There’s so much to say. I don’t know how to begin.
I can’t believe this boy was murdered over a month ago and his killer has still not been arrested.
I see people – if Geraldo Rivera still counts as a human being, and I’m starting to doubt that – blame his hoodie for his death, that the hoodie is responsible for the fact that he was killed. I’m flashing back to every story I’ve ever read where a rape victim was blamed for her revealing outfit or the stiletto shoes she chose to wear. A woman who is raped is blamed for her revealing clothing, and a black man who is killed is blamed for his concealing clothing.
I feel proud of our president for appealing directly to Trayvon Martin’s family, for saying, “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon,” for connecting with them on a personal level while they experienced a terrible tragedy, for letting them know that the President of the United States cares about them and is paying attention. I was proud even though I knew in the back of my mind that it would only be a matter of time before someone accused him of “playing the race card.” (I was right.)
I feel shock and disgust, and surprise at my own shock, when I see people actually asking the questions, “Why doesn’t the media pay this much attention when there’s black on white crime?” I feel even sadder when I see these comments coming from people I like and respect.
I feel torn about how to respond when I see these comments. A part of me wants to write a 2000-word rant riddled with profanity pointing out my contempt for this blatant display of white privilege and telling these people that I expect better from them. A part of me wants to simply write in a deadpan tone, “You’re right. There are not enough media articles about white people.” Another part of me doesn’t even want to begin the conversation because I know it will result in a deluge of comments in my inbox from friends of friends and I don’t want to even look at those. That part of me usually wins.
I feel sick when I see the anger from fans of The Hunger Games who were surprised and ANGRY that Rue was black, that Rue being black made them angry that they had wasted time being sympathetic to her character when they read the books. I feel sick because it makes me wonder how they react to Trayvon.
I feel like crying every time I see a picture of Trayvon’s sweet little face. Sometimes I do cry.
I feel angry knowing that, by admitting that I sometimes cry when I think about Trayvon, I am opening myself up to criticism that I am “too emotional” to see the facts of the case, that I am “biased,” as though emotion and logic are two mutually exclusive things.
I feel disgust for people who pat themselves for not being emotionally invested in this case, as though not caring that a seventeen-year-old boy was murdered is a sign of strength, a sign of being “cool.”
I feel my eyes roll to the top of my head when I see the misguided attempts to “talk about both sides of the story” and “see both sides,” as though being middle-of-the-road is a virtue in of itself, as though Zimmerman is on trial and people are playing jury – when, in fact, Zimmerman has yet to even be charged with a crime.
I feel scathing contempt for the “Trayvon attacked Zimmeran first!” idea, and disgust that anyone with a brain is treating that assertion with anything but the highest suspicion, as though a police department that didn’t check the alcohol level of the shooter, that still can’t account for the whereabouts of Trayvon’s phone, should be given the benefit of the doubt when they bring up this “evidence” that they withheld from the public for a month after Trayvon died. No, there’s nothing suspicious about the timing of the “release” of this information at all, none whatsoever.
I feel annoyance and sadness that so many adamantly insist that this tragedy has nothing to do with race, nothing at all, look the other way, why does race have to be a part of this, we have a black president and that cured racism forever, Kumbaya and Black History Month and why isn’t there a White Entertainment Television!
I feel exhausted when Zimmerman supporters trot out the “Zimmerman’s black friend says he’s not racist!” excuse. (Really?)
I feel a desperate attempt to find anything, anything, that can make the situation lighter, and I laugh at the (fake) headline, Joe Arpaio Demands to See Birth Certificate of Obama’s Hypothetical Son. I attempt a joke of my own on Facebook, writing that Springfield USA is reconsidering passage of the “Release the Hounds” law but that Mr. Burns was unavailable for comment. For a few minutes, I feel better.
I’m surprised that I feel neither hatred nor anger towards George Zimmerman. No, the feeling I have for Zimmerman himself is one of contemptuous pity. When I read about the number of times he made 911 calls reporting “suspicious” people, I could only think, “What a sad, pathetic life he must lead.” How can someone who regards everyone with suspicion and fear possibly be happy? What happened in his upbringing that made him view fellow human beings this way? [ETA: I originally wrote this post before Zimmerman started opening his mouth and proved to be a rather terrible person. Sometimes pity CAN be misplaced.]
Finally, I feel a sense of hopelessness at the idea that, even if Zimmerman is arrested, tried, and convicted, there will be far too many people in this world ready to slap a Band-Aid on the issue and pretend that the problem that led to this tragedy is solved forever…until the next young black man is shot by a self-appointed watchdog, simply for being in the wrong skin at the wrong time.
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I’ve been waiting a month for you to write about this. You don’t disappoint. Thanks.
Thanks. I figured it was time to take it to the blog when I couldn’t stop talking about it on Facebook.
