A comment on TalkLeft

So many people have viewed this case (5.00 / 7) (#33) by  Isabela Hernandez  on Tue Jul 16, 2013 at 11:03:41 PM EST

through the lens of their own preconceptions that it’s practically impossible to change people’s minds about what happened that night. I’ve spoken to many white people who are so biased that they simply cannot see the obvious elements in this case. The bias comes not from direct racism toward other groups, but rather, fear of racism. White guilt actually perpetuates anti-black racism because it creates blocks that prevent people from seeing reality. Because we don’t want to be called racist, we desperately try to frame events in a light that ignores reality.

Trayvon Martin is dead. Perhaps his own actions caused his death. Perhaps he is complicit, both legally and ethically. Perhaps not. But there are other children like him who will face similar situations in the future. Those who are still screaming “Justice for Trayvon,” in spite of the evidence indicating Martin came back and confronted and attacked Zimmerman, do a grave disservice to the rest of our children. Many will continue to act like hoodies are a cultural badge that cannot be criticized, seeing it as a “right” to dress a certain way, rather than a statement that defines our values. Our youth would be better served by understanding the full complexities of the interaction that night so they do not make the same mistakes.

Please try to understand the dangers those disingenuous people pose to our children. In their zealous attempts to be compassionate about racism, they cannot see that a young black man might be more racist or even just more hostile than the supposedly “white Hispanic” who he thought profiled him. How do I teach my kids not to be hotheads when millions of people continue to believe Martin had no choice in this conflict because some racist white bigot stalked him then killed him?

The take-home lesson from all of this might be “Belligerence Kills.” I will teach my children and their friends that lesson. I hope those of you who are angry that Zimmerman wasn’t punished will try to understand that perpetuating a false scenario about an event like this hurts people of color by creating even more racial enmity, in this case, animosity toward whites, and excuses for angry youth and parents who do not properly parent their children.

I have bolded the parts of the comment that I think are the most pertinent. There are several other comments in the same thread that are worthwhile but are not argued very well IMHO.  This particular person though, made the most pertinent comments because I think she managed to hit a nail on the head. The first obvious point is the issue of bad parenting. I think there is a second issue here: single parent family and divorce. From what I understand Trayvon was packed off with his father and not wanted by his mother, leaving another woman to raise him until his father found yet another woman to be his baby momma.

On top of that, I continue to question the logic of why Zimmerman should be punished at all, when it was Trayvon Martin who had backtracked and had been the aggressor. Even the juror B37 makes the fundamental flaw of: “we couldn’t find any way to punish him” and the other dreary meme “he should have stayed inside his truck”. I guess she was not listening to what Sean said, neither did she comprehend all of the things that happened that night, ergo, by the time Zimmerman got out of the truck he thought that Trayvon Martin, the person who was indulging in some form of suspicious conduct had “gotten away”. If she had truly understood that Zimmerman thought that the person had gotten away, then she should have been able to accept the reality of the situation, and been able to see more clearly who was in fact the aggressor in the situation that took place. The fault was completely with Trayvon Martin. I do think that this is what this commenter is also saying. I think she is correct about the lesson that can be taught to one’s children.