We're not past racism, and we probably never will be
Friday, March 23, 2012
If there is one thing among many that this Trayvon Martin tragedy shows us is that despite having a Black president, we are no where near a post-racism society. There are still plenty of people who gauge a person completely on their skin color. There are still plenty of people who live off of bias and stereotyping. The scariest thing is that some of these people will take their bias to the extreme and yield innocent people dead. Justice comes slower, or not at all all times for Black people, and incarceration happens quicker and at higher rates of being unjust.
It breaks my hear to see Trayvon's face. We'll never know what this little boy's future could have held. His only crime was being Black and that is scary to me. Just BEING got him killed. There is a lot of talk around the hoodie he was wearing. I think he could probably have been wearing a three piece suit and a person looking at him through the lens of hate would have still seen a threat.
I have seen many of my Black male Facebook friends comment on how they intentionally don't wear hoodies because of how they know they would be perceived, despite having squeaky clean criminal records and multiple degrees. That's a shame.
This whole thing is a shame. George Zimmerman is a shameful man. The thing is, even if he is tried and convicted he's not the only person out there with hateful and racist thoughts and tendencies. It kills me to say, there will be another Trayvon in the future. There will be another person who loses his life for being Black, as there have been cases before this one.
Will Black people every NOT be second class citizens? Will they ever not have individuals who house nothing but hate for them just because of their skin color? I hope that one day we evolve as a species to where we DO SEE skin color, but what is seen doesn't automatically give someone a likelihood to be killed just for living. 
I was talking about this last night. I remember a time in college (I'm not that old so this wasn't that long ago) where I was called a nigger by some kids in Halloween. There have been times where I walk into a place, me who doesn't think about the color of my skin often, and have felt uncomfortable because I'm the only black person and someone might say something. I don't think stereotyping will cease. We're human and we are prone to this behavior naturally. It's sad, but true.
ReplyDeleteYea, I think we subscribe to visual stereotyping at times, it's just horrible when someone takes it this far.
DeleteThis reminds me of my business ethics class. The professor told us a story about when she used to live in a wealthy area up in the hills with her ex-husband. Their neighbor was an elderly white woman, and upon seeing a random black man walking around the neighborhood for a walk in the sun, she called my professor scared and asked if she can call the authorities to report the man on her behalf. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteIt really is crazy. That reminds me of the time my husband (then he was just my boyfriend) we waiting in a parking lot for our rental car and a woman came up and pretty much questioned why we were there, in a definite accusatory tone. It's so ridiculous.
DeleteI feel absolutely sick about this, I'm so angry that it happened, how it's being handled by police. The whole thing disgusts me.
ReplyDeleteI do think we'll finally get past racism, I don't know if i'll get to see it, but I do believe it'll happen.
ReplyDelete