Posted on 03/28/2012 5:36:38 AM PDT by SJackson
As many of us have been made well aware of, on Feb. 26, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was found shot to death in a community in Sanford, Fla. Since then, the story has gained a lot of national attention from people all over the country. Racism and a lack of justice seem to be the central theme that has angered thousands of people all over the nation.
I would like to present the argument that these issues are terrible, however I do believe that a bigger issue has been overlooked for far too long.
The death of Trayvon Martin is, was, and forever will be a terrible tragedy for all Americans. His death is a painful reminder of the injustices that black America has witnessed since we first stepped on American soil years ago.
However, while it may be horrible, his death should not hold more weight than any other teenage death that has occurred in recent years, especially the deaths of black teenagers.
Regardless of how we want to look at it, the murders of young black men have become so apparent that we seem to only get angry and protest when it deals with racism.
This is not meant to down play or ignore the death of Martin. However I challenge everyone to ask yourself how many times have you read or seen something about a black kid getting killed by another black kid and did nothing about it?
Martin died because of racial profiling.
This is something that the country cannot, no matter how hard many people may try, ignore.
On the other hand, according to the Department of Justice, this case is more rare than many of us want to admit. Need proof? In 2009, white offenders killed 209 black individuals. Meanwhile, that same year black offenders killed 2,604 black individuals. And if that wasn’t bad enough, statistics show that 94 percent of black murders had black offenders.
If those statistics do not show you that there is more of an internal problem with black violence than anything else, then quite frankly I don’t know what will.
While we force the country to see that racism is still an issue in today’s society, why not force the country to also see that black on black crime is perhaps the biggest problem facing Americans today.
Why should the death of Martin weigh on your heart heavier because of the race of the killer and the victim, while black people kill other black people everyday and we do nothing about it except view it as “the norm.”
Martin’s mother has lost a son that she will never get back. Yet so many other black mothers have all lost kids due to a senseless act of violence in their own neighborhoods.
Derrion Albert was beaten to death on camera by a fellow black American in 2009 and sadly most people don’t even remember his name.
Torie Carpenter was shot to death in her home in front of her two children by a fellow black American in 2006 and her name was barely whispered in the news.
A few weeks ago in Chicago 41 people were shot in three days (one of which was only 6-years-old) and the media not even make a peep about this, probably because most of the victims and offenders were black Americans.
These are all cases where people of color were killed not because of racial profiling, but because of ignorance. And if racial profiling is nothing more than ignorance in a different form, then explain to me how these deaths are any different than the death of Martin?
We speak about justice not being served for Trayvon, but then we hear about unsolved murders in black communities all over the country and remain silent.
So why is justice more important when it comes to white on black crimes, than it is when it comes to black on black crime? Especially considering the fact that statistics show white on black crime is far less common than black on black crime.
Martin’s death was something that shook up the country because it is something we have thankfully begun to see less frequently in our society. Black people fought for years to stop the brutal murder of our men, women, and children due to the color of their skin.
However when we see black people dying everyday, we seem to ignore the fact that the only reason this is accepted is because of the lack of justice that has been provided to innocent and defenseless young black men and women. These are people who lost their lives in a drive-by, a drug deal gone wrong, or simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I applaud President Barack Obama for addressing the Trayvon Martin tragedy. Yet it would still be nice to hear a politician (and it does not have to be the President) address the fact that black people are the leading killers of black people in this country and so few of us are doing anything to help prevent it.
Say what you want about racism but the fact of the matter is we are killing ourselves more than any other race right now and we have all sat back and let this injustice go on for quite a few decades now.
The media has stopped covering the bigger issue. There are less and less major rallies organized to help prevent black on black violence. There are no more “Wear black shirts for all the black teens that were lost last year,” movements.
Black people need to see Trayvon’s case as another black male who was killed and justice was not served. That’s a huge difference from the theme flowing around, which appears to be a white/hispanic male killed a black teen and justice was not served.
Race is still an issue here, but the fight that is more important is the protection of all black people, not just the ones who are killed by someone of a different race.
If we were seriously sad for the Martin family, then I would love to see everyone take 10 minutes out of their day to pause for the black people who have died due to ignorance. Or maybe a fundraiser to go towards funding some of these unsolved murders that are so frequent in the black communities.
Or how about the college students of Greensboro come together with the community and we host a march on violence.
These are all ideas to show that Trayvon’s death was terrible, but it doesn’t make us forget that the true tragedy here is that another black teen has died due to an act of ignorance.
George Zimmerman’s inexcusable act of violence is something that is being highlighted in this case. Yet sadly ignorant acts of violence happen every day in the black community. So much so, that we have stopped seeing it for the tragedy that it really is because it is now seen as “normal.”
