Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Why Nothing About Trayvon Martin's Past Justifies His Murder

The campaign against vilification against Trayvon Martin, designed to justify his murder, enrages me more than words can describe. Because a young man got suspended from school and occasionally got in fights, does that mean he should be shot down in cold blood when he is unarmed? For the record- I was in trouble for fighting in elementary school and middle school, was nearly kicked out of Columbia for knocking out a conservative student during a demonstration, was beaten up in a station house by police after an incident in a Brooklyn coffee shop, and had countless other fights in schoolyards and on ball fields and NEVER, at any time in my life, felt my life was in danger from police or anyone else. If I were Black, would that have been in the case? You know the answer. I would have been dead a long time ago. Anybody who says race isn't at the center of this encounter doesn't know how America really works, or the huge added burden Black people carry in conflict ridden situations in every portion of this nation

1 comment:

Christina Stopka Rinnert said...

I wonder why it is that people seem to believe that this KID'S past behavior justifies what happened that night? In my book, shooting an unarmed ANYONE is wrong.

I think that most adult men can tell stories about fighting, drinking, or even playing around with marijuana when they were in high school. I am not condoning this behavior, just being realistic. This was not a kid who was an outlier in this country. He was fairly mainstream in his teenaged behavior.

I think that my 16 year old WHITE child would not have been chased through a neighborhood and shot. Even if he were wearing a hoodie.