self-defense.” What she saw was an out-of-control man murder a young boy.
And she has no idea why George Zimmerman is free.
To be Black in America, it seems, is to risk being shot at any second of any day of your life–and to know that your killer will most likely get away with it.
This is not right. This is not fair. This is not who we are as human beings in any way at all.
And it is only getting worse.
The vicious smear campaign launched by the Florida state law enforcement and prosecution offices against Trayvon Martin since the beginning of this case–and transmitted by certain right wing politcos and deep-pocketed allies with a vested interest in upholding the racist status quo–is growing even stronger. This campaign, citing rumors of everything from “evidence” of Martin’s alleged “attack” on the completely unbruised, completely athletic Zimmerman easily twice Trayvon’s size to “evidence of a an empty baggie of marijuana” found on school premises (never mind just how you tell an empty scrap of plastic once held pot, never mind the fact that cannabis is legal in over 16 states, on the ballot in 20 others, and accepted by nearly ever major politician–blue or red?)–are specifically designed to discredit Trayvon. This campaign is designed to make it seem as if Trayvon deserved to be shot.
And just like every time someone applied this argument to rape victims when I was in college, “this Oh, she was asking for it logic,” still makes me sick to my stomach.
Trayvon Martin did not deserve to die because he, like all of us, wasn’t perfect and may have acted like a 17-year-old-boy from time to time.
Trayvon Martin deserved to live because he was a human being, plain and simple.
Online media watchdog, The Huffington Post, affirms that new evidence has been uncovered by ABC news which is “inconsistent with Zimmerman’s recently leaked statement to police” that Zimmerman ”was in a death struggle with Trayvon” before shooting the child in the “chest in self-defense.”
To be even clearer: This new video evidence–in which Zimmerman has no bruises, blood, or torn clothing–directly contradicts Zimmerman’s earlier statment in which he “told investigators that Martin jumped him from behind, punched him in the nose and pounded his head into a sidewalk, according to a police report first described by the Orlando Sentinal,” finishes HuffPost.
Agrees the New York Times in condemnation of Zimmerman and the Florida legal system: “It is hard to resist the thought that race matters here, for who believes that, had an adult African American male killed a white teenager under similar circumstances, the police would have taken him at his word and so declined to arrest him?”
Indeed.
But the worst slur on Trayvon by Florida’s campaign yet?
That because of an “increase in crime in Zimmerman and Martin’s neighborhood”–the accepted racist assupmtion being, of course that these crimes must have been committed by young Black boys–Zimmerman was actually in the right by being proactive and shooting any young black boy he saw, no matter what. But the problem with the ‘Law of the Pre-emptive Strike’ that Zimmerman’s generation of men has learned from our culture in recent decades is that this ‘Shoot First and ask Questions Later Doctrine’ in no way prepares you for what will happen when your stereotypes prove to be wrong.
I say it again: to be Black in America is to risk being shot at any second of any day of your life–and to know that your killer will most likely get away with it.
“He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on,” Martin’s girlfriend said. “I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run but he said he was not going to run.”
Because, as a young Black boy minding his own business who was living life and enjoying football, family, school, and his girlfriend (who was on the phone with Trayvon while he was shot and whom the police have yet to speak to!) clearly Trayvon Martin was up to no good.
Clearly, he deserved to die.
Clearly, the state of Florida is better without “another one of those #&^&#%s” to worry about, after all–or isn’t that what Zimmerman’s call to the police–when they told him not to get out his car and run after the poor boy and kill him–says…even in the highly edited version released to the public?
In this one, you can still hear Martin screaming for help in the background.
So, one wonders: just how much does this new campaign by the state of Florida to discredit Trayvon have to do with prejudicing the pool of possible jurors…should this case ever be allowed to get that far?
And, in the state that said the votes of black folks don’t count, a state in which the killer is still free 33 days after shooting a young black child, can we even expect a fair trial?
And how can you even trust any “evidence” by this law enforcement system–or even hope for a fair review by it’s “justice” system, which has proven to be a “system of injustice” more often than not already?
The state of Florida owes every single African American–every single Black parent and child–an apology for refusing to take any action against a known killer who could be extending his violence into a serial hate crime spree–if he hasn’t already. Because I do wonder if this was the first young child of color Zimmerman chose to hunt down, and I wonder, too, if these familes could sue the state for putting their lives in “grevious bodily harm” and denying them the “right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?”
It worked against the tobacco companies and got something done.
Because at this point, if I was a parent Florida, I would fear for the lives of my children, my nieces and nephews. I would take my children and run. Otherwise, when their faces showed up onscreen as Zimmerman’s next victims, I would not be able to live with myself. For if, at any given moment I think about my little brother, who looks exactly like Trayvon, I will tremble in fear at the thought of someone gunning him down because of the color of his skin. And when I think of all the many people and pressures that have already tried to destroy him, my other siblings and myself because of our race…when I think of all the other countless Trayvons in America whose murders have–and still are–being swept under the rug….
I can only think of how sometimes the injustice in this world is too much to be believed.
