I'm going to comment on this article because it was posted at TGC:
I've kept up with the Trayvon Martin saga from the beginning. Like many of you I watched the news coverage, read the articles, and talked about it with friends.
By contrast, I haven't followed the story closely.
It dominated public conversation and provoked a much-needed discussion about race in America. The ugly reality of racism was pushed in front of our faces, and even those who like to pretend it doesn't exist were forced to talk about it.
From where I sit, most of the "ugly reality of racism" is currently emanating from Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, La Raza, the Black Panthers, the NAACP, &c.
I know there are many who wonder why this particular trial has captured the attention of so many. Others wonder why some black folks are so quick to sympathize with Trayvon Martin, despite the fact he had issues of his own. After all, none of us were there and we don't know exactly what happened. While that's true, I did find myself emotionally invested in the whole ordeal.
I think one reason for that is a breakdown in the distinction between reality and fantasy, strangers and acquaintances. Many people act like these are movie characters. They "identify" with the character in the movie. They have an imaginary sense of camaraderie with perfect strangers.
When I hear about a young black teenager walking home from the store, and the man who assumed he was a criminal before knowing anything about him, I can relate. You may not be able to. Maybe you've never been followed around in a department store by a security guard for no reason. I have. Maybe you've never had a convenient store clerk scream at you to leave, assuming that the blackberry on your hip is a gun that you plan to shoot him with. I have.
Maybe you've never smiled and greeted people you've passed on the street, only to have them avoid eye contact, clutch their belongings, and quickly walk away. I have. Maybe you've never been pushed against a wall, held at gunpoint, and handcuffed by police (who are supposed to protect you) because you "look like a suspect we were looking for." I have—and I looked nothing like that suspect. All of these incidents are minor and none of them significantly threatened my life. Most, if not all, of my black friends have been through similar situations. And countless others have endured much, much worse.
If you've never experienced this sort of thing, you may not understand why this case resonates so deeply with us. But when I hear his story, I hear my story. And my father's story. And my son's story. I have no idea what happened after Mr. Zimmerman made assumptions about that young man, but before the altercation, there was nothing extraordinary about the incident. It happens every single day. Profiling is real, and it's often racial.
Frankly, Lee Trip's reaction is egocentric. I mean that in a literal, not pejorative sense. Whatever you are, that's your immediate frame of reference. You have direct experience of what it's like to be you.
If, say, the article was written by a Laotian convenience store owner in the ghetto, I suspect that it would reflect a very different perspective on race relations. A very different view of who the good guys and the bad guys are.
Lee Trip knows what it's like to be Lee Trip. He doesn't know what it's like to be a white American, or Asian, or American Indian, or East Indian, or Latino. I daresay that many white Americans have had unpleasant run-ins with the police, including minority cops. But, of course, Trip will never find himself in that situation. His personal experience is necessarily parochial. He knows what it feels like to be picked on as a black man, but not as a white man. Take a white kid at an inner city school.
Because Zimmerman has a Peruvian mother, that immediately complicates the simplistic white-on-black narrative. Ironically, identity politics is all about segregating ethnic and racial categories. Treating individuals en bloc.
Lee Trip said:
ReplyDeleteI've kept up with the Trayvon Martin saga from the beginning. Like many of you I watched the news coverage, read the articles, and talked about it with friends...It dominated public conversation and provoked a much-needed discussion about race in America. The ugly reality of racism was pushed in front of our faces, and even those who like to pretend it doesn't exist were forced to talk about it...It happens every single day. Profiling is real, and it's often racial.
I think it's true the trial "dominated public conversation." The trial was laid out bare for all to see. Media coverage of the trial was quite extensive.
As such, if the trial was racist, then the racism would be there for all to see. So at what point was the trial "racial"? At what point was "the ugly reality of racism...pushed in front of our faces" in the trial? Were the relevant trial participants like the judge, jury, lawyers, and others the ones pushing "the ugly reality of racism...in front of our faces"?
I could be wrong, but as far as I've seen and read, the trial itself was quite fair and unbiased in terms of race. Besides, I would think the fact that the whole of the nation had its eyes on the trial is a pretty good reason for the trial to attempt to minimize any trace of racism whatsoever.
Rather, it seems to me it's mainly those external to the trial that pushed "the ugly reality of racism...in front of our faces" (e.g. Obama, Sharpton, large swathes of the media).
Speaking of racism:
ReplyDelete[White] Jogger says he was attacked in retaliation for Zimmerman verdict
Baltimore police say they are investigating a witness account that a group of black youths beat a Hispanic man near Patterson Park Sunday while saying, "This is for Trayvon."