I do not think you can find one person that will say there is no racism in America. Because there is, and really, there is not much you can do to change that. But in certain cases racism is used as an excuse to fuel outrage across the country, and it works. I have been following the Martin case from the beginning. The incident had occurred on February 26th. One month later, march 26th, in Chicago, 40 people were hurt and 10 were killed in shootings across the city, and one of the people killed, was a 6 year old girl. Where is the national out cry for these people? My concern, is when you Jesse Jackson down in Florida demanding justice because Martin is killed under some sketchy circumstances, and the Black Panther party puts a bounty out for the capture of Zimmerman, yet in Chicago a killing spree happens and a little girl is killed and it is disregarded. I cant say that the shootings in Chicago were under any suspicious racial pretexts, and I cant say that for Zimmermans case either. Chicago Shootings.
That example may not justify as to where im leaning. The major argument, or rather concern, is how racism is viewed. For instance, Martin was killed, under some strange circumstances, absolutely. But everyone jumped up and said Zimmerman was racist and thats why he killed Martin. What isnt said is that in this gated community there was 8 burgalries, 9 thefts and 1 shooting in the last year. Link to rushed judgement and mentioned stats.. To illustrate the opposite side of racism, just last week April 9th, a Black man gunned down a Hispanic man in Arizona. My point, the circumstances are the exact same, self-defense was said to be used, yet there is no public outcry for this man killed.
Lastly,
(These videos are a dime a dozen on youtube, another problem for a different topic how these crimes are caught on tape)
All in all, race is a 2 way street. The time we are in now, and our generation specifically, has a lot at stake in how we deal with these problems in our future when we control the justice system. Do we simply respond to public out cry and punish those that the public wants to punish, or do we fairly distribute justice across every facet. This isnt to suggest that we have the power to eliminate racism, but we certainly have a great influence on the matter and how it is perceived and dealt with in the justice system.
I agree that race is defiantly a two way streak. In a way everyone is racist is a certain way due to the fact that we judge right away. Racism yes majority of the time deals with race, white, black, brown, yellow or blue. But racism can also go back to not liking someone because of the way they look or dress. Judgement is always passed in society and in a lot of cases it is very hard to determine if a murder was based off racism unless it was very obvious. If it was known that Zimmerman was a racist and killed Martin then it might just be that. Or like you had stated before maybe the man was nervous due to the criminal activity that had happened previously in the area. Either way the man shouldn't have pursued after being told not to, and that's the truth, because he has no legal power.
ReplyDeleteI think race has always and will always place a role in our society and especially our justice system. I think the best approach to race is deal with situations on a case by case basis and not a standard.
ReplyDeleteI would not even put the blame on law enforcement for the allegations of race, but the media instead. The media was quick to show photos of Trayvon Martin in his football uniform and school photos of him looking like your average kid and mugshots of Zimmerman from years before. Everyone overlooked the photos showing Martin giving the finger to the camera and smoking weed and George Zimmerman's photo from his place of work.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very interesting article. I would have to say I agree 100 percent. The media loves to fuel race wars, and it is obvious with the Trayvon Martin case. Let's turn it around and a black man killed a white man. Would the media make the same big deal out of it? I think not. Would the NAACP get involved, and would Jessie Jackson and all his followers apologize? My answer would be doubtful. It seems to me that all people can be considered racist, regardless the color of their skin.
ReplyDeleteThis has to be applied case to case. It does not matter if Trayvon was throwing gang signs in a photo. Did he deserve to be shot after being followed and stalked. It is ludacris to say that every other time a white man is attacked by a black man it does not make headlines. Zimmerman is guilty. There is no question to it. He targeted Trayvon because he was a young black male. Ask yourself the question of if a black man had killed an unarmed white boy would it have taken so long for him to be arrested. He had no authority to follow him.
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