The Caw for Racial Justice
Murder, murder is in the air,
Murder, murder is everywhere,
Murder here, murder there,
Social Justice, do you care?
“In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.”
― Toni Morrison
The difference of race is one of the reasons why I fear war may always exist;
because race implies difference, difference implies superiority, and superiority leads to predominance.
Benjamin Disraeli
At this very moment, I am not sure what I am feeling, or how I am feeling, or what I should feel. Perhaps it doesn’t matter because life goes on regardless with hatred, murder, destruction, war. I think of how we deal with difference. We don’t deal with difference constructively in this country; that means cultural, ethnic, racial, or any difference that‘s different. As Disraeli says …”difference implies superiority…,” especially the difference of race, and skin color.
Trayvon Martin was murdered, shot down, like a vicious animal, leaving all his relationships behind: his mother, father, siblings, friends, teachers, classmates, etc. He’s no longer with us, no longer on this planet. Why? Well, we could go back to 1619 when the first slave ship arrived at Jamestown, Virginia. But what good would that do for now? The main reason in my view is he was racially different—“race implies difference, difference implies superiority.” The color of his skin was and still is a magnet for hatred, violence, vitriol, and death. Imagine, his skin color led to his death, even though he didn’t make himself; he had nothing to do with his skin color, not a one of us does. Ergo we haven’t come very far since 1619: first slave ship arrived; or 1955: 15-year-old Emmet Till was murdered for allegedly whistling at a white woman; or 1964: when Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman were murdered just because they were helping those of color to vote. Seemingly, Blacks are always strangers in this land; our skin color says so. And we are treated accordingly, murdered just because…
Murder, murder is in the air,
Murder, murder is everywhere,
Murder here, murder there,
Social Justice, do you care?
So, what should Blacks do? Or, what should those who live with difference every day do for themselves? How do we change this?
What are your thoughts? What would you like to caw about regarding this tragedy?
So many ways to think about this:
If Zimmerman was black and Trayvon was white, I GUARANTEE Zimmerman would be in jail right now…
So “the hoodie” is now to blame for our ignorance and intolerance?? Geraldo is an out-of-touch ass, yet I’ve heard several people agree with him. “The hoodie” is a convenient excuse for not having to look inside ourselves and discuss and deal with systemic, institutional racism (“The hoodie” says more about us than it does about young black males…). Does anyone really think that if Trayvon was not wearing a hoodie, this would have ended differently?? The truly sad thing is how blind people are to their own ignorance and intolerance.
And now, the truly disgusting development is how some people (aka, white conservatives) are trying to portray Trayvon as the “assailant”. And again, if Trayvon was white, would those same folks be calling him “the assailant”?? I seriously doubt it… And people just don’t get it – their eyesight is blinding them to their own ignorance and intolerance (does that make sense??)
I appreciate the opportunity to vent! Tim
Tim,
Thanks very much for responding to this crazy event. And that’s putting it mildly. I am so very baffled by what is happening with this case. And Zimmerman is free with his 9MM pistol. I believe we are retrogressing to previous mean, hateful, and destructive days. That is not “American Exceptionalism.”
Thanks again,
David
We’ve come so far………
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/04/06/459961/derbyshire-avoid-concentrations-of-blacks/