By now, hopefully many of us are aware of the tragic murder of the 17-year old teenager Trayvon Martin. Before I begin, let me say that I am in no way attempting to place guilt on anyone. How- ever, there are some issues that I feel need to be addressed.
Writer Toni Morrison said, "Black boys became criminalized. I was in constant dread for their lives because they were targets everywhere. They still are." I could not agree more. Things like this make me feel helpless. My little brother is 16, and we live in a predominately white, rural area. That could have been him. It could have been me. I would be lying if I said the thought has never crossed my mind. Michael Stewart (1983), Sean Bell (2006), Oscar Grant (2009), Trayvon Martin (2012) and so many more in between; something has to give. Once again, I am not assigning guilt, but this case should be brought to court. The fact George Zimmerman is walking free has seriously troubled me and damaged my faith in our justice system even more.
There have been so many side stories that have gotten in the way of the real issue of this case. For
example, on the Piers Morgan show, a program on CNN, I watched two men argue with each other about their reporting styles when it came to questioning guests on their show and how they have presented this case. I am all for challenging other people. I do it all the time and other people do it to me. It is a great way to become better, but here and now isn't the time to be doing this. There are so many other more important things to focus on right now. I'm just saying let's focus on what's really important. Too many people are distract- ing everyone from what is important. From The New Black Panther Party to Joe Oliver, all of these factions are trying to take matters into their own hands, or possibly just trying to get their 15 min- utes of fame and are really just harming the cause.
I was not there that night, so I can only go off what has been reported in the media, which brings me to my next point. I was hurt to see the way many peo- ple were commenting on the "pictures" of Trayvon Martin that have surfaced. The same pictures that later were found to not even be of him. The way they tried to dehumanize him almost made me feel like some people were trying to justify his kill- ing. In a recent post on the blog 'Son of Baldwin,' Sam Foster expressed that "White privilege is de- pendent on continuing the lie that the status quo
is just fine; anything else it a threat to its existence. To admit that Trayvon Martin's skin had anything to do with his murder, even in just this one case, is to admit that there is a flaw in the way that a 'com- mon' man views young black males. In order for whites-progressive or not-to acknowledge that we need the killer to be some sort of over-the-top white nationalist so we can all point to his extrem- ism as the factor, not the prevailing view of young black men in America."
The pictures of him throwing his middle finger (which was not him) with gold teeth and rumors of alleged marijuana use all have become tools to try and place Trayvon into stereotype so many like to see young black males in. Regardless of what he did before this or the pictures he did or did not post, it does not eliminate the fact that this young man's life was taken out of what seems to be preju- dice and hate.
With most issues, we have this "out of sight, out of mind" mentality. There have been many other cases similar to Trayvon Martin's in just the past few weeks. Not all of them were black teenagers, but all of them were associated with hate crimes or prejudice. Why are we so stuck in this world view that if we do not see it or change the channel, then it doesn't exist? I believe many of us love apathy.
A few weeks ago in my Sociology class, we were talking about lynching in America. The professor went to pull up an ABC news story about the issue so he could go more in-depth about the history of lynching and the ugly face of racism and discrimi- nation in our society and country. A young lady lifted her hand and expressed that she couldn't watch the documentary because it was "uncom- fortable." She also added that she watched "The Help" and cried. I understand where she was com- ing from, but I think a big problem we have is that whenever we start talking about race and social in- justice everyone wants to turn the channel and shy away from the issue.
My issue is that we can't keep on running away from uncomfortable situations. Growth and change come from being uncomfortable. There's a serious problem not just on my campus, but also in our society as a whole. How can we learn and imple- ment change if we don't confront these problems? Growth is all about being uncomfortable. With that being said, I challenge us all to speak up and refuse to allow this to go on. We have the power to change it. On April 12, the Black Student Asso- ciation will be hosting a community-wide rally to show respect for Trayvon Martin and shed light on the tragedy. I hope to see you all there.
