White privilege and the politics of race

[TMF]

George Bush hates black people.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Okay. The price of tea in China hasn't changed. What now?

[TMF]

Okay. The price of tea in China hasn't changed. What now?

Ahhh c'mon.

[East_TN_Patriot]

Really?

Sure, people are already using the kid's name to make money. If it were my son, I wouldn't want people using my dead son's image or his death to make themselves rich. Once you trademark it, people can't use it without your permission. Now, if she starts using it for her own personal monetary gain, then I will criticize (and I don't mean using the money to put into some sort of legal fund, scholarship, or charity fund in her son's name). This woman is grieving the loss of her son. Even if he wasn't the perfect kid (who among us was?) and even if she wasn't the perfect parent (who among us is?) she is still dealing with the loss of her son.

She is surrounded by race hustlers, media reps, lawyers, protesters, and opportunists who are all using her tragedy for their own benefit. Perhaps she did this in a move to try and exert some measure of control over the use of her dead kid's name and face. What if some wealthy activist was able to invest a bunch of capital into a clothing line that specialized in "Justice for Trayvon" hoodies with his face on them? They make a bunch of money on this woman's loss and she is not entitled to a penny of it. Is that fair?

I think people need to take a step back from this and remember that the family of this kid is grieving. I also think that white folks need to take the race-based rhetoric out of this. By engaging in this sort of talk, we are no better than Sharpton or Jackson. In fact, to return to the topic of white privilege, this response by whites in society is exactly the sort of thing that the concept speaks to. Are we talking about Zimmerman's shady past that includes a criminal record? Are we ranting about how Zimmerman appears to have been a wanna-be cop and followed a kid around just because he didn't like the looks of him? Are we discussing why Zimmerman felt it was acceptable to use deadly force when being confronted with what seems to be non-deadly force? No. Instead, we are digging up as much dirt as possible on the dead kid trying desperately to determine if he was actually a gang member or street thug. Why? Some would argue it's partially done to relieve some of the guilt we have as a society that a young black kid was unjustly killed because he happened to be hanging around in a place where someone didn't like seeing him. The kid was wearing a hoodie, which is the style for young people, plus it was raining that night. Just because we are predominately conservative gun owners in Tennessee, and many of us prefer to wear t shirts and ball-caps, that doesn't make those who dress differently or act differently bad people.

There is a book called "Code of the Street" that talks about how "decent" law-abiding families who are stuck in the ghetto struggle with raising their kids in an environment where "street" culture is prevalent. The author, Elijah Anderson, talks about how these kids have to "code switch" between dominant pro-social behavior and "street" behavior to survive their environment. Consider a kid who is being raised by decent parents, but has to go out into the real world where gangs and criminal activity thrive. To make the walk from home to school, this kid has to figure out how to act just thuggish enough to keep from being targeted as an easy target in the neighborhood to victimize without being labeled as a delinquent and lose the opportunities that the rest of society demands. Perhaps Trayvon was one of those kids, especially since he had no official criminal record that we know of (juvenile records are generally unsealed upon death). I don't know if he was or not, and neither do any of us. This incident was the result of a variety of factors that involved both Zimmerman and Martin. Both were partly to blame, but there seems to be a push out there to lay this all in the lap of Martin and now his family.

For those interested, here is a link to an excerpt of the book I just talked about: http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/a/anderson-code.html

There is another book by Geoffrey Canada called "Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun" that talks about this in a more condensed and less academic way. If any of you choose to read it, be prepared that he calls for gun control policies to curb youth gang violence. I don't agree with that aspect of his book, but the rest is great to read. It also does give some background to the argument that many gun-control supporters use, which I find helpful in constructing a legitimate response in support of gun rights.

[mcurrier]

George Bush hates black people.

LOL

No, haven't you heard, it's Jeb Bush this time. He signed the 'stand your ground' law, so they are calling for him to now apologize. Seriously.

