Regarding Zimmerman and not admitting racial prejudice
We have this inability to put two and two together. Following the Zimmerman acquittal, we're forced to confront the issues of race, once again, and deny that there are any issues, once again. This has been the case in years past and I don't see this changing the case any time soon.
As Esquire's Pierce wrote, "this was not about race because nothing is ever about race."
We like to think of ourselves as living in a post racial society. No one sensible is racist anymore. Those that are do so behind a curtain, like those in the KKK, or they are relics of a bygone age, such as the excuses given to Ron Paul during last year's presidential elections. No one is racist except for a few bad eggs, and we never associate with them - never.
Zimmerman might have been racist, some people might say, but we acquit the all woman jury, that they were likely unmotivated by racial bias. The lawyers, the judge, the peanut gallery might consider themselves to be normal, but we don't ever question whether they are racist. I'm not saying that they are, but we do not suspect it.
Thus, we never see the undertones of what is going on here. Do you remember anything similar to Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman? I'm reminded of Yoshihiro Hattori, a Japanese exchange student living in Baton Rouge, La. He was killed by a man who thought he was an armed assailant when all he was looking for was a Halloween party in 1992. Pearis, the shooter, was acquitted for shooting a 16-year-old boy.
Pearis said, 20 years later after his acquittal, that he is still sorry about what he did. He seems sincere, but the undertones of greater society continue. The police figured Pearis was acting reasonably and initially didn't charge him and the jury figured he was justified to stand his ground against an unarmed teenager with a firearm.
More recently, we look at Oscar Grant's death at Fruitvale station in the San Francisco Bay Area. We like to pride ourselves that the Bay Area is fairly progressive, San Francisco especially. Yet, when it comes down to the issue of race, we seem to pause a bit regarding African Americans. We cite their higher rates of poverty and crime rates and profile them as society's problems not based on race but based on statistical correlation. How can Bay Area residents be racist? We voted for Obama. We look to President Obama and say we support him, like he's what a black man should be. Not just Obama, but for Republicans you have your pick of Michael Steele, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell as well.
The Bay Area isn't racist. Yet, we have a dead, unarmed man on a train station platform. Johannes Mehserle, a police officer, is charged with murder and manslaughter and was judged guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but was credited for the time he had already served and was out of jail in a little over a year.
By convincing ourselves that we are not racist, we blind ourselves to the possibility of being prejudiced. We see ourselves acting in the name of diversity and applauding it on paper, but fail to examine the deeper rooted causes of racism and the prejudices we have that we overlook. Just because you have an eclectic appreciation for fusion-cuisine food-trucks, doesn't make you impervious to prejudices otherwise.
The American justice system is flawed. Yes, it is, but not in the way most people like to construe it is. Justice is blind, it is amoral and lacking bias. Zimmerman killed an unarmed teenager and he was acquitted. Depending on morals, that verdict is heinous, but under blind justice, he was judged "fairly." What we fail to address, however, are the greater prejudices we have in society that worm its way into what is supposed to be unbiased judgement.
Statistically, killing someone black as a white person is more justified than killing someone white as a black person. We refuse to admit that we are biased against blacks who are, despite what the law dictates, are guilty until proven not-guilty. We do not admit it because we see ourselves as infallible. We see statistics and say, "well, I'm not the one who said this, so I'm absolved of prejudice." We see people who are angry about this and tell them to back off because we're not the racist ones, it's some circumstantial other that should be told off, but certainly not your infallible self. Each instance is a tragic mishap, but never correlated.
That is the point that needs to be driven home. The Contra Costa Times called for a discussion on race and the justice system , Fruitvale Station's director, Ryan Coogler, said his film aims to, "undemonize black and brown men." This is all toeing around the sensitive subject of thinking long and hard and asking yourself, "how am I prejudiced?"
I don't doubt that Zimmerman's life is ruined. He's acquitted and a free man, but he will have to live with himself for the coming days with the understanding that a great many number of people hate him, some to the point that they might track him down and kill him. Perhaps 20 years from now, he will be like Pearis and express remorse that not a day goes by where he does not reflect on why he can't be truly free and the fact he had killed a teenager will weigh on his dignity and conscience. Frankly, I do not care about him.
