Walking While Black - Bigotry is Alive and Well in America

The tragic death - actually, murder seems a more appropriate term from the facts available - of 17 year old Trayvon Martin continues to make headlines and put in sharp detail the continued hate and bigotry still too prevalent in American society. Especially, the so-called conservative elements of society that rally to the GOP message of hate and the playbook of God, guns and gays. This sickness of having to have others to look down upon and hate in order to feel good about one's self is the common thread that traces through the undisguised anti-immigrant, anti-black, anti-gay - even anti-woman mindset that are the pillars of Republican Party policy and the "purity tests" of the white males who predominate the GOP. This inability and/or refusal to see the humanity of others is both scary and disturbing. Eugene Robinson has a column in the Washington Post that looks at the frightening reality faced by black males in America. Here are some highlights:

For every black man in America, from the millionaire in the corner office to the mechanic in the local garage, the Trayvon Martin tragedy is personal. It could have been me or one of my sons. It could have been any of us.

How many George Zimmermans are out there cruising the streets? How many guys with chips on their shoulders and itchy fingers on the triggers of loaded handguns? How many self-imagined guardians of the peace who say the words “black male” with a sneer?

We don’t yet know every detail of the encounter between Martin and Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., that ended with an unarmed 17-year-old high school student being shot dead. But we know enough to conclude that this is an old, familiar story.

We know from tapes of Zimmerman’s 911 call that he initiated the encounter, having decided that Martin’s presence in the neighborhood was suspicious. We know that when Zimmerman told the 911 operator that he was following Martin, the operator responded, “Okay, we don’t need you to do that.” We know that Zimmerman kept following Martin anyway.

“This guy looks like he is up to no good,” Zimmerman said on the 911 tape. Please tell me, what would be the innocent way to walk down the street with an iced tea and some Skittles? Hint: For black men, that’s a trick question.

Some commentators have sought to liken Martin’s killing to the 1955 murder of Emmett Till . . . When Till was killed in Mississippi at 14 — accused of flirting with a white woman — this was a different country. State-sanctioned terrorism and assassination were official policy throughout the South.

I hear from people who contend that racism no longer exists in this country. I tell them I wish they were right. Does it matter that Zimmerman is himself a member of a minority group — he is Hispanic — or that his family says he has black friends? Not in the least. The issue isn’t Zimmerman’s race or ethnicity; it’s the hair-trigger assumption he made that “black male” equals “up to no good.” This is one thing that hasn’t changed in all the eventful years since Emmett Till’s mutilated body was laid to rest.

Whether Zimmerman can or should be prosecuted, given Florida’s “stand your ground” law providing broad latitude to claim self-defense, is an important question. But the tragic and essential thing, for me, is the bull’s-eye that black men wear throughout their lives — and the vital imperative to never, ever, be caught on the wrong street at the wrong time.

Unlike blacks, gays can "pass" much of the time. But that doesn't mean there isn't often an undercurrent of fear in some settings. As recent anti-gay assaults in Washington, D.C., have underscored, like being black, simply being gay can put one's life in danger. Generally, one doesn't worry about it - not until you're being mocked and jeered in uncomfortable settings by folks who cheer on politicians like Rick Santorum - or even the local police as once happened to me right in Norfolk. Then the fear becomes palpable and one feels what Robinson describes..