Ask the White Guy: Why Is Trayvon a White-on-Black Crime?
Luke Visconti’s Ask the White Guy column is a top draw on DiversityInc.com. Visconti, the founder and CEO of DiversityInc, is a nationally recognized leader in diversity management. In his popular column, readers who ask Visconti tough questions about race/culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability and age can expect smart, direct and disarmingly frank answers.
Reader comment:
Very, very tragic situation. They should have arrested Zimmerman. I can understand the outrage. I don’t understand the perception that this is a white on Black crime.
* UPDATE: Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder on April 11,2012.
Response:
Thank you for sensitively expressing your desire for understanding. Asking is the first step toward gaining clarity. Asking with care builds bridges.
This is absolutely about white on Black. Please read my original column about Trayvon Martin to see my full explanation on “Stand Your Ground” laws.
Not understanding about this not being a white-on-Black crime is related to white privilege. White people can look at Trayvon’s murder as a horrible incident in isolation. We white people do not have to live under the context of a pattern of injustice—we cannot see the forest; we just see the trees. Most white people have no awareness of white privilege, and even if they do, it’s impossible to truly understand it from the perspective of being an outsider.
There’s a mechanical/legal reason for not arresting Zimmerman, but it is part of a pattern: The (white) police chief didn’t arrest Zimmerman because the police chief and the prosecutor don’t do things that ruin their arrest/prosecution percentages. Every state that passed the “Stand Your Ground law” has the same problem—judges can dismiss the case before the trial begins under the concept of “true immunity” based on a “Stand Your Ground” assertion.
The legal situation before the National Rifle Association started advocating the “Stand Your Ground” law and got it passed in 21 states was that an armed person was expected to back down from a confrontation. The combination of “Shall Issue” with “Stand Your Ground” equates to legalized lynching because there are too many guys like Zimmerman packing pistols.
Zimmerman gets to be the current poster boy for the widespread and historical practice of a white police force of a southern small town not arresting the murderer of a Black person. It’s a reminder that non-majority people STILL live in a United States where the powers that be in stinky little towns can put their heel on the head of anyone they wish. The cliché is that little southern town in Lowndes County, but I sure wouldn’t want to have to live in Arizona if I were Latino—and the south is not alone; just try Driving While Black in Clark, N.J.
The facts and figures are unarguable: Non-white people are food for the prison-industrial complex. The laws and law enforcement are geared up for a disparate and often capricious application of the law. We’ve gotten better as a nation, but the end results tell the tale: We imprison almost eight times the per-capita average of the rest of the world (yet Zimmerman walks free!) Almost 60 percent of prisoners are Black and Latino. The War on Drugs started in 1970—what kind of war would we still be fighting 42 years later if we weren’t winning? It all depends on how you define winning. Drugs are more available and are CHEAPER than they were in 1970, but the prison industry is a howling success! Who are we REALLY having a war on? Our Black and Latino neighbors, that’s who. Nobody but a sadist would describe anything about “Stand Your Ground” or the War on Drugs as “winning.”
If I were the police chief, I’d have arrested the murderer just to know that I did the right thing. If the prosecutor didn’t want to advance the case because he/she was afraid to hurt their conviction percentage, that’s on his/her hands. If the judge wanted to dismiss it because of “Stand Your Ground,” that’s on his/her hands. But if you just don’t care about a young Black man in a hoodie (or if you’re a coward/bully/moral cypher with a badge and a gun), then you do what’s politically expedient.
What makes Trayvon so powerful is his absolute innocence and that he was a very handsome young man. With no due respect for Sen. Santorum, what “makes me want to throw up” is that the less beautiful and less innocent around us get ground to bits without anyone hearing a sound or seeing a picture or knowing their names—in gigantic numbers. The patterns are what make this a white-on-Black crime.
I don’t want to close on a totally negative note. My sense is that we will see justice for Trayvon and that it may lead to a greater justice in repealing “Stand Your Ground” in less recalcitrant states. We also now know the power of social media—we don’t need to wait for a white reporter at The Sanford Herald to point a finger at his/her white neighbor. We can take communications in our own hands and Stand OUR Ground. Good—but it won’t let Trayvon grow up to be a man.
Read also: Why the ‘B’ in ‘Black’ Is Capitalized at DiversityInc
4:32 pm
The “Stand your Ground” law needs some refinement, if not repeal. At the very least, this case will probably hold that a legally armed citizen cannot be an aggressor. If Zimmerman was pursuing Trayvon aggressively, he’ll probably be found guilty of homicide in some degree. If Zimmerman had lost sight of Trayvon and was just wandering around calmly, and was then attacked by Trayvon, he might be acquitted. If nobody can prove what actually happened, expect chaos in the courtroom.
