Zimmerman on Fox News via AP
Shawn Maxam on how we can use George Zimmerman’s Hannity interview to become a better society.
You don’t have to teach people how to be human. You have to teach them how to stop being inhuman.
-Eldridge Cleaver
Last night like a lot of America I watched Sean Hannity’s interview of George Zimmerman on Fox News. I came away with a few thoughts I would like to share.
We still have young Black males being unjustifiably killed in 2012 yet we as a country are still debating who is actually the victim in this case. I think the story of Trayvon Martin illustrates how prominent “victim blaming” still is in our culture. Time and time again we see people attacked, harassed, killed etc but we still have to discuss whether the victim had it coming.
You can see examples of this from the Chris Brown and Rihanna situation, the Daniel Tosh rape-joke controversy and the death of Trayvon Martin. Usually the “victim blaming” falls into an oppressor/oppressed dichotomy. The dialogue is actually far more nuanced than that but the binary is yet a familiar pattern when we have these discussions.
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Another thing I learned from the interview is our inability as Americans to admit any wrongdoing or mistakes. Nearly four years later former president George W. Bush still can’t admit that there were mistakes made during his administration. Last night you could see Zimmerman attempting to apologize without admitting he did anything wrong. You can’t be contrite if you don’t believe you made a mistake.
Zimmerman also attempted to use God as a crux. This is typical of our country. We use ideological short-cuts to explain things. It is far easier to do that than to engage in the deep and often painful self-analysis of why inequality and injustice exist in our society. So George Zimmerman can say it was “God’s plan” for Trayvon Martin to be murdered instead of looking at his own prejudices and fears of Black men as the reason why he followed and shot a teenage boy. We can never know what “God’s plan” is but we can know where, how and why we criminalize a whole group of boys and men.
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The Zimmerman interview is a microcosm of America. An example of our misconceptions about race, class and ourselves. We will never be able to address the problems in our country if we aren’t willing to use tragic situations as a catalyst to look at how we as a country and individuals contribute to and perpetuate all of the inequality in our country. Rather than looking at the television screen and asking what’s wrong with George Zimmerman we should instead look at each other and ask what’s wrong with you and me.
Please share this with friends, enemies and temporary allies alike.
Thank you so much for reading, sharing and commenting!
R.I.P. SKH
About S. Maxam
“So George Zimmerman can say it was “God’s plan” for Trayvon Martin to be murdered instead of looking at his own prejudices and fears of Black men as the reason why he followed and shot a teenage boy”–it’s disgusting that people feel right saying this.
I’m not trying to open a floodgate here, but I see a lot of this victim-blaming oppresor/oppresed business in comments on this site–particularly in regards to women’s issues being discussed. I think people just have to have an understand that just because we may be criticizing a particular privilege (male privilege, white privilege, class privilege, etc.), we’re examining just that–privilege. A lot of people take personal offense to that. As a male, I’m never afraid to criticize my privilege. As someone who is half-white, I will never be afraid to examine the extent of white privilege I arguable have in the Black community.
It’s all about privilege and guilt, shame, and blame get us nowhere, yet people retort to these to wipe their hands clean.
Sorry for the long response, this is an issue that has been REALLY bothering–this unacknowledgment of privilege then placing issues on the oppressed thing–in the gender discourse.
Kaleb it’s never a long response when what you have to say is meaningful.
Regarding the inability to acknowledge privilege especially here on GMP I am right there with you. People do take it personally as if you are attacking them. Although I am straight Black man I recognize my male and heternormative privilege even if I get oppressed racially.
Perfect example of straight privilege is that when I wanted to marry my wife I didn’t have to think about whether it was legal especially since we got married in New Jersey. A state where the governor vetoed a bill approving marriage equality. So there’s an example of me having a privilege others don’t.
