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

The post Ask the White Guy: Why Is Trayvon a White-on-Black Crime? appeared first on DiversityInc.

* UPDATE: Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder on April 11,2012.

In case you missed it, Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman as he walked down a street to a friend’s home in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman, on a “neighborhood watch” patrol, called the police to report Trayvon as a “real suspicious guy” and “up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something.” Trayvon was wearing a hoodie; it was raining. The dispatcher asked, “Are you following him?” When Zimmerman said “Yeah,” the dispatcher said, “OK, we don’t need you doing that.” Zimmerman was armed with a Kel-Tec 9mm pistol. It took one shot to kill Trayvon.

When I first read of the news, Trayvon’s picture was in the story, and I was struck by how handsome and open he looked—in contrast to his murderer.

But chances are you’ve heard of Trayvon. As of this morning, there are almost 1 million electronic signatures on the change.org petition demanding that Zimmerman be arrested. Spike Lee and Wyclef Jean started the ball rolling with tweets. The press picked it up. Anderson Cooper was all about Trayvon last night. Because of the Internet, you can hear the 911 tapes, see Trayvon’s pictures and hear his mom say that he was killed because of “the color of his skin.”

As hard as it is to imagine, George Zimmerman has not been arrested. The law in Florida, a “Shall Issue” state where one is entitled to carry a concealed weapon, does not call for people to back down from confrontations because Gov. Jeb Bush signed the “Stand Your Ground” law in 2005. Prosecutors in Florida have apparently decided that prosecuting shootings in this case is not worth it as judges can dismiss the case before the trial begins under the concept of “true immunity” based on a “Stand Your Ground” assertion.

But there’s a lot of pressure on Sanford, a place that ran Jackie Robinson out of town during spring training. The city commissioners voted to demand that the police chief resign. If you do a little digging on the Sanford police, you’ll see that there’s been a history; the NAACP is collecting stories to deliver to the Department of Justice. In a larger context, this “Stand Your Ground” law, which has been passed in 21 states, needs very close examination. I am a fan of the Second Amendment, but this reads a little to me like “Shoot the Black guy first, ask questions later” law.

What can we learn here from a business context? History matters. Having a trajectory of good practices—or bad—is public knowledge these days, especially when something goes wrong and people have a little time to dig around the web. Many companies I visit still have a policy of being “modest.” It’s old fashioned and doesn’t serve your customers, employees or shareholders. Websites should have clarity and focus; today, hundreds of millions of people tell their own story on Facebook and Twitter. Your company must tell its own story on its website, yet most corporate websites are soulless (many look like they’re designed by soulless ad agencies and vetted by attorneys who don’t get out much).

I’ve been discussing strategic philanthropy with several companies, a program that has a theme, reflects the company’s values and can be integrated with the general business. There is nothing self-serving about building a pipeline of educated professionals and talented technicians by serving poor and underrepresented young people in a nationwide education mentoring program (the Rutgers Future Scholars program could be adopted nationwide, and Rutgers is an AAU research institution, so it is doing the research to understand how).

The kind of pressure that took years to create during the civil-rights era now takes days. What I’ve observed is that furtive and hateful things burrow underground, while the opposite struggles for sunlight. But what I’ve also found is that, although evil is not sustainable, it is well organized—while forces for the good often devolve their conversations into arguments over jargon. (Is it “I&D”? “D&I”? “DNI”? Just “I”?) Trayvon was murdered by a man with a troubled background who was empowered by a law that needs to be repealed. The force of the social media has taken the lead and traditional media is following. The lessons here for business are clear.

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