I think, too, of what we can do to not let the disillusionment and pain–the anger and the frustration–eat away and destroy us?
And so we ask: Even if Zimmerman is arrested, how will Florida next bend the legal system to make sure that he is not convicted?
Because if there’s one thing the state of Florida, like a lot of other parts of America, knows for sure, it’s that Black life is of no value–that to be Black in America is to risk being shot at any second of any day of your life.
And to know that your killer will most likely get away with it.
I agree there are a lot of details missing and the family is not rightfully being served. As raciest as the crime is, it is very evident that you are in fact raciest also. “I say it again: to be Black in America is to risk being shot at any second of any day of your life.” is a very ignorant thing to say. It happens regardless of culture, financial situation, religion, or sexuality. Now I’ll say it again, yes what is happening in this trail is unfair… No, being black in america does not add greater RISK being shot at any SECOND of any DAY of your life. We are all brother and sister under God, so lets stop throwing ourselves under the bus by trying to pity ourselves when there are obviously bigger issues, like this case.
In response to Blue Man’s comment: “I agree there are a lot of details missing and the family is not rightfully being served. As raciest as the crime is, it is very evident that you are in fact raciest also. “I say it again: to be Black in America is to risk being shot at any second of any day of your life.” is a very ignorant thing to say. It happens regardless of culture, financial situation, religion, or sexuality. Now I’ll say it again, yes what is happening in this trail is unfair… No, being black in america does not add greater RISK being shot at any SECOND of any DAY of your life. We are all brother and sister under God, so lets stop throwing ourselves under the bus by trying to pity ourselves when there are obviously bigger issues, like this case.”
We say: While I applaud your passion friend, I do encourage you to examine two central gaps in your logic:
One: A. If we all start at a level of equality as human beings in relation to being victims of crime, then
B. if certain crimes are only committed against one group of people and not other groups, then
C. that “profiled” group of people is at a higher risk of having that crime committed against them than other groups of people.
Two. The main argument of this essay is that we cannot create and condone a society where racist actions–and thus racism–are accepted because “we are all brother and sister under God, so lets stop throwing ourselves under the bus by trying to” hate on others “when there are obviously bigger issues, like this case” of hating on someone because he was Black. It is not right to hate on anyone because of race, gender, ethnicity, belief system, choice of sex of life partner, etc…
And your rejection that: “To be Black in America, it seems, is to risk being shot at any second of any day of your life?”
This is exactly what happened to Trayvon.
My follow up question is: Do you think that there is every a time that is justified to hate or discriminate against someone in a harmful manner–in this case to the death?
Peace, Hope
Hope I think I gave you the wrong impression. The point I was trying to make, in today’s society regardless of culture, financial situation, religion, or sexuality, we are all at risk of hate crimes. Of course I do not think ever it is justified to hate or discriminate period. As much as this case is a tragedy, please do not stereotype. One nut case and a dad that has a knack for pulling strings doesn’t throw all people in that background into a ‘Profile’.
And “To be Black in America, it seems, is to risk being shot at any second of any day of your life?” The point I was making is you can replace black and put ANY ‘Profile’ in there. Society today may not be completely blind to color these days, but they certainty are here to stay when you replace Trayvon with all black Americans. In my honest opinion, society is certainly becoming more color blind in our generation.
I’m pretty sure, “pity ourselves” is not the same thing as “hate on others” and no that was not what I was implying. Yes the issue is there was a hate crime of the opposite race, but you missed the big picture… This can happen to any race, so yes it’s a concern of everyone. Justice needs to be served equally to everyone.
If I offended you I am sorry. Here are the statistics I’m going off. In 2009 roughly 3000 hate crimes were because the offender’s anti-black bias. That does not mean all black people in America are at risk of getting shot. That was the only argument I was making. I think you miss interpreted me. And now that you say that there is a ‘Profile’ against black people it proves your point invalid. 3000 people does not add up to all the people of the opposite race.
In conclusion, lets not forget what I think you meant to write your article about. Getting justice for Trayvon and his family.
Thank you for replying; I find this dialogue very brave of you and very useful for me. For only through communication can we learn and grow, effect any deepened understanding or social change.
I do not want to say too much without researching your figures, and then I will respond in full…as any conversations around such deep issues like this often require careful awareness and specificity. But in regards to those numbers, there is a wealth of information you can find online about why those numbers are not really to be trusted. It has been documented throughout time that crimes against blacks both by whites and by other blacks go unreported and uninvestigated as a rule. One because of steretype, the other because of lack of concern.
And Trayvon’s death would have been just another one of those unreported deaths except for this massive protest that has been built, in large part, out of the grassroots power of social media. The Florida police almost got away with it…as they–and other police departments–have gotten away with it thousands of times before.
Those are the deaths not reported in the stats you quoted to me.
That is where the outrage is.
And for me and alot of other African Americans–understanding how many Trayvons there have been since slavery, since 1960, since 2000 even…this is the last straw. Maybe it is my ego–the understanding that if I was shot, I wouldn’t want my race to mean not only would my killer go free, I wouldn’t even be counted as a statistic.
But I would like to believe I am not so selfish; that I care because of something more.
