White versus black justice

The Oxford University Press Blog ^ | November 4, 2013 | Professor Martha J. Cutter, UConn

[2ndDivisionVet]

My nephew Jake Silverman is a brainy, confident, energetic, and strong-willed six-year-old. He eats more food than I ever thought it was possible for a six-year-old boy to consume, loves my iPad with a passion, and sometimes has temper tantrums when he doesn’t get precisely what he wants. He already knows he wants to be a doctor, and I have no doubt that he will be an unruly teenager who will mature into a brilliant, handsome, and talented young man. At least that is my hope. You see, Jake was adopted from Ethiopia by my brother (who is white), and so Jake is black. After the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin on 13 July 2013, I thought about all the black parents having talks with their teens, and about all the vicious racial crimes of the past that went unpunished. But I also thought about Jake, who in a decade will be almost the same age Trayvon Martin was when he went out to buy skittles and ice tea and never came back. I have no doubt Jake will be a smart-talking, smart-aleck of a kid (like everyone else in my family) and when told to get out of the neighborhood he actually lives in, might just refuse. Will he be shot for this? It seems that being black in the United States allows vigilante-like acts by individuals who fear this blackness. In ten years, will skittles + ice tea + being black still = random acts of unpunished racial violence?

Street art protesting the acquittal of George Zimmerman. Artwork by Scott Peehl.

My neighbor’s white son was just sixteen last year when he stole his mom’s credit card, another neighbor’s car (which he hotwired and drove to Florida), and was pulled over for speeding on Daytona Beach. He was asked to show a driver’s license (he had none) and registration (upon which the officer realized the car was stolen). He had smoked some marijuana on the way down to Florida and when the officer said, “You are in big trouble, mister!” he sassed the officer, saying “Whatcha gonna do, call my momma?” at which point the officer threw him in the holding cell and left to in fact call his mother, my neighbor. My neighbor called her father, who had been a judge, who called a judge in Florida, and all charges (car and credit card theft, speeding, driving without a license, drug use, and possession of two ounces of pot he planned to sell in Florida) were ultimately dropped. When I heard this story, I thought: yeah, so it goes, white privilege. If he was black, he might have been shot, detained, or imprisoned. But so it goes and goes and goes.

A rally in protest of the Trayvon Martin verdict.

The Trayvon Martin case is the Emmett Till of our time. Or at least it should be. Remember Emmett Till, who was beaten to death on 28 August 1955 by four white men because he supposedly wolf-whistled at a white woman? He was fourteen, and his body was bloodied beyond recognition; his momma bravely insisted on an open casket so that the world could see what had been done to her baby. We do not know what happened on the evening of 26 February 2012 in Florida, beyond George Zimmerman’s words, for the only other witness to the violence is dead. But let us imagine that Trayvon Martin was a seventeen-year-old boy who liked some of the things other seventeen-year-old boys like, such as being a wise guy, swearing, and not always answering questions posed to him by adults (to say nothing of skittles and ice tea). Yet if he was a white teenager with these predilections, walking down the street in a hoodie, and was assaulted by a black man, would the black man have been found innocent of any crime? The statistics suggest not. Drawing on data from the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports: 1980-2010, John Roman shows that when there is a homicide with one shooter and one victim who do not know each other and a firearm is used, “less than 3 percent of black-on-white homicides are ruled to be justified [self-defense].” Yet when the races are reversed, the percentage of cases ruled to be self-defense jumps to a staggering twenty-nine percent in non-stand-your ground states and to almost thirty-six percent in stand-your-ground states. This means that whites are ten times more likely to be able to kill a black stranger with impunity in the name of “self-defense” than if these racial roles are reversed. We might think of differential justice systems as a product of the past and of Jim Crow, but they are with us now, in the present moment. So I mourn this verdict, this miscarriage of justice. It shows how divided and unfair our judicial system still is. We have one set of standards for crime and punishment of whites like my neighbor’s son and another set for Trayvon Martin, my (black) nephew Jake Silverman, and African Americans in general. Will it ever change? When will the scales of justice indeed be color blind? For they are clearly not. And so I fear for the future we all must live in, as well as the present we all must try to endure — together.

[Williams]

Look up the former general counsel of Children’s Hospital Of Philadelphia (CHOP). Well connected black lawyer being paid approx. $1 million per year, set up phoney companies to rip off this non profit kids’ hospital.

Democrat biggies, including the sainted Ed Rendell, lined up in court to get him a light sentence.

[Williams]

I will say one thing, Anerica has become extremely corrupt and it isn’t being reported. Imho an influx of third world cultures has contributed. It certainly is not a white/black thing.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Well, this is the worst steaming load I’ve read today (so far). One thing that jumped out is when she cites the disparity of homicides ruled to be justified, and concludes that whites therefore have some sort of privilege to kill blacks whenever they feel like it. What I get from these statistics is that blacks are much more likely to attack whites than vice versa, so of course there will be more legitimate cases of self-defense stemming from that situation.

Also, it would be fun to point out to her and her brother that adoption is about the closest you can legally get to actually owning another human being.

[WashingtonSource]

Another raging lunatic leftist spews hatred and bile.

[Uncle Lonny]

LOL!

IRONY OVERLOAD!

This article and the author are examples of ubiquitous Black Race Privilege speaking about largely bogus white race privilege!

The irony! The irony!

That a college professor is in complete denial about the overwhelming evidence of the Trayvon Martin trial is a classic example of ignoring facts to comply with the Black Race Privilege propaganda that Martin was the victim and not the offender.

As for the Emmit Till analogy, Martin was the racist thug who violently attacked his victim for “DISRESPECTING” him just as the racist thug in Mississippi attacked Till in 1955 for “DISRESPECTING” him by wolf whistling at his wife.And Zimmerman is the “Emmet Till” in the analogy, an Emmit Till with a gun who was able to save his own life from being beaten to death by a brutal racist thug.