Thanks, on cellphone and couldn’t look yet
I hear you, but dying in an earthquake is a ‘tragedy’.
9-11 was an atrocity.
/sarc
Your statement is the ultimate truth.
Chameleons!
“Martin died because of racial profiling.”
So much of what is called racial profiling is just criminal profiling. Why can’t they get that straight?
Apparently, they prefer the former in lieu of common sense, which doesn’t seem to suit their agenda.
“The charge of racism will not die until the black community forces the white community into total submission...”
Ain’t gonna happen.
No, he was found attacking and beating a man with a gun who used it to protect himself.
Martin died because of racial profiling.
He died as a result of his actions.
George Zimmerman’s inexcusable act of violence is something that is being highlighted in this case.
Travon Martin's inexcusable act of violence is something that is NOT being highlighted in this case.......
I got over it before lunch.
On your chart Hispanics are categorized as “White”. Break out Hispanics and the true “white” crime numbers are very low.
Ah yes. An racial crime, and the friends of the victim are crying for BLOOD! Newsmen are crying for BLOOD! The public wants BLOOD! A lynching is in order, no need for a trial, he is guilty because of his skin color! Find a lamp post and HANG HIM!
To show solidarity with the victim all those in the lynch party are wearing HOODS, even US Senators!
OH WAIT! I’m getting 2012 mixed up with the KKK of 1920s! No difference.
“Trayvon Martin’s murder is bigger than racism.”
I’ve come to the inevitable conclusion that there are many more worse things in the world than racism...but try telling that to a group of liberal racists!
Murder for example, is worse than racism and Trayvon Martin’s murder is not “bigger” than racism. “Bigger” and “worse” aren’t really interchangeable in this context.
Only the media makes it a “bigger” issue. In the grand scheme of things, murder is the worst with rape and child molestation right up there with it.
This article misses the critical factor, by far the most important reason all these young black men die.
Lack of character and a willingness to embrace crime and violence against others.
Take Mr. Trayvon Martin, for example. If you look at the messages he wrote on Twitter, several things are blindingly obvious.
The first is that he was literate, yet rejected literacy in favor of gutter speak.
Second is that he was a misogynist. He was crude, gross and foul to girls he bantered with.
The third is that he wanted to be thought of as a “tough guy ‘gangsta’”.
And fourth is that he was a “black on black” racist. Using the “n-word” as a term of endearment. Psychologically that just reinforces that word as demeaning and hurtful.
It is not acceptable for parents of any kind to raise children like that, or to tolerate their children acting like that, for it is a path to failure and destruction.
By all rights, the path for success for black Americans is found both in inhibition and intolerance for such behavior. To become even “overly moral” and “formally polite” even in informal circumstances. To dress “up” instead of dressing “down”.
Most importantly, black Americans need to utterly shun bad behavior by other black Americans.
The black comedian Chris Rock saw a glimmer of this problem in a comedy routine when he imagined a black man with a Master’s degree meeting an ex-convict black man. The ex-con is not impressed with the Master’s degree, because in his mind, getting it was easy compared to doing time in prison, which is likewise seen as more prestigious in the black community.
As things stand now, 1 in 4 or more young black men are either in prison, on probation, or under some other legal control.
The response of the black community to this is awful as well, because from the point of view of these young men committing crimes, hurting other people, and otherwise misbehaving, is *not* the problem.
It is that they are being *punished* for doing these things.
Why should the black community expect respect and consideration when they give none to anyone else? Why should anyone else respect bad parenting that produces huge number of criminals, and an utter blindness to this, as well as an unwillingness to change?
Simply put, if “Sons of Obama” wish to rob, assault, abuse and even murder each other as well as members of the public at large, why should the rest of society tolerate it at all?
Fair is fair.
my point exactly...
“...he was a “black on black” racist. Using the “n-word” as a term of endearment.”
That is NOT racist. NOT if he was really using it as a term of endearment.
I have a friend who has worked at the Ford Axle plant in SE Michigan for 30+ years. He’s got a lot of close friends in Skilled Trades. As a joke, they greet each other in the morning by saying, “You ASSh*le!”...and Nobody is offended except for the busy-bodies who aren’t part of that inner circle and frankly, it’s none of their damned business because nobody is talking to them anyway.
What about black on white crime? Blacks make up 12% of the population - are they responsible for less than 12% of murders involving white victims? The author might find a way to work this in as a talking point as well. Where is the press on these black on white crimes (and why do they frequently hide perp’s race in these instances?)
Trick question, I know.
I wonder how the chart would read if Hispanics were broke out instead of including them with White. (I am assuming but would be willing to wager that is what they are doing here)
President Skittles does his best to assure that racism is a useful tool when called upon in the failure of leadership and ideas.
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