You see, just because we had a Civil Rights Movement–and now 50 years later our first president of black and white mixed race–doesn’t mean that there has been enough–or any–true change from a certain way of thinking and a practice of enforcing that certain way of thinking through written and unwritten rules and policies.
It’s not about whether you are black or white. It’s about whether, no matter what race you are, you ascribe to the belief that whiteness is better than blackness, that black people are a certain way, that there is less value on black life…and act accordingly. And when you think about what this means in 2012…not just about discrimination towards African Americans but towards all those who are consistently routinely discriminated against…it is very much about that as well.
But I do maintain that just like there is a difference in hate crimes comitted against Jews in Germany than hate crimes against other Germans because of the Holocaust, there is a difference in the in hate crimes against blacks in the United States than those committed against other Americans.
Why?
Because of how the post-colonial, post slavery, and post-Jim Crow stereotypes have never gone away, only grown quietly in old plantation home living rooms, halls of justice, and nationwide-wide boardrooms, still deeply embedded in the minds and power structures and peceptions of this country–particularly in places like Florida.
And because these certain ways of thinking are not being challenged by enough of those Amerians like us who care about equality and fellowship, men like Zimmerman think they have the right to question a black person’s right to exist in certain places. This is both a socially destructive ghettoization and an echo of the Fugitive Slave Law. Because if Trayvon hadn’t been the only Black kid Zimmerman saw walking around in a white community, or if Trayvon hadn’t been there at all, Zimmerman wouldn’t been able to run after Trayvon and shoot him.
Of course there are those who will say blacks should expect to be singled out when we are in the minority. But should we expect to have someone follow us and threaten us with a gun because of what we look like?
And what kind of logic is it to keep out brown people and then shoot at any brown people you see because they scarcity makes their minority presence a threat?
You can say that if a white kid went into a predominantly black neighborhood, he might be stopped. Maybe, maybe not. But would he be shot…and if he was, would his killer be let loose by the cops? Still be free after 33+days?
As Richard Wright wrote just a few short years ago in Black Boy, the police would not have rested until they would have hunted down this modern day version of Bigger Thomas.
Remember the Simpson trial? This is the one clear exception to the rule, and a lot of the white anger came there, because a black man, for the first time, publicly got away with killing a white person. Please understand that I am not saying Simpson did or did not commit the crime. Nor am I saying that murder is right. I am very very anti-murder. But that case is complicated with issues of celebrity worship, gender and domestic violence, and the NFL; we see how little, at times, women are valued as well and is too long to discuss here.
At all other times, over and over we see the double standard: If a black man is accused of killing a white person, he is arrested; if a black person is shot, the killer goes free. There are countless other articles and studies on race bias in arrests and imprisonment, overwhelming evidence of the wrongful arrest and imprisonment of young black men.
This is the injustice that Wright described then; this is what we see now.
But why should Trayvon-why should any black person have to “know his place” anyway?
Why shouldn’t Trayvon be allowed to take a walk in the neighborhood in which he was living, in safety? Why should Trayvon have to constantly worry about how other people see him–specifically people who ascribed to this way of thinking prograted by mainstream patriarchal white America–at every second?
Because if you do not–the minute you forget that you are black and the world sees you as such–this could be the moment that someone chooses to act against you…solely because of that racial fact.
And you get shot.
And this shooting will yet again be swept under the rung and sanctioned because of this history that we are still living–the fact that this is how so many Americans who are not of African descent–in their deep dark hearts–are still thinking.
Otherwise Zimmerman would be arrested already.
This is what I mean by the phrase I repeat three times in the essay: “To be black in America is to know you can be shot at any second of any day–and know your killer will get away with it.”
People who are not black are allowed the luxury of being seen as people, and are often unaware of this “white privilege,” as sociologists call it. While I do agree with you that this term is perhaps outdated and should be reworked as we approach the new world, the idea it holds is still valid. Whether or not you are aware of it, if you are black in America, you are never just seen as a person. You are seen as a “black” person…and labeled and stereotyped with whatever baggage that person who is seeing you chooses to lay on “blackness.” For a lot more people than you think, this reaction carries with it a different way of treating that person because they are a “black person” not a “person like them” and it is not a good difference.
Some people just start talking down to the “black person” as if they are uneducated, buying into that stereotype. Others won’t offer you the job. Some will just refuse to serve you. Still others will sleep with you but not marry you…or won’t let their children do so. Others will buy the music you make but not let you move into their neighborhood. Others won’t create any entertainment that shows people who look like you…or if they do it shows you doing drugs, having sex, or cleaning up as a maid. Others won’t vote for you on principle or just create campaigns to “Re-Nig 2012.”
Others will fire a gun.
This is the black experience in America. And it is exhausting.
Uhh, to see his face makes me even more sad about this case now. Wow
I really think in capital punishment as being a good result of those that would hurt others like this.
My heart breaks so much for him and his family…for all the many young men who are unreported, all the many Trayvons who have been swept under the rug…
Hey, I just stopped in to visit your website and thought I’d say thank you.
Thank you.
Peace and love, Hope