Trayvon Martin’s shooting and subsequent death is a terrible tragedy. The apparent lack of investigation and the bungling by the Sanford, Florida Police Department, have caused anyone following this incident to question whether the “self defense” law that has been cited is actually the reason the shooter hasn’t been arrested. Is it perhaps because the victim was a young black male who “looked suspicious” and therefore must have been up to something? Or, did he verbally and physically defend himself from a man who “looked suspicious” because he was following him? Sadly, we will never know.
One thing we do know is that this case has caught the attention of America like no other since The Jena 6 incident of 2006. In that case, six black teenage boys beat up a white classmate in the aftermath of the discovery of a noose hanging from a tree in their school yard in Jena, Louisiana. In the days that followed, citizens across America traveled to Jena led by Al, Jessie, Michael, and other civil rights leaders and celebrities to march for justice. A month after the shooting of Trayvon, marches for justice have not only been held in Sanford, but in far away cities such as Baltimore, Houston, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Americans of all ages, races, and ethnicities, have been deeply moved by this shooting. Even President Obama has offered his feelings about the subject.
My question is why has this shooting so galvanized Americans, particularly black Americans? What is there about the unfortunate death of this young man that has brought a similar response to the march on Jena, Louisiana to the city of Sanford, Florida?
I have thought long and hard and I think I have an answer. The whites and others who are marching and protesting have their own reasons (think “Occupy Everywhere”) of which I’m not sure. But as far as the blacks who are protesting, I’ve figured it out.
The reason Trayvon’s death has caused such an out cry in the black community is because he was killed by someone who is not black. That’s right, the race of the killer of a black person determines the black community’s response. How else can you explain a rally for a black Florida youth that was held in Philadelphia when there was no rally, march, or protest of any kind for the thirty six mostly black males who were murdered in that same city in the month of January? What is the explanation for a lack of marches, rallies, and protests for the forty seven mostly black people who were shot the weekend of March 16-18, from Friday to Sunday evenings in Chicago? Or, the explanation for the seven people who were murdered in Chicago on Saturday March 24? All of the major cities I mentioned earlier have a long history of murdered black people. Yet, none of them warranted the attention given to Trayvon Martin. I say it’s because his killer, George Zimmerman, is a white Hispanic.
In my recently published book Etiquette for the Black Man, I cite facts taken from the Bureau of Crime Statistics for the years 1976 to 2005. These facts say that most murders are intra-racial. 86% of whites were killed by whites, and 94% of black victims were killed by blacks. So, unless there has been a huge shift in the race of victims killed by blacks, almost all of the blacks killed in the cities I mentioned were murdered by black people. Again, since there weren’t any rallies, marches, or protests, I say that blacks don’t have a problem with thousands of black people being murdered in their communities as long as the killers are black.
What do you say?
First off.. great post. You make an compelling point. I think the stats from your book tell an interesting story and speak directly to your point of blacks being okay with black murder as long as its black on black murder. I have a hard time believing that to be totally true, although based on the behavior I’m seeing, I have to question myself.
I believe a few things are at play here. First, I tend to believe that because black on black murder happens so frequently, we as a society have become desensitized to the occurrence. When it happens we have been trained to view these murders as somehow being drug or gang related, subconsciously making black murder a justified event. The life lost is typically only mourned by family and friends.
However, when black life is lost at the hand of someone who is not perceived as a drug dealer or gang-banger (ie.. non-blacks or law enforcement) then the situation changes. Then the value of black life increases because we view this as black murder, outside of the drug and gang underworld, on our collective green grass. When this occurs we are trained to view this type of murder as an open assault on black people not just gang bangers and drug dealers. Typical responses include marches.. sermons.. rights demanded.. justice and peace.
Finally, in both scenarios I refer to our behavior as TRAINED responses. For as long as I can remember society has determined that black life is less valuable than white life. We see it in our penal system for example, in the state of Maryland, there are 3 people on death row, all black men charged with killing white people. We see it in our movies, in most cases who dies first in the movies?.. We continuously hear it in the popular music our radio station’s play.. Most importantly, we see it in our news and media. News anchors ramble over black on black murders as if they were middle school lunch menus. As soon as there is a non-white or police involved murder of a black person, the event is handled altogether different. Spans the front cover of major newspapers.. CNN, MSNBC, all claiming exclusives. The question now becomes who benefits? The value of black life increases only because it now sells more papers and delivers more ratings.
As with the Jena 6, we are seeing this scenario play out in the Trayvon Martin case. The media slowly leaking out new information, manipulate pictures.. not for justice for Trayvon, but to keep us emotionally invested in this story for their benefit.
In my mind, and to answer your question, this situation has galvanized Americans because they see the blatant lies and unfairness of the Sanford, Florida police. Trayvon Martin was murdered after being profiled because he was a black male, then his murderer lied and tried to use the “Stand Your Ground” law to cover up the murder. Zimmerman was specifically told that is was not necessary for him to pursue the “suspect,” but his over zealousness got the best of him.
The out cry that is spreading across America is not just blacks. Americans of all races, colors and ethnic backgrounds are demonstrating to “Stand Their Ground” and say that you cannot profile, murder and then cover up the murder and then not be, at least, arrested and charged with some kind crime.
This galvanization of Americans has nothing to do with the fact that Zimmerman is a non-black. (Well in fact, he is black, but that’s another blog.) This galvanization is about justice.
This galvanization shows that profiling, murder, lies, and the cover up of the aforementioned will not be tolerated . . . as demonstrated by the American population at large.