BTW here are some more “White Emmet Tills” who unlike Zimmerman, did not survive being violently attacked for “disrespecting” a racist black thug. Black Race Privilege prohibits their racist murders from being recognized as such, or these white victims being memorialized like the black victim of white racism, Emmet Till:

Emmet Till is almost a household word immortalized in the history books,documentaries, and political columns, etc,etc.

But how many have ever heard of these White Emmet Tills?

Thomas Cunningham Murdered in front of his young daughter when his dog “dissed” a black thug by sniffing him.

Chris Kernich, Beaten to death after he “dissed” some black thugs by yelling “Watch where you are going” after almost being run down by their car.

Evelyn Wagler Burned alive for “dissing” black thugs by being seen walking on the sidewalk in their neighborhood.

Darrel Johnson Beaten to death for “dissing” 3 black thugs by walking with a cane near his home.

James Wilbur Lybrand III Shot in the head for”dissing” black thugs by walking on a public street.

Troy Knapp Beaten to death for dissing a black mob by riding his bicycle on a public street

Jerry Newington Brutally stomped to death by black mob for dissing them with his presence on a public street

Wendy Fisher. Gunned down by a black thug in front of her home for “disrespecting him by yelling at his speeding car to slow down after it nearly ran over her dog

Kennia Durran and Julian Soler, both murdered in cold blood despite being helpless and cooperating with their attackers. The Male victim “dissed” black thugs because he “didnt seem scared enough” so the couple was gunned down.

Andrew Arosemena Shot in the head and murdered for dissing a car full of blacks blocking the exit of a parking garage by telling them to “Hurry up”

Carl Berry Beaten to death for dissing a group of 6 black thugs with the wrong kind of eye contact.

Gordon Rees Jr. Gunned down on the street for dissing blacks in a car driving recklessly by yelling for them to slow down

Photos of the perps and their victims and many more examples at this LINK:

http://blackracismandracehatred.blogspot.com/2012/06/7-more-white-emmet-tills-white-victims.html

[MtBaldy]

I left a comment. It’s waiting moderation. I’m betting they won’t print it:

“Hey dipshit, Trayvon Martin wasn’t murdered. He was killed in a justifiable homicide as determined in a court of law. George Zimmerman was acquitted of murder and manslaughter. Why the need to lie? Trayvon Martin was a thug who made the mistake of trying to kill an armed man with his bare hands. Quit trying to lionize him. He should only be used as an example of black youth does NOT want to become. - See more at: http://blog.oup.com/2013/11/white-versus-black-justice-trayvon-martin/#comment-510452";

[DoodleDawg]

Her articles on African American literature and mixed-race identity have appeared in many journals and several essay collections

And based on that picture they're all written from experience, too. </sarcasm>

[popdonnelly]

After forty years of being discriminated against for being a white male, it’s hard to sympathize.

[MrB]

She totally mischaracterized what happened in the Martin/Zimmerman case,

so I doubt the veracity of her anecdote as well.

Martin physically attacked Zimmerman with INTENT TO KILL,
because of perceived “dissing”.

[IMR 4350]

That’s a face that just screams at you

“No I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn last night. I really am an idiot.”

[yldstrk]

complete drivel

if the judge called a judge and the charges were dropped that is a crime and believe me, no judge is going to risk it for some teenage brat in a holding cell

this broad is making stuff up

[IYAS9YAS]

When I heard this story, I thought: yeah, so it goes, white privilege.

Hmmm. I'm white. Were I to have done the same thing at that age, I would have been left to rot by my folks.

It isn't white privilege, it's "who you know".

[Vanders9]

I think its all a matter of perception and standpoint. It is probably true that the majority of positions of power in the US are held by white males (although it is becoming less true all the time), and from that, people like Ms Cutter conclude white males are a privileged minority who are mostly responsible for all the ills of the world and that positive discrimination against them to "redress the balance" is justified and neccesary.

Unfortunately, what she and her liberal cohorts forget is that the reverse does not hold true. The majority of positions of power and privilige may be held by white males, but that doesnt mean all white males are in positions of power and privilige. There are only so many positions of power, and there are a LOT of white males. If you are a white male who isnt a CEO or a judge or a major politician, it really is the pits. Not only do you not have the privilige (by definition) but you have no excuse not to, and you get blamed by everyone else for THEIR economic and social failures. Of course, if you are not a white male, you dont really understand this (like Prof Cutter). Maybe she should take a leaf out of her own tolerant liberal outlook and try looking at the issue from other people's viewpoint...

[jimt]

Utter crap from a racial industry pimp.

[ronnie raygun]

Another useful idiot

[MtBaldy]

“It’s waiting moderation. I’m betting they won’t print it:”

What a surprise! Seems liberals only approve of free speech that supports their cause. Comments are closed for the article.

[papertyger]

John Roman shows that when there is a homicide with one shooter and one victim who do not know each other and a firearm is used, “less than 3 percent of black-on-white homicides are ruled to be justified [self-defense].” Yet when the races are reversed, the percentage of cases ruled to be self-defense jumps to a staggering twenty-nine percent in non-stand- your ground states and to almost thirty-six percent in stand-your- ground states.

An intellectual grifter. Her comparison assumes whites and blacks are shooting others for the same reasons, then asserts they are treated differently.

[cradle of freedom]

Wanna bet that is our tax dollars at work?

[cradle of freedom]

I don’t know about you but that so-pleased-with-myself grin makes we want to puke.

[Billthedrill]

Martha J. Cutter is a professor of English and African American at the University of Connecticut.

What the hell is a professor of African American? African American what? Ebonics?