Trayvon

Here’s what I think (and what my experience has been, at least talking to people about this on social media) – many white folks don’t understand why this trial and this verdict meant so much to people of color and similar progressive communities. They see it as an isolated incident of uncertain evidence (because the racist media spin machine is in full effect) or as an example of justufiable self-defense (because they’re fucking racists) or an unfortunate series of events – and this last one actually bothers me the most. The first two are almost expected on my part. I want to talk about that last one.

It’s not JUST a series of unfortunate events. From the day Zimmerman took it upon himself to protect his neighborhood, to him profiling Trayvon, to him getting out of his car, to Trayvon’s death, to the jury selection (five white women, one black woman), to the verdict itself, to people’s reactions to it – all of these events are products and symptoms of racism.

And you can’t see that if you can’t acknowledge the existence of systemic racism and white privilege. And so much of the Protestant work ethic, meritocracy, and economic conservatism is built around the idea that racism doesn’t exist, or was beaten back long ago. If you subscribe to any of those beliefs, or hell, you just don’t want to believe that the world is a stinking cesspool of inequality (because if you believe racism exists, you’ve got to start investigating sexism, homophobia, ableism, etc.), you CANNOT allow yourself to believe that racism was a motivating factor in Zimmerman’s actions.

I cannot emphasize enough how the existence of systemic racism gnaws at the roots of many of the things that Americans like to believe about social mobility and equality of opportunity. And the worst part, the most insidious part of it all, is that the more we ignore this festering cancer, the more social mobility and equality erodes. The more we ignore these issues in favor of believing in the promise of America, the more elusive that promise becomes.

This is a vicious cycle that’s continued since the end of Jim Crow and legislated, in-your-face racism. Racism never went ended. It just went underground. It disappeared (at least to white folks) into coded language, spoken by politicians and pundits. It’s not “negroes” or “chinamen” – it’s “welfare addicts” and “foreign powers”. It’s not “fuck the poor,” it’s “rewarding a work ethic.” But the truth is obvious to the people who live with racism every day. And absolutely invisible to those who don’t.

Now, more than ever, we live in two worlds.