3:58 am
I am a mother of a young son and it scares me everyday that he can lose his life by the color of his skin and the way he dresses. Many people have lost their lives for ignorance and is truly appalling and sad. Sadly, this incident is nothing new police in California some years ago shot a young black woman sleeping in her car because she scared them. How, about when you hear a friends family member was shot by someone for the color of their skin. America is getting worse we are showing our hatred for people of Non-Anglo SAxon descent. Look at the way they ridicule, and speak about the President. America needs to wake up and stop because people of other Nations are watching and using this as an excuse to committs acts of violence against our country. Because they know we don’t even know how to treat each other or tolerate people who look different.
2:29 pm
I said the very same thing to some California police in our small town when my son was stopped for the huge crime of…get this…jaywalking. I was called at home and asked if could identify some marks on his body. The caller did not choose to inform me that my minor son was being held on the corner across the street and as a parent would I kindly come and get him. No, I was just asked if I could give identifying marks – I thought he was found dead somewhere. Long story short. I ended up complaining to the sergant who wanted to spend his time telling me how much danger cops are in and did I want a ride along? Uh, no thanks. I didn’t know the word “profiling” at that time but I tried to describe how he had been judged based on his appearnance and I told him I worry every time my son walks out of the door, because all I needed was an APB out on someone who robbed a liquor store and although the descrption would not match my son, he would be stopped (as would all black men on the street). And what would happen next is he would probably want to talk back (Why are you stopping me?!. I didn’t do anything!) so some rookie cop could shoot him because he thought he saw something flash in his hand. I couldn’t send him to the store without worrying about him. And having Al Sharpton conducting a protest wouldn’t do a darn thing for me. I called back the individual who had called me asking for identifying remarks and told him in no uncertain terms that if my minor son had been white, he would have identified himself as calling from the police department and explained to me what was going on. He tried to tell me I was making it about race. My response is it is *always* about race because you would have treated this differently otherwise. I once stopped him at the age of 12 from walking out of the house with a red plastic water gun because I was afraid someone would call the cops and he could get shot while playing a game with other kids. I doubt white mothers worry that their sons will get shot on the street for the color of their skin – but we do. And now we don’t have to just worry about the cops shooting our sons but ordinary citizens. If black cops were shooting white suspects at the rate that white cops shoot black ones, the entire justice system would be shut down until some radical changes were made. It simply would not be tolerated. Oh, and last, the cops thought he was in a gang because all black boys are in a gang. Uh, no (never), he was walking home from a friend’s house. He could have died right there on the corner across from his home, while I was there taking nap. He’s a adult now, but I still worry.
12:49 pm
My response to the question as to why the Trayvon, Zimmerman case
perceived my many as a “white on Black Crime” in my opinion is because of the facts of the case as know it via the media, e.g.
Trayvon Martin was a Black person, George Zimmerman is a man of
mix racial origin, e.g. Latino mother and white father. Within our current society, white people are still considered the predominant race, so what else would you consider Zimmerman as being. Additionally, all of the prior tape recordings from Zimmerman to the police and 911, he always referred to other men in his neighborhood that he was profiling as “suspicious looking Black men” which indicates to me that he himself made the racial distinction, in other words Zimmerman did not consider himself as being ethnic.
5:58 pm
I will chime in where I suspect others have gone before. If the roles were reversed in that, an African American male had gunned down a white teen in a hoodie, that Brother would have been in jail hours after the incident, his bail would have bee set impossibly high, which of course ensure his stay indefinitely! Law enforcement wouldn’t have needed the amount of time it spent scratching its collective butt to have turned over heaven and hell, seeking the smallest amount of (dirt) official name evidence, to use against the Brother.
The white youth would have never been thought to be a threat to anyone so, that card would never have been played and some nonsensical argument would have been stated to show why the Brother wasn’t entitled to the ‘Stand Your Ground” law in Florida, such as…..well, but was he really standing his ground, if he was following the innocent teen?
On & on & on, because that’s the way it is in AMERICA! Institutional racism still exist in this country, tis not as bad as years gone by but….IT AIN’T OVER, EITHER….NOT BY A LONG SHOT!
Finally, as for Florida and other states, Stand Your Ground laws, when bad laws are enacted, eventually what comes forth are terribly bad results….case in point…..Rest In Peace….Trayvon….Rest In Peace!
5:32 pm
This is what I want to say. I enjoyed all the comments I read, some I agree with and others….well….One thing everyone needs to understand is that this country has a history of being racist. When the colonist came from England, they brought it with them. The white culture is the dominant group which controls everything. Blacks, Hispanics, Japanese, Chinese, we have no say in what the dominant group does. This behavior has been handed down from generation to generation. The dominant white group has made it very clear that Blacks or anyone that’s not white has no voice, no matter what we do. If we do decide to stand up and voice an opinion, they rush to shut us up and then enact laws to prevent us from speaking out against the dominant group. How do I know, I’ve done research about it, and I’m amazed on how deep the roots go for racism. It’s just something that’s a part of American culture.