Trayvon Martin

I cried for Troy Davis. I didn’t know him personally, but he was a representation to me, as well as many, the value of black life. While it couldn’t be proven he was guilty without a shadow of doubt, he was still executed. His case made international headlines. I remember a guy saying; “People are hopping on the bandwagon with all this Troy Davis talk.” I was surprised that someone would compare seeking justice and trying to save a life to simply hopping on the bandwagon. I guess all those people marched on Washington because they wanted to be cool like MLK.

Trayvon Martin was a young black teen wearing a hoodie and walking home from the store when a white vigilante, George Zimmerman who later claims self-defense, gunned him down. Even though, multiple witnesses and pieces of evidence say otherwise. Zimmerman even admits in a 911 call to following Trayvon. Its funny how Trayvon could pose such a threat, but its Zimmerman doing the following. Trayvon’s case has caused outraged considering his killer wasn’t arrested. People have been taking pictures in hoodies as a sign of solidarity with his family and against injustice.

Yet, once again here come the naysayers. The people who have a problem with others wanting justice for Trayvon. Most of them say black on black crimes kill people everyday, so why make a big deal out of this. Others say, don’t compare Trayvon Martin to Emmett Till. Why can’t we be happy black people are mobilizing around an issue? Should we not fight against institutionalized racism because our communities are plagued by violence? I grew up in a poor, violence filled neighborhood. I know three young men who fell victim to black on black crime. I also know three young men who died from white on black crime in the form of police shootings.

Trayvon Martin is Emmett Till. Trayvon Martin is Troy Davis.  We have to make the connection between black on black crime and state sanctioned racial violence.

Institutionalized racism allows for:

Police shootings with no justice

Poverty

Lack of education

Prison industrial complex- that our young black men are becoming apart of at increasingly younger ages

Lack of gun control in our communities.

As long as our youth have easier access to a gun than they do a job or an adequate education, then our communities will continue to be plagued by violence. 

And since we’re so concerned with black on black crime, if George Zimmerman were black, he’d be in jail right now.

None of us are free until all of us are free

 

Causing Divisions to Sustain Power

As a liberal, I often wondered how poor white Republicans could be disillusioned into voting for Republicans when it’s quite obvious that they don’t have their best economic interests in hand. It all comes down to the Republicans ability to cause divisions. It’s done with social issues such as abortion. Racism plays a huge role. Latinos are portrayed as 'illegals' that take all the jobs. Black people are portrayed as a lazy and waiting on a government handout.

Its amazing to think how advanced we could be as a country if poor people decided to work together for economical change instead of being hung up on racial bias.

I went from thinking about this not in terms of politics but in the black community. One huge division is between the men and women. Historically, it has been a widely accepted myth that the black woman does better than the black man. It was said the Black woman was more powerful than the Black man and often emasculated him. It’s just ridiculous to think that somehow in the midst of a patriarchal, capitalist society black women were able to turn the black community into a matriarchal society. Has there ever been in a time in history that women of any racial group has ever fared dramatically better economically, socially and politically than her male counterparts?

Yes, one can make the point that more black women graduate from college. Yet, men with the same education still earn more. Single high-school educated black women with children have a ticket to poverty. Black men are imprisoned at alarming rates but black women are infected with HIV at alarming rates. Now does the discussion move towards, what worse, prison or HIV?

It doesn’t end with gender; there are class divisions. Who’s educated? Who talks white? Who’s not black enough? The point is these senseless divisions are preventing us from forming the much needed unity if we ever want to make progress a group.

It’s done with religion. Black pastors supported groups that placed offensive, racist billboards in the black community. I understand because of your religion, you’re anti-abortion, but that doesn’t mean supporting a group that thinks its ok to call black children endangered species. How about we refrain from shaming black women from having abortions and instead shame a society that makes it viable to have an abortion because you’re poor.

I think once we understand the intersections of our lives and the fact we have more similarities than differences, divisions will cease to matter.

“None of us are free until all of us are free.” MLK