Gray Areas (Pt. 1)
Rodney.
OJ.
Trayvon.
What do these three individuals have in common? All three of these individuals took the
nation by storm with highly publicized cases. All three of these individuals have or will have (in Trayvon’s
case) their entire trials play out on television like some poorly written
reality show. And the facts all
three of these cases took a back seat to emotions because this
country still can’t talk about race.
Whether or not George Zimmerman goes to prison or not, in my
opinion, is secondary to really discussing not only why Trayvon Martin is dead
but how we can prevent this from happening again. The answer to the 2nd question lies deep in a
discourse that this country has yet to have. With race, we fall into these traditional roles that only
lead to one outcome – anger and disappointment. The players are all familiar and have returned: The oppressed black minority, the
seemingly insensitive white male, the camera-seeking “activists”, the
headline-seeking media and that divisive line that forces us all to choose a
side. Travyon or George. Right or Wrong. Black or White.
To say that Trayvon is dead because of racism is like saying
the Titanic sank because of an iceberg.
Sure it was a factor, but throwing a general blanket over something so
detailed never fixes the problem.
If you just assumed a block of ice took down that ship, many more ships
would have crashed. You had to
take in account everything from the available lighting, to the weather, to the
steering mechanism. You have to
break down each component and analyze its role in the crash. That is the only way that you can truly
prevent future disasters from happening.
NASCAR – the stock car racing promotion – dedicated an entire research
facility in North Carolina to study this very thing. Every time a car crashes, it’s shipped – in its entirety –
to the facility to be analyzed in painstaking detail. Simply saying, “the car was going fast” isn’t a reason
enough to explain a crash and “racism” isn’t enough to explain what happened
that night. It’s time to take this
case to the shop and analyze it.
There are some very strong truths that need to enter our
discourse before we can even begin.
Not every white person that wrongs a black person is a racist and not
every black person is a victim.
That’s the real foundation of the framework that needs to be laid down
if we ever want to get past our problem with race. In addition it needs to be stated very clearly that racism
is still very real and black people – all things equal – still have a decided
disadvantage compared to their white counterparts. Therefore just because you are a white man with no ill
will towards blacks, it needs to be understood that you benefit – in part –
from a system that gives you more opportunities. Therefore doing nothing for change and being a racist, looks
very similar from a distance.
Lastly, stereotypes are so dangerous partially because they are
true. Most stereotypes have enough
elements of truth that they deserve to be taken seriously so that they can be undone.
Now that we’ve done that, we can talk about the night of February 26th. Only two
people really knew what happened and one of them is dead, so I can
only base my opinions of what I’ve read or seen reported on television. There are however, some indisputable
facts and very reasonable assumptions that can be made based on the information
that was provided. Let’s begin
with how this all started. Not
with Travyon leaving the store, but with the crime that was occurring in
Sanford, FL prior to this incident.
The perpetrators in many of those crimes were young black males. It is safe to say that if those people
did the right thing, Trayvon would still be alive. It is time that the black community takes a long look at
itself and stops the self-destructive behavior that leads to criminal
activity. If you do not want to be
looked at as thugs, stop committing crimes. Stop supporting counter-productive efforts such as “stop snitching” and try to work on real solutions to end this vicious cycle. Stopping random acts of crime will no
doubt save the next Trayvon Martin from taking a bullet. George Zimmerman isn’t on “high alert”
and on the prowl for suspicious black males, if suspicious black males weren’t
actually robbing people.
Let’s talk about the hoodie. This is where white people lose most black people when it
comes to this discussion. Hooded
sweatshirts aren’t purchased at “Gangstas-R-Us”; they are available just the
same in Abercrombie & Fitch as they are on 125th St in
Harlem. Anyone using this as a
reason why Trayvon should have been targeted clearly has not taken the time to
get to know black people. Prior to
hearing about this case, I bet you have seen dozens of “non-black” people
wearing hoodies that didn’t give you pause. So don’t give me that the hoodie is a factor, just admit that
you’re scared of black people.
This is usually when the argument gets thrown at rappers and the
“gangsta” image that gets glorified.
This is a real issue, no doubt, but if white people would make a more
concerted effort to have diversity in their lives, it would be much easier to
decipher between BET and real life.
College should not be the first time you have a real conversation with a
black person. Living in a bubble
is not an excuse for ignorance.
This country is filled with a multitude of races, religions and cultures
and its time you traveled outside of your suburb to learn about them. It’s okay to let your child listen to
Lil' Wayne but you should also make sure that he knows who Viven Thomas
was. Wearing a hoodie makes you no
more deserving of a bullet than wearing a short skirt means you were “asking”
to be raped. If white people
interacted with more black faces, they wouldn’t be so scared to see them under
a hood on a rainy night.
Black people’s inability to self-correct (check out almost anything from this website) and self-police
combined with white people’s inability to readily accept diversity, lead to the state of mind that George Zimmerman was in and probably explained why he called
the police when he saw Trayvon leaving the store. It doesn’t fully explain why there wan an altercation, a gunshot
and nearly two months without an arrest.
The answers to these questions, unfortunately, lie in the murky details
of 911 calls, "witness" statements and police reports.
Please check back for
part 2 of this discussion tomorrow.
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