In case you haven't figured it out yet...George Zimmerman won. He won the moment he pulled the trigger on that Black kid, who's name we've all seemed to forget. Contrary to what you may be thinking Mr. Zimmerman didn't win because of Florida law or because either party in this horrific encounter could be deemed innocent. He won because as a people African-Americans continue to see themselves as inferior. There are Black on Black crimes and killings happening in every corner of this country yet it takes a man of another race every few years (Rodney King-1992, Amadou Diallo-1999) to remind us that we may not be anywhere near a post racial era.
We have come to expect these things from our people. We expect less than, we expect violence and we expect inadequacy. So when someone of another race commits the exact same heinous act we are shocked. "How could they stoop to our level. I thought they were better than us." Sounds harsh? Yes, but the truth hurts. If we are so numb to the countless other Black deaths what made Trayvon's so different? Perhaps it was the color of the hand holding the gun. Those that disagree claim that it was Trayvon's innocence that made this case so huge. And to those who say that I ask how many times to you even look into Black of Black crimes and question whether one was innocent and unarmed or do you automatically assume (as George did) that because the victim was Black he couldn't be innocent.
Below are the search volume trends from Google. You weren't the only one who forgot about the case.
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If you think I am trying to convict Mr. Zimmerman or make you feel guilty about letting the story fade from your memory, wrong again. I want you to think outside the box. I want the entire African-American community to stop looking for acceptance by other ethnic groups as if we need their approval. Stop comparing and asking comparative questions as if we're inferior. As a graduate of an HBCU there were many debates about whether our education was better than that of a predominately white institution (PWI). The fact that we even asked ourselves that question proves that in our minds we are inadequate because certainly they don't ask themselves that question. When we can stop that, we can stop the subliminal social suicide that occurs on a daily basis.
"The perpetual quest for acceptance as parts of the social machinery is a form of psychic self-destruction."
-Gerry Spence
Wake up.
Wake up.
Good read sir
ReplyDeleteWell done good sir. Can't wait for the next post.
ReplyDeleteI remember being shocked when I went to a MLT conference and met students of color from some of the Ivy League Institutions and found that in most if not all case the education I received at Hampton was on par if not better than the one they received at their respective schools. That's when I was finally able to put that question to rest, when I knew for sure. I never thought in my mind that I assumed my own inferiority but now I understand that's exactly what it was. Thanks for the post.
I'll play devil's advocate, because I think exactly opposite of what you and everyone else thinks. I do not think that blacks turn the other cheek to black on black crime, but because blacks have a code of "no snitching" unless the murderer is caught on camera or at the scene, it isn't likely that he'd be caught. It's hard for us to get up at arms for a person that we don't know, that is, a killer who we don't know the name of. The reason Trayvon Martin's case got the rightful attention that it did was because there was a person who DID shoot him who was THERE when the police arrived who was let go because he SAID it was self defense. Let us not be ignorant to the racial bias that the Seminole County police department displayed. Trayvon's family wanted justice so they let us all know about it, the family's of all those other slain young black people sadly did not so we don't know about the killings. Not to say that their deaths don't matter because that is certainly not the case, but we can't stand up and protest things that we don't know exist. Your comments seem like you're buying into that completely ignorant hype that no one would care if Zimmy was black which is simply not the case. If we were aware, we would care, but let's be realistic..we can't save the world w/ petitions and protests alone. Something has to be done in our schools and neighborhoods to quell the crimes.
ReplyDeleteI do like your point about HBCU vs PWI education. I think we do internally see HBCUs as inferior to PWIs so we ask if we're better educated that blacks at PWIs and whatnot and I'm sure black PWI students lose no sleep over. If we are better (and we are) we need to get up and be proud of it.
K.L. Parker:
DeleteI am glad you bring up an opposite viewpoint! I do agree that the solutions to these problems must be handled in the classroom.
Your argument about "knowing" the killer is brilliant and "no snitching" does play a part, however in some sections of the country these killings go relativity unchecked when both the solution and assailant are known. Anywhere in the world if 20,000 people died over violence do you think it would cause attention? By civil war (Uganda), genocide (Nazi Germany) or natural disaster (Haiti)its going to cause attention. The UN will do something, the US would come and fix the problem right? It happened in all the cases above.
In the city of Los Angeles 20,000 since 1985 have died because of gang related death. Just one city! We know who these people are, the police know who these people are and it is largely ignored. How has no one really noticed that? Maybe no snitching is that strict a code but how does the NAACP and other organizations that help fuel the Trayvon Martin story not notice this and put pressure on the authorities to solve this problem?
Have they become numb to it or are 20,000 Black on Black deaths not worth it the attention that one White on Black death is?
I don't know much about LA and the gang crimes, but the "stop snitching" things definitely has a a major effect. You can't bring people in on suspicion and no evidence. The police aren't there when these gang bangers kill people so they have to ask. And you know how hard it's be to convict if eye witnesses were the only evidence, which is why many of these cases go unsolved. Police can bring in the person they "know" did it and then what without any evidence?
DeleteBlack on black deaths are important, it's just that the community governs itself differently. Nobody wants to help because of the fear of being hurt. There was 1 GZ and he wasn't in a gang so bringing him down, that is, get him arrested is much easier. We can't take in a whole city of people (gang bangers) with no evidence so we'd be shouting and protesting what? We need to protesting their education systems and gentrification if we wanna do something about that.