I'm more afraid of the larger society that refuses to admit this is not some fluke.
As Esquire's Pierce wrote, "this was not about race because nothing is ever about race."
We like to think of ourselves as living in a post racial society. No one sensible is racist anymore. Those that are do so behind a curtain, like those in the KKK, or they are relics of a bygone age, such as the excuses given to Ron Paul during last year's presidential elections. No one is racist except for a few bad eggs, and we never associate with them - never.
Zimmerman might have been racist, some people might say, but we acquit the all woman jury, that they were likely unmotivated by racial bias. The lawyers, the judge, the peanut gallery might consider themselves to be normal, but we don't ever question whether they are racist. I'm not saying that they are, but we do not suspect it.
Thus, we never see the undertones of what is going on here. Do you remember anything similar to Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman? I'm reminded of Yoshihiro Hattori, a Japanese exchange student living in Baton Rouge, La. He was killed by a man who thought he was an armed assailant when all he was looking for was a Halloween party in 1992. Pearis, the shooter, was acquitted for shooting a 16-year-old boy.
Pearis said, 20 years later after his acquittal, that he is still sorry about what he did. He seems sincere, but the undertones of greater society continue. The police figured Pearis was acting reasonably and initially didn't charge him and the jury figured he was justified to stand his ground against an unarmed teenager with a firearm.
More recently, we look at Oscar Grant's death at Fruitvale station in the San Francisco Bay Area. We like to pride ourselves that the Bay Area is fairly progressive, San Francisco especially. Yet, when it comes down to the issue of race, we seem to pause a bit regarding African Americans. We cite their higher rates of poverty and crime rates and profile them as society's problems not based on race but based on statistical correlation. How can Bay Area residents be racist? We voted for Obama. We look to President Obama and say we support him, like he's what a black man should be. Not just Obama, but for Republicans you have your pick of Michael Steele, Condoleezza Rice, and Colin Powell as well.
The Bay Area isn't racist. Yet, we have a dead, unarmed man on a train station platform. Johannes Mehserle, a police officer, is charged with murder and manslaughter and was judged guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to two years in prison, but was credited for the time he had already served and was out of jail in a little over a year.
By convincing ourselves that we are not racist, we blind ourselves to the possibility of being prejudiced. We see ourselves acting in the name of diversity and applauding it on paper, but fail to examine the deeper rooted causes of racism and the prejudices we have that we overlook. Just because you have an eclectic appreciation for fusion-cuisine food-trucks, doesn't make you impervious to prejudices otherwise.
The American justice system is flawed. Yes, it is, but not in the way most people like to construe it is. Justice is blind, it is amoral and lacking bias. Zimmerman killed an unarmed teenager and he was acquitted. Depending on morals, that verdict is heinous, but under blind justice, he was judged "fairly." What we fail to address, however, are the greater prejudices we have in society that worm its way into what is supposed to be unbiased judgement.
Statistically, killing someone black as a white person is more justified than killing someone white as a black person. We refuse to admit that we are biased against blacks who are, despite what the law dictates, are guilty until proven not-guilty. We do not admit it because we see ourselves as infallible. We see statistics and say, "well, I'm not the one who said this, so I'm absolved of prejudice." We see people who are angry about this and tell them to back off because we're not the racist ones, it's some circumstantial other that should be told off, but certainly not your infallible self. Each instance is a tragic mishap, but never correlated.
That is the point that needs to be driven home. The Contra Costa Times called for a discussion on race and the justice system , Fruitvale Station's director, Ryan Coogler, said his film aims to, "undemonize black and brown men." This is all toeing around the sensitive subject of thinking long and hard and asking yourself, "how am I prejudiced?"
I don't doubt that Zimmerman's life is ruined. He's acquitted and a free man, but he will have to live with himself for the coming days with the understanding that a great many number of people hate him, some to the point that they might track him down and kill him. Perhaps 20 years from now, he will be like Pearis and express remorse that not a day goes by where he does not reflect on why he can't be truly free and the fact he had killed a teenager will weigh on his dignity and conscience. Frankly, I do not care about him.
I'm more afraid of the larger society that refuses to admit this is not some fluke.