It’s been one year since Trayvon Martin was murdered. The most vital question today is this: What role are you playing in the transformation of society so that this cannot happen again?
I have spent a great deal of time in the last few weeks arguing the semantics of the Travyon Martin murder with friends and family who do not believe race had anything to do with the case and who think that George Zimmerman was likely justified in his shooting of Martin. We have gone back and forth about Travyon Martin’s past (suspensions from school and accusations of theft) and George Zimmerman’s past (history of aggression and paranoia). We have gone back and forth about what the 911 calls say about what happened and about whether Zimmerman’s injuries justified his violence or were merely an excuse for the murder.
These conversations had been frustrating the hell out of me, but I didn’t realize quite why until I spent a weekend at the 13th Annual White Privilege Conference.
I was in a workshop led by the incredible Lee Mun Wah, and he remarked, “I’ve seen a lot of people saying or posting, ‘I am Trayvon Martin.’ I think that misses the point. I want to see people saying, ‘I am George Zimmerman’ because whether or not we want to admit it, every single one of us is socialized in a system of White Supremacy that says, ‘FEAR BLACK MEN.’”
Though there are likely some important conversations to have about the semantics in the case, they are not the root of the problem presented by the murder of Trayvon Martin. The root of the problem lies in the decision by Zimmerman to follow Martin and to report him to the police as “suspicious,” “on drugs,” and “up to no good.”
In his remarks on the Trayvon Martin incident, President Barack Obama says that the teenager’s death necessitates a time of “soul searching” for us all. I believe Obama and Lee Mun Wah are encouraging the same thing, a process by which we consider just how we may have acted like Zimmerman in the same case—no matter how painful that realization may be.
When I facilitate a workshop and presentation entitled The Wall, I often tell a story about a time I was in Hong Kong. A friend and I were going to get some Thai food in a Thai immigrant neighborhood of the city, and we were told to keep an eye out for pickpocketing and mugging, as there were reportedly some groups of Thai young men who tried to take advantage of tourists. As I walked down the street, I passed Thai young man after Thai young man, but it wasn’t until I passed a Black man that I put my hand on my wallet.
I stopped and thought, “How does that make an ounce of sense? That in this cultural context, I would only fear the one Black man that I passed?”
It’s not hard to realize, though, just how much sense that makes. I was not taught by my grandparents, my parents, and my friends to fear Thai young men. The media did not flood my brain with images meant to caste Thai young men in a terrifying light (though the portrayal of Thai young men is not exactly a great one). The reality is that every aspect of my socialization in a culture built on White Supremacy has told me to fear Black men. Plain and simple.
And I’m not the only one!
In The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander highlights a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
[The study] involved a video game that placed photographs of White and Black individuals holding either a gun or other object (such as a wallet, soda can, or cell phone) into various photographic backgrounds. Participants were told to decide as quickly as possible whether to shoot the target. Consistent with earlier studies, participants were more likely to mistake a black target as armed when he was not, and mistake a white target as unarmed, when in fact he was armed. This pattern of discrimination reflected automatic, unconscious thought processes, not careful deliberations (Alexander, p. 104).
Just like those who took part in the study, I have been taught to see Black men as criminal, as dangerous, even when they, in fact, pose no threat. There is a story (not sure of its truth) of a professor at the University of Colorado who used to have two people interrupt his lecture by running through the room and startling all of the students. It was always a Black man being chased by a White man carrying a (fake) gun. Nearly every time he conducted this exercise, when asked what they saw, the students would argue, many of them seeing a Black man chasing a White man with a gun.
It is notable that Lee Mun Wah, a man of color, was clear not to separate himself from the “I am George Zimmerman” critique of our discourse. Many people have noted that Zimmerman is half White and half Latino and that he has many friends of Color. Thus, race could not have played a factor in his judgement to follow and eventually engage Trayvon Martin.
In The New Jim Crow, though, Alexander goes on to point out that we are all products of racist socialization, regardless of how progressive we may think we are.
The fact that you may honestly believe that you are not biased against African Americans, and that you may even have Black friends or relatives, does not mean that you are free from unconscious bias. Implicit bias tests may still show that you hold negative attitudes and stereotypes about Blacks, even though you do not believe you do and do not want to. In the study described above, for example, Black participants showed an amount of ‘shooter bias’ similar to that shown by Whites . . . There is often a weak correlation between degrees of explicit and implicit bias; many people who think they are not biased prove when tested to have relatively high levels of bias (Alexander, p. 104).
Here’s the kicker:
Studies indicate that people become increasingly harsh when an alleged criminal is darker and more ‘stereotypically Black’ (think of Zimmerman’s words about Martin); they are more lenient when the accused is lighter and appears more stereotypically White (Alexander, p. 104 – To see citations for the studies she references, see p. 263).
We have to ask ourselves why Trayvon Martin was followed in the first place. Why was he noted by Zimmerman as being “suspicious,” “on drugs,” and “up to no good” when Trayvon was on the phone, carrying iced tea and skittles, and walking back to his father’s house?
