I do not know Trayvon Martin. I don’t know members of his family. I don’t know what the town of Sanford, Florida is like. I do not know George Zimmerman. But what I do know is that there are many many Sanfords out there, many George Zimmermans, and unfortunately many young black men like Trayvon Martin and Oscar Grant, who met untimely and unjustified deaths. Young men who were in the act of just trying to live in what appears to be, more and more, a world they cannot call their own.
In the U.S. many people, young and old, across-the-board racially and culturally, are killed by gun violence in this country. We have come to accept it as a fact of life. Our laws permit the carrying of guns, and we have become numb to the senselessness of it all. We Americans are anesthetized to and by the violence that is, it seems, our principal cultural expression. But this column is not about guns, or anti-gun laws, the NRA, or anything on large political themes that I normally cover. This is personal.
If there’s any one tableau in our life that perfectly embodies the death of hope, it is the funeral of a child. Even more so when that child is killed by an act of violence. These things don’t need to happen. It’s not a comprehensible event. We don’t, in our right minds, want to imagine that it happens, but it does. I’m not sure if any of you have been to the funeral of a young black man, or anyone for that matter, killed by a gun. I have. In that case, his death was an instance of black-on-black crime, committed by members of a gang.
Before they shot him, they were engaged in illegal activity on the street. The young man was just passing by, coming through the neighborhood the day after Christmas to return some presents at a department store. He was shot because he could identify people. Another day in the life in America. The greatest sadness one feels when you’re at this kind of funeral is not for the adults, but for the kids, that young man’s peers, who are not only mourning the loss of their friend, but looking over their shoulders instead of straight ahead towards their future. Nobody deserves that kind of despair — living in fear for your life simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or simply by being.
Before I proceed any further, I am in no position to speak on behalf of African-Americans in this country. I am not African-American. The struggles inherent in my cultural and ethnic experience are a mere shadow compared to the history of struggle experienced by a vast majority of people who began their journey here treated not as immigrants, but as property. It is in these roots that I struggle to comprehend the injustice of Trayvon’s death, and the history of so much unresolved trauma resulting from the treatment of human beings as commodities. Call it my Chironian hunch, but something deep says that the response to Trayvon’s death has the same feel and intensity as the response ignited by the suicide death of Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian merchant, who set himself on fire out of despair because of police oppression and corruption. It was Mohamed’s death that triggered Arab Spring. I pray that just this once this time, this isn’t me grasping at straws.
The history of violence in our country and the original sins of cultural genocide and slavery are still un-repented. We are far from a post-racial society. We are further embedded in a very racist one. If there are deep wounds in this country’s psyche, these two are the deepest and the most unequivocally painful. I, for one, continue taking this very personally. I want this to come up for healing. Once and for all.
I’m making this column short and sweet, because it’s time for us to start talking. I’ve made my peace, and want to hear yours.
Thank you for this short but wonderful piece dear Fe – which goes right to the heart of the problem. “who began their journey here treated not as immigrants, but as property. It is in these roots that I struggle to comprehend the injustice of Trayvon’s death, and the history of so much unresolved trauma resulting from the treatment of human beings as commodities” – yes – this is the root of it – brilliant, Fe. And that’s the dark heart of America (and mankind in general!) – fear and greed.
Thank you, Fe. Your courage in confronting the pain with eloquence is far beyond what i could manage.
Fe & Brendan, always grateful to share, especially when heard. Thank you for the opportunity, and for listening. 🙂
Fe – Exactly, why no pix of Zimmerman from that night? I’d misplaced that train of thought… Further, since most cell phones have cameras now, why not take some right then and there on scene?
This is like a Swiss cheese that has more holes than cheese. Sanford PD is quite possibly not only racist but completely incompetent in their actions. It will be interesting to see what the feds say versus the special state attorney. I’m thinking like you, that there is an attempted coverup that has been going on, and it’s falling apart right in front of everybody. One of the other problems is the missing “F—ing Coons” part of the 911 transcript. Why, as apparently numerous listeners have heard it since, did the SPD not include it, yet somehow word about the missing phrase leaked out? There were rumours of two transcripts, one sanitized, the other not. The sniggets and snippets we of the public know are both tantalizing and frustrating in their incomplete state. Grrr.