Regarding the argument that there’s less attention paid to ‘black on white’ crimes – I was on a first date last week when he brought out that argument and I pointed out that those articles are considered the norm, they buy into the societal belief that black men are dangerous to white people, so if they are in the news, no extra attention is paid because it just reaffirms what people think they already know.
I admit, I’ve been referring to Trayvon Martin’s death as a murder though I guess that hasn’t been made explicitly clear by law. Because the law is clearly unbiased and completely objective in this case so we should follow their word and not claim it’s murder. Or that’s the current argument taking place in a Jezebel comment thread.
Finally, in regards to The Hunger Games, I read the books over a year ago and don’t recall what I thought of the characters beyond thinking that I liked the books. I couldn’t care less about the movies but I find it particularly interesting that there is considerably more anger directed toward the actress (a very young woman) who played Rue rather than the male actor who played Thresh. From the articles I’ve read, there are two hypotheses about this which are not mutually exclusive: 1) there is a gendered variable at play and 2) we, as readers and viewers, are meant to sympathize with Rue as a character and people are angry that they were fooled into sympathizing with a black character when they had believed her to be white.
On a side note, I don’t mean to take anything away from Trayvon Martin’s unfair death but there have been some really good articles asking why we aren’t paying as much attention (or so it seems) to other completely unfair deaths such as with Shaima Alawadi.
I was on a first date last week when he brought out that argument and I pointed out that those articles are considered the norm, they buy into the societal belief that black men are dangerous to white people, so if they are in the news, no extra attention is paid because it just reaffirms what people think they already know.
Exactly. Well said.
2) we, as readers and viewers, are meant to sympathize with Rue as a character and people are angry that they were fooled into sympathizing with a black character when they had believed her to be white.
Well, I think we’re meant to sympathize with Thresh, too. He kills the person who’s about to kill Katniss, and then he spares Katniss’s life when he realizes that she took care of Rue – which is really quite remarkable. If he hadn’t let her go, he could have very likely won the whole game. But he’s sympathetic in a way that we’re more comfortable with and more familiar with – a large, muscular black man who seems dangerous and then turns out to have a heart. It’s easier for people to reconcile Thresh as being black because he’s big and threatening-looking. But girls that are described as small, sweet, and innocent don’t fit into our preconceived notions about what black girls are like.
On a side note, I don’t mean to take anything away from Trayvon Martin’s unfair death but there have been some really good articles asking why we aren’t paying as much attention (or so it seems) to other completely unfair deaths such as with Shaima Alawadi.
The point is taken and it’s a good one to make, particularly since the death of poor Shaima Alawadi was so brutal. I think one reason Martin’s death is getting more attention – not the only reason, but a big one – is that we know damn well who killed him and over a month later, the killer has still not been arrested. As of now, we don’t know who killed Shaima Alawadi, or at least that’s my understanding.
I find almost all things written about Trayvon’s death to be either enraging or devastatingly depressing and often both. Really? White people murders don’t get any attention? REALLY??
I can’t even really imagine this scenario with the races reversed but lets try. A black man who patrols his neighborhood against… something spots a young mixed race but visibly light skinned 17 year old. The black man follows him in his car, calls 911 on the kid, gets out and chases him then proceeds to shoot him, killing him. Oh it may not have gotten national attention, but only because that black man would have been arrested for murder as soon as cops arrived.
There is so rarely any kind of justice in the “justice system” for the killing of black men (and black women as well). In all racial demographics you are more likely to be killed by someone of your own race than of a different race. But, especially if you include police and I think you should, white people are more likely to kill people of different races than the other way around. So who is the threat and who is the danger here?
I can’t help but think about the little things that lead to this, the obsession with freedom to bare arms, the idea that feeling threatened, indeed the very act of being a committed racist, makes it legal to then kill the source of that fear… It is terrifying.
I hope that if nothing else that this case catching attention makes it easier for other similar cases to catch attention. For the movement of demanding justice, accountability and acknowledgement of our broken system to grow from this. That Zimmerman isn’t a cop or remotely close to it helps people stand against his actions, but that needs to be carried into accountability for cops who kill as well.
White people murders don’t get any attention? REALLY??
I really should have written, “Okay, I’ll bite. Tell me the last time a white person was killed by a black person, and the black person was not arrested or charged with a crime.” That’s what people are missing when they try to make this false equivalence – that the killer has not even been ARRESTED.
Oh it may not have gotten national attention, but only because that black man would have been arrested for murder as soon as cops arrived.
Exactly.
I hope that if nothing else that this case catching attention makes it easier for other similar cases to catch attention. For the movement of demanding justice, accountability and acknowledgement of our broken system to grow from this.
I agree. That’s one of the reasons I feel weirdly sorry for Zimmerman as well. Not for the infamy he’s received – he has no one to blame for himself for that. But I suspect that there will be many, many people who will want to paint him as a lone, evil psychopath instead of a product of a broken, damaged society and an example of a much larger problem.