Every time I read and hear more about the Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case, I am more convinced than ever that if/when we have kids… I worry about what I’ll do if they “look Black.” Not because I actually care, but because then I’ll be scared to let them go outside, walk after dark, hang with friends, and just generally… exist without worrying that they’ll be harassed, attacked, or just outright killed. Life is terrifying enough without worrying about racism against your (future) kids.
That said, it seems every time Zimmerman supporters think they’d struck down the latest nail in his coffin… WHAM! There comes another nail. From his history with racial profiling to his lies under oath/to the dispatcher, to his lies regarding how much money he had for the bond, to this latest insanity. Nobody seems intent on challenging Zimmerman’s story however directly. I know Hannity’s no journalist, but geebus! When Zimmerman said it was god’s plan I wanted to yell out, “CALL THAT BS OUT MOTHATRUCKA!”
But Hannity, in his typical Faux News style ignored arguably the biggest lie ever perpetuated by a racist, sexist, murderer in the history of television. But hey: journalism! Fair and balanced! Oy vey.
I wonder if I even have the stomach to blog about this myself. I’ve written too many posts on the Travyon case as it is. Glad to know I can relax while others talk about the important issues.
Hannity can’t call out God’s plan because he’s on Fox News!! He’d have so many people saying, “it WAS God’s plan!”
But I’m with Shawn and the rest of you, this “God’s plan” bullshit is cruel to people who have lost loved ones or experienced traumas of many types.
Oh yeah, it was God’s plan for Jerry Sandusky to rape those boys in the showers! God has a plan for every one of those boys that involves them throwing away their underpants before their mom could see the blood from a grown-ass perverted sick fuck raping them.
“Oh, but that wasn’t God, that was Satan!” they might reply. Fine, if you believe that then call it “Satan’s plan” or “God or Satan’s plan, I’m not sure who’s plan it was yet, but it was one of them. So rest assured.”
Now I’m mad!
Okay now I’m calm again.
xo fellas. I do adore all three of you.
I missed this interview but I wish I had seen it. I agree that we all too often blame the victim because that is easier than addressing the motivation behind the crime. At the end of the day, as a result of Zimmerman’s actions, a teenage boy lies cold in the ground. Zimmerman needs to understand that and take responsibility for his actions.
When did race become the focal-point of this case, and why? (NOT a rhetorical question)
Pretty much since day 1, but it really took off when some commentators like Geraldo Rivera started making remarks about hoodies.
I was just wondering if old southern social defaults were at work in reactions and/or the shooting.
The old social dynamics there are so distressing and seemingly permanent.
Making statements like this before a trial has occurred concerns me. With the GMP being a blog about gender issues, I hope you don’t do the same with allegations of sexual assault.
“I hope you don’t do the same with allegations of sexual assault.”
???
Gee, an accused murderer out on bail gets to go on national television before his trial? And make his own excuses to the country, with a friendly softball-lobbing interviewer? And claim his actions were the Will of God and be taken seriously?
Must be nice to be an upper-class white guy with a black victim when you’re a murder suspect.
Woah, woah, woah! *Please note the sarcasm* But he’s PART Hispanic… therefore not ALL white, so when we present him in the news it’s HISPANIC Zimmerman. Don’t ever forget that the one-drop rule double standard is at play, always… i.e. Obama is black when black voters overwhelming voted for him, but then only half-black when we note he is the first black President. Or when we claim that Zimmerman grew up in privilege as a half-white kid (which he did, in NoVA), we are frequently reminded of his Hispanic-ness. Minorities killing minorities… how tragic. Fox News has ALWAYS cared about that topic… even when it’s not used for justification of why suburban and rural whites need to arm themselves against the impending nastiness (that’s always RIGHT around the corner).
Agreed. If Zimmerman first contacted Fox, Fox should have declined to interview him. If Fox first contacted Zimmerman, he should have sought his lawyer’s advice, and that lawyer should have said NO. The matter is sub judice. Zimmerman and his legal team should not talk to the media. I am sick and tired of how cases like are, in effect, tried by the media rather than by the justice system.