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Tuesday, 20 March 2012

UNDER SUPSCION: THE KILLING OF TRAYVON MARTIN


One of the burdens of being a black male is carrying the heavy weight of other people’s suspicions. One minute you’re going about your life, the next you could be pleading for it, if you’re lucky. And far too many aren’t. That’s why the Feb. 27 26 killing of Trayvon Martin has black parents around the country clutching their sons a little closer.
By all accounts, Trayvon was a good kid. He helped his father coach Little League. He had dreams of becoming a pilot. He was good at math.
The Orlando Sentinel said that Trayvon’s English teacherdescribed him “as an A and B student who majored in cheerfulness.” And now he’s gone because, as Charles Blow wrote on Saturday, “a man with a gun and an itchy finger” found Trayvon “suspicious.”
What we know is that the 17-year-old, visiting relatives in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., was on his way back to their house from 7-Eleven with an iced tea and a bag of Skittles. That’s when he caught the eye of George Zimmerman, a crime watch volunteer who called 911.Listening to that call made my blood run cold.
“Hey, we’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there’s a real suspicious guy,” Zimmerman tells police before giving the address of where he is. “This guy looks like he’s up to no good or he’s on drugs or something.”
“These [expletive], they always get away,” Zimmerman says before getting out of his car to pursue Trayvon.
“Are you following him?” the police ask.
“Yes,” Zimmerman says. The officer on the phone tells him, “We don’t need you to do that.” But he did. In another 911 call, you can hear screaming for help and the fatal gunshot. Zimmerman brought a 9 mm handgun to the altercation. A scuffle ensued. Trayvon was fatally shot in the chest. His mother told the Associated Press yesterday, “(Zimmerman) was chasing him, he was following him, and my son was afraid. He didn’t know who this stranger was.”
You’ve heard me talk about the conversation my mom had with me before my first day at a predominantly white school. Reading about Trayvon reminded me of the list of the “don’ts” I received after my sheltered existence in Hazlet, N.J., was replaced with the reality of Newark when my mother remarried in the 1980s.
“Don’t run in public.” Lest someone think you’re suspicious.

“Don’t run while carrying anything in your hands.” Lest someone think you stole something.

“Don’t talk back to the police.” Lest you give them a reason to take you to jail or worse
There was also being mindful that you are being watched in stores. Watched turned to followed as I got older. To this day, if a sales person is overly attentive to what I might be looking for I leave the store. Never to return. And then there was keeping a distance of deniability from white women when walking on the street. Lest you be accused of any number of offenses, from trying to snatch her purse to sexual assault.
In the early 1990s, I saw a T-shirt for sale on Canal Street in New York that neatly and bluntly summed up my frustration with this situation: “No white lady I don't want your purse.”
All this might seem paranoid. After all, I was taught these things almost 20 years after Jim Crow by African Americans who experienced its soul-crushing force first hand. And this is 2012. So much has changed for the better since then. But then comes along a Trayvon Martin to remind us that the burden of suspicion is still ours to bear. And the cost for taking our lives might be none.
So far, no charges have been filed against Zimmerman, who has moved out of his home due to death threats. According to the Orlando Sentinel, police “turned the case over to the State Attorney’s Office, saying they did not have evidence to justify George Zimmerman’s arrest on a charge of manslaughter.” Yet, Blow asked a series of questions in his column that should have at least warranted taking Zimmerman into custody to get answers.
Why did Zimmerman find Trayvon suspicious? Why did he pursue the boy when the 911 operator instructed him not to? Why did he get out of the car, and why did he take his gun when he did? How is it self-defense when you are the one in pursuit? Who initiated the altercation? Who cried for help? Did Trayvon’s body show evidence of a struggle? What moved Zimmerman to use lethal force?

Lord knows when we’ll get those answers. Zimmerman is not only not in custody but, according to his father, the police advised him not to talk publicly. Trayvon, his grieving parents and shocked people everywhere deserve better than this.

18 comments:

  1. This was MURDER most foul. Cold-bloodied, racially-motivated murder. The kind those good ole redneck boys were famous for committing & getting away w/a generation or so ago. If this man is not put behind bars, & justice is not served for this innocent young man & his grieving family, you can count on there being HELL to pay!

    One.

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  2. Florida is redneck scary, especially outside the big major cities. We've been to a couple of small towns, passing thru on the way to Daytona Beach and Orlando. The stares you get from people..... it was enough that at a Burger King, we didn't dare sit down to eat. We ordered the food and got the hell out and ate in the car.

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    1. I keep forgetting that Florida is a 'redneck' state...makes me realize why I am not to particularly fond of the place.

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  3. As tragic as this case is I think there are perhaps more disturbing questions such as why are there allegations the the police coerced witnesses into giving statements that may have been false and benefited Zimmerman and why do the laws in Florida allow someone to take a man's life due to perceptions real and or imagined? This is not the first time that this has happened in Florida and it may not be the last.

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    1. I surely hope that this incident brings about the beginning of change for Florida because it is needed.

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  4. Senseless. My heart weeps. Another life, gone. For NO reason.

    -_Cogito

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    1. I don't know how his family are able to talk about this, my soul goes out to them

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  5. I live in Florida and it scares me shitless to go out of my comfort zone. I know how vile and ignorant these crackers arem they are the same ones who voted for our disastrous governor and who can't stand the fact there is a black man in the White house.

    Again, if our collective rage is not expressed and we force Florida to punish this kind of behavior, then it will happen again and again.

    saludos,
    raulito

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    1. When I listen to the tapes, if I was living in Florida I could NOT just sit and let this go!

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  6. OMG this poor child and his family.

    A few statistics I found on firearm-related deaths in the US-

    *In 2003 there were 30,136 firearm-related desths in the US including 16,907 suicides and 11,920 homicides

    *The rate of death form firearms in the US is 8 times higher than in its economic counterparts in the rest of the world.

    *The overall firearm-related death rate among US children younger than 15 years of age is nearly 12 times higher than among children in 25 other industrialized countries combined.

    *The US has the highest rate of youth homicides and suicides among the 26 wealthiest nations.
    ----------------------------------------------

    America right or wrong? Right to bear arms? On days like this I hang my head in shame.

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    Replies
    1. I know you might find this hard to believe, but I was wondering where is Jeff? What are his thoughts on this subject?

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  7. Still here and still queer :>)~

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  8. As an American I find this unfathomable, but as an African-American I sadly and in a perverted fashion understand that this is the grotesque face of racism, allowing life to be taken without recourse or justice.

    They are talking about calling in the feds because of alleged civil rights violations and the fact that the gutless perpetrator has not been arrested or charged by his own county law officials. This summons the ugliest memories of the civil rights era when white folks got away with killing and lynching at will! They had better take care of this before someone else does!

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    1. Grotesque face of racism is an understatement!

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  9. I'm can't believe this young man lost his life just because a nosey good for nothing neighbor decided that he would clear the neighborhood of African Americans. What kinda place allows permission to kill just because you suspect the person is up to no good and could potentially be a threat to you. Stupid Stupid Ass Florida. Hopefully someone will find the need to help the neighborhood out by extinguishing Zimmerman because he is certainly a threat to the people of Florida.

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    1. He should be charged with something, this is SO inhumane!

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