These are the questions we must continue to ask, and as we do so, we must undergo our own process of “soul searching.” We must consider the ways that we would have judged Trayvon Martin in much the same way that Zimmerman did. Further, we must consider the ways that we would have acted if we were the police officers called to the scene and saw a light-skinned Latino or White person who was rattled and had a bloody nose in contrast to a dark-skinned Black teenager laying on the ground, shot dead. Would we have questioned Zimmerman’s narrative in search of due process to charge him, or would we have acted in much the same way as the officers that night, in ways that ignored some evidence in favor of the evidence that reinforces our White Racial Frame.
In essence, rather than claiming that we are Trayvon Martin, perhaps we should all be considering the ways that we just may be George Zimmerman.
Originally appeared in April of 2012 on Change From Within
The sad thing is, I’ve spoken to people who know and admit that they are biased toward black men. They just sum up their confession with “But I don’t care”.
I don’t know what happened between Zimmerman and Martin and neither does the author nor do any of the respondents. Whatever you say is colored (pun intended) by your worldview because YOU WEREN”T THERE. I am really offended by the race-baiting this story has sparked. This author is jumping right into it with both feet. Are people afraid of black men? The honest answer is undoubtedly, YES. Citing studies to point out or prove the obvious is simply a waste of time. There are more important questions to be asked. An old friend of mine often says “stereotypes don’t appear… Read more »
EXCERPT: The demographic characteristics of homicide victims and o enders were di erent from the characteristics of the general population Trend analysis and correlations are as bloody flexible as Silly Putty. You can use whatever correlation models you want, but you’ll come up with something as valuable as 99.999% of all cancer patients consumed milk daily from ages 0-25years. Stats like these found in the homicide report can’t get practical. They can only speak OF categories IN categories. So you’ve got a big-ass pop-segment of the non-whites in prison. Did you know 98% of them committed crimes? So what? Stats… Read more »
It would be more accurate to say that “every single one of us is socialized in a system of black male violence that says ‘FEAR BLACK MEN.'” Blacks are responsible for the majority of homicides in the United States, and kill at a rate seven times higher than do White Americans. http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf
NO Tom. That’s your percepption of some category of people and/or environs. That’s also perpetuating a social fraud. You are also mixing social factors and causes. Couldn’t the incarceration rate be from other elements than wrong-conditioned white populations?
No Rob, it’s not a “perception” or a “social fraud,” it’s statistics compiled by the federal government. Try reading the link.
Have we just done away with innocent till proven guilty all together.
It has never existed beyond children’s storybooks.
Zim went out seeking trouble and he found it. He went out with a GUN seeking trouble and found it. It was a vigilante’s hunt. That’s all that was…he was a hunter — turned hunter/killer.
Was Travon a dick? Quite likely given his record and actions that night, but we Americans don’t shoot each other for someone being a dick!
Well, Zimmerman didn’t say he shot Martin just because Martin was being a dick. He said that Martin was beating the shit out of him and so he shot.
I’ve been in the situation before. If you can’t handle yourself, don’t go patrolling (aka Hunting). The gun its the LAST f’ng resource to be tapped. Its negligence to not be able to handle a hand-to-hand situation like this one MAY have been. But when one carries heat, he now is in the situation and mode of protecting the weapon. Just yesterday, I was walking my dog outside my Doc’s office in a really crappy neighborhood. Two young-healthy homeless guys were looking to make a withdrawal of cash. I did not have my S&W and I was actually glad. I… Read more »
“I passed Thai man after Thai man, but it wasn’t until I passed a black man that I put a hand on my wallet…”
As an Asian female, when I walk on the streets of NYC or go on public transportation, I am suspicious of all men: white, black, Hispanic, etc. ….Like you are worried about your wallet, I am worried about being groped or catcalled….and sometimes it is the person that you least suspect who is the perpetrator…the one who gets the closest to you and violates you….
The race portion of this tragedy will get most of the ink. I can’t comment on that aspect of it anymore because I just don’t relate to the thinking that most people seem to be a part of. So be it. My take is that Zimmerman was playing at being a security officer, carried a firearm without proper security training, and put himself in a life and death situation by his own ignorance. This is using just his version of the story. He should fry for that alone. If any part of his story is wrong he’s just that much… Read more »
It’s legal to carry a gun in Florida with a CCW. It’s legal in Florida to use lethal force against somebody who jumps you and beats your head against the concrete. Those are the established facts.
So you want to lynch somebody who hasn’t committed any crimes.
So, you’re a member of the Klan. That’s interesting, I’ve never met a real Klan member before. Do you feel wronged because you can’t own blacks? Do you get upset because you can’t beat women with a stick the size of your thumb? Just curious, don’t take it the wrong way.
The timing of the phone calls and the locations where certain parts of the encounter took place and the elapsed time between the interactions between Zimmerman and Martin suggest that Martin circled back around to confront Zimmerman. To summarize that timeline: Martin had a head start and could have made it home if he was indeed scared of the pursuing Zimmerman. Martin was between the bigger, slower Zimmerman and his father’s apartment. And it is perfectly clear that Martin beat on Zimmerman, bloodying his nose and the back of his head. So the word “murder” ignores these small aspects of… Read more »