I really want some Swiss cheese, no kidding. With Triscuits or rye flatbread…
Stormi:
Beautiful resources. Thank you. I will look at the link provided.
Brendan:
Here’s my wild-assed theory. The Sanford police, believing some kind of jig is up is actually trying to demonize Trayvon to distract from their cover-up, possibly having roughed up Zimmerman to make it look like he had to apply self-defense.
Why no visit to the hospital to document the wounds to corroborate the story of self-defense?
Nor am I in a position to evaluate racism today even though I grew up as “whitey” in black Detroit (speak of the Bully).
My prayer is that this does not trigger Race Riots such as and/or beyond what we saw in the 60s — that is, my early years on this planet.
My prayer is that we begin to ask different questions – and from them, obtain different answers.
Thanks, Fe. Poignant, as always.
Stormi – thank you for your contributions here, we were typing simultaneously! 🙂
Truer words have never been spoken, Fe. As the layers have been peeled back on this story, the more the utter racism has been shown. Today I began to discuss this case with my ‘guys,’ as it turned out they had not heard of Trayvon. Most of them do not watch or read the news at all, so this was a bit of an eye opener. I am going to pursue this conversation further, although since the majority are Hispanic (one Anglo out of 8 kids), it is not necessarily news to them per se. Their first reaction was one of disbelief, then “how?” came up, and then acknowledgement of the sheer craziness of it all. They are all showing signs of critical thinking, so I need to keep going, and get them to see it for what it is.
I’ve been dismayed by how, suddenly, Trayvon has been re-accused of starting the whole thing, now it is said, that Zimmerman was simply defending himself after being struck and hurt. This very after-the-fact revelation smells to high heaven. Nothing seems to add up.
And yes, let’s take this one for what it is: one unfortunate, horrible lesson, one symptom of a disease that is endemic here. Time for some national therapy.
Thanks Fe, and thank you for opening this one up.
I will contextualize the quote a little more to add to your comment because not only is the pattern of victors to confuse the facts, but I think also to avoid the deep dialogue that needs to take place, which is a privilege of power and dominance. Western society is notorious for treating the symptoms, and not getting to the root of the problem.
The authors are talking about two key challenges to understanding racism, and the quote I took was a summation of the first one they pose – which is how “Dominant society teaches us that racism consists of individual acts of meanness committed by a few bad people. The people who commit these acts are considered racists; the rest of us are not racists. These ideas construct racism as an individualized binary: racist/not racist.” They go on with examples of gender and class binaries but surmise that each category is false “…for all people hold prejudices, especially across racial lines in a society deeply divided by race.” This is based on how we’ve been socialized from birth.
I will digress with the second one because it gets deeper into the precariousness of binaries, what is a racist, and the problematic defensiveness of the dominant group’s understanding of racism.
The chapters I am referring to are not available free online, and limited when searching the book on Amazon, but the chapter on Socialization is free from the publisher here; http://store.tcpress.com/080775269X.shtml. I highly recommend it as a beginning to understand how socialization works, and how well it serves its master(s). ♥☮♫
stormi:
You are right on the money.
What happens in the isolation of events is that its easy to divide public consensus and conquer the opposition.
The sympathetic news stories for Zimmerman, the demonization of Trayvon Martin relies on that type of selective compartmentalization of social and cultural memory. It’s long been a pattern of victors to confuse the facts with history. As written by them, of course.
There is another attempt going on right now. We cannot buy into it.
In a couple of classes this week the two chapters we’re reading are on Racism and Racism as White Supremacy (respectively) and while it all applies to this conversation, one quote stood out in relation because this story also came up today when discussing the key challenges of understanding the depth of racism in our society; “…the focus on individual incidents, rather than on racism as an all-encompassing system, prevents the personal, interpersonal, cultural, historical, and structural analysis that is necessary in order to challenge it.” By absolutely no means whatsoever do I post this to diminish the story, but to position it as a place for peeling back the layers of where the healing must truly take place.
Here’s a link to an interview with the authors and their latest (excellent, accessible and affordable) book I’m quoting from – in case anyone is interested. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/intersectionsradio/2011/12/06/intersections-radio-with-guests-robin-diangelozlem-sensoy
I think you are spot on Fe.
be