Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Monday, July 15, 2013

"A Violent Social Order"



Continuing on with commentary on the Trayvon Martin case, this comes from The Guardian:




Who screamed. Who was stronger. Who called whom what and when and why are all details to warm the heart of a cable news producer with 24 hours to fill. Strip them all away and the truth remains that Martin's heart would still be beating if Zimmerman had not chased him down and shot him. 

There is no doubt about who the aggressor was here. It appears that the only reason the two interacted at all, physically or otherwise, is that Zimmerman believed it was his civic duty to apprehend an innocent teenager who caused suspicion by his existence alone. 

 Appeals for calm in the wake of such a verdict raise the question of what calm there can possibly be in a place where such a verdict is possible. Parents of black boys are not likely to feel calm. Partners of black men are not likely to feel calm. Children with black fathers are not likely to feel calm. 

Those who now fear violent social disorder must ask themselves whose interests are served by a violent social order in which young black men can be thus slain and discarded. 

 But while the acquittal was shameful it was not a shock.

[skip]

[T]he first black president of the United States ventured an early comment, saying that if he had had a son “he would look like Trayvon”. In so saying, Barack Obama pinpointed the truth that a great many white Americans will see a young man up to no good before they see a president’s son. 


For all the civil rights advances over half a century, personified by the black family now residing in the White House, racism remains pernicious and entrenched. [...] 

 [T]he verdict leaves the impression not just that it is acceptable for an individual in large parts of the US to take the law into his own hands, but that the life of a young black man is cheap. 

This incendiary case from central Florida – electorally, a swing district of a swing state – shows how far, despite Mr Obama’s election, the US still fails to practise racial equality.

Capt. Fogg over at The Swash Zone has an excellect article on this tragic case.  HERE.

6 comments:

Justice in America? said...

There is a difference between justice and due process. The Constitution only gives a right to due process, not justice. Justice was probably not done in this case, but due process was. Inequality in our justice system has been the norm since the country's inception. Fix that problem, sure, but that's not what people are talking about doing. Stand your ground is a Florida State law, not a federal law; and we know who has majority in Florida and who is making these absurd laws. The people voted and voted for this kind of legislation.

Les Carpenter said...

Parents of any young man (or children as well given the drive by shootings and all in neighborhoods) should be concerned that things like this happen.

This is an issue of individual lack of judgement in Zimmerman's case as well as a systemic (cultural) issue.

If reason can prevail (on both sides) there is a chance the systemic (cultural) issues can be resolved.

The individual lack of judgement and respect for the rights of others will always exist. It is how we deal with these that determines who we are as a people.

Calm, following a storm almost always leads to the most appropriate implementation of safeguards.

Anonymous said...

Oh happy day "celebration!" Zimmerman got his gun back. You know, the gun he shot and killed the unarmed teenager who gave him a bloody nose. The dancing hyenas are celebrating in the streets.

A boy is dead and the neighborhood vigilante lives!

God bless AmeriKKKa!

Anonymous said...

shaw...the stupidest fucking thing ever written anywhere by anyone:

"When a Negro attacks a white person it is never considered a race issue. On the other hand if a Negro gets hurt or killed by a white person, even accidentally, it it immediately becomes a cause celebrein the media, and is not only thought of as a "race issue," it is also a "hate crime," a violation of someone's civil rights, and justification for rioting, burning down whole neighborhoods and looting every store in sight, especially those operated by Jews and Koreans -- two groups the blacks resent even more than they do the white man."

this is the mentality of the right...they are the sewer of America.

George Zimmerman, Killer said...

Seen on a conservative blog:

"Pris said...
Ducky, if Martin had walked away, he would be alive today.
This is so sad. It didn't have to happen.

July 15, 2013 at 11:50 AM
Blogger Z said...
Pris, that's right.
If he'd only GONE HOME TO HIS DAD'S HOUSE.

July 15, 2013 at 12:03 PM"


Perfect. Blame the victim. If only Trayvon hadn't reacted to the killer, Zimmerman, who illegally asked the kid what he was doing walking in his father's neighborhood, and if only the killer, Zimmerman, hadn't said to the police this "effing assholes" always get away, and:

IF ONLY THE KILLER, ZIMMERMAN, HAD NOT PURSUED TRAYVON after the dispatcher told him NOT TO, Trayvon would be alive.

These asshole conservatives blame the victim all the time.

FreeThinke said...

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/case-516709-zimmerman-child.html