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Racism Watch: Trayvon and White Madness
Monday, July 22 @ 11:02:13 UTC |  By BAR executive editor Glen Ford
July 22, 2013 - blackagendareport.com
“The government would have to prove that Zimmerman was motivated by racial animus.”
When Trayvon Martin was murdered by a “creepy-ass cracker” in February, 2012, an outraged Black America mobilized to force the State of Florida to put the perpetrator on trial. Seventeen months later, in the words of President Obama, “a jury has spoken,” affirming Florida’s original contention that Trayvon’s death was not a criminal act.
The White House also wanted Trayvon to be forgotten. Three weeks after the shooting, speaking through his press secretary, the president declared, “obviously we're not going to wade into a local law-enforcement matter." A few days later, Obama sought to placate Black public opinion with a statement of physical fact: “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
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Racism Watch: Zimmerman Verdict -- Where Do We Go From Here?
Friday, July 19 @ 07:50:59 UTC | By Frances Cudjoe Waters
July 18, 2013 - huffingtonpost.com
"A black man has no rights which the white man is bound to respect." -- Sup. Ct. C.J. Roger Taney, Dred Scott Decision, 1857
On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger Taney and the United States Supreme Court put into words what America had been putting into practice for centuries. He stated that Americans of African descent should not ever presume to have the audacity to expect that the legal system in this country would ever treat them as equal citizens worthy of the same protection and respect enjoyed by others.
On July 13, 2013, the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, declaring George Zimmerman "not guilty," evokes images of this awful American legacy making me feel much the same way.
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Racism Watch: The U.S. v. Trayvon Martin: How the System Worked
Monday, July 15 @ 16:22:36 UTC | By Robin D.G. Kelley
July 15, 2013 - counterpunch.org
In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, Senator Rand Paul, Florida State Representative Dennis Baxley (also sponsor of his state's Stand Your Ground law), along with a host of other Republicans, argued that had the teachers and administrators been armed, those twenty little kids whose lives Adam Lanza stole would be alive today. Of course, they were parroting the National Rifle Association's talking points. The NRA and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the conservative lobbying group responsible for drafting and pushing "Stand Your Ground" laws across the country, insist that an armed citizenry is the only effective defense against imminent threats, assailants, and predators.
But when George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, teenage pedestrian returning home one rainy February evening from a neighborhood convenience store, the NRA went mute. Neither NRA officials nor the pro-gun wing of the Republican Party argued that had Trayvon Martin been armed, he would be alive today. The basic facts are indisputable: Martin was on his way home when Zimmerman began to follow him -- first in his SUV, and then on foot. Zimmerman told the police he had been following this "suspicious-looking" young man. Martin knew he was being followed and told his friend, Rachel Jeantel, that the man might be some kind of sexual predator. At some point, Martin and Zimmerman confronted each other, a fight ensued, and in the struggle Zimmerman shot and killed Martin.
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