[mcurrier]

Trayvon Martin Rallies Spread Across The United States

This has already turned political and is being exploited by Obama, Sharpton and Jackson. Pathetic.

http://inagist.com/all/184665640152477696/

Obama is selling 2012 campaign hoodies. Coincidence? Accident? Agenda?

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/03/27/tasteless_obama_2012_sells_hoodies_to_exploit_death_of_trayvon_martin

Thomas Sowell on the Trayvon Martin situation

"Playing with racial polarization is playing with fire."

(practical advice, not race bating, shows real concern for minority youth)

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/294456/geraldo-and-hoodies-thomas-sowell

[Smith]

She is surrounded by race hustlers, media reps, lawyers, protesters, and opportunists who are all using her tragedy for their own benefit. Perhaps she did this in a move to try and exert some measure of control over the use of her dead kid's name and face. What if some wealthy activist was able to invest a bunch of capital into a clothing line that specialized in "Justice for Trayvon" hoodies with his face on them? They make a bunch of money on this woman's loss and she is not entitled to a penny of it. Is that fair?

I think you are probably right. She's surrounded by a lot of people wanting to use her for THEIR gain. She's in grief and they are using that. I don't blame her for making irrational decisions or saying stupid stuff right now. It's sad that there are those that exploit these kinda things for their own benefit while throwing the true victims under the proverbial bus.

"Never let a good crisis go to waste" rings a bell.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Ahhh c'mon.

Just messin with 'ya.

[Guest profgunner]

Consider a kid who is being raised by decent parents, but has to go out into the real world where gangs and criminal activity thrive. To make the walk from home to school, this kid has to figure out how to act just thuggish enough to keep from being targeted as an easy target in the neighborhood to victimize without being labeled as a delinquent and lose the opportunities that the rest of society demands.

This is something I hadn't considered. Thanks for taking the time to post such informed and thought provoking commentary.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

And more parents need to be engaged in raising their kids right, instead of being victims by their own

behaviour, and allowing their kids to become something they shouldn't have to be to be productive in

society. The government version of education and liberal feel good legislation and a general attitude of

"let everything be" allows this kind of behaviour become the norm. Rather, it is encouraging it.

Things like legalizing pot won't fix the problem. It's the lack of a family structure that causes what's going

on. And walking away from Christianity, actually running away, because it sounds good, in some perverted

fashion to some to the people of the internet age.

Edited March 28, 2012 by 6.8 AR

[DaveTN]

Did she copyright the phrase “If I had a son he would look like Trayvon.�

Because I would bet that phrase is already on the T-Shirt presses.

[East_TN_Patriot]

And more parents need to be engaged in raising their kids right, instead of being victims by their own

behaviour, and allowing their kids to become something they shouldn't have to be to be productive in

society. The government version of education and liberal feel good legislation and a general attitude of

"let everything be" allows this kind of behaviour become the norm. Rather, it is encouraging it.

Things like legalizing pot won't fix the problem. It's the lack of a family structure that causes what's going

on. And walking away from Christianity, actually running away, because it sounds good, in some perverted

fashion to some to the people of the internet age.

I don't completely disagree with you, especially when it comes to parenting. That said, we are seeing a multi-generation problem of parents who simply don't know how to parent. Efforts to start programs with the goal of addressing this problem are frequently met with criticism from society as "liberal" drivel. I would also challenge your use of "Christianity" as a monolithic category. Christians come in all sorts of flavors and too many of them claim to be the one true application of Jesus' teachings. It's telling that the vast majority of Americans believe in God, but don't affiliate themselves with any particular denomination. I would suggest that it's because mainline denominations failed to effectively apply the scripture to the world we live in. Rather, they preach to people all of the ways they are going to Hell.

And I don't see marijuana as the ultimate scourge of society. I was a cop for a decade, started my career as a hard-core drug Prohibitionist and left my career with a very different perspective. More frequently, drug use wasn't the cause of our problems, it was the illegal drug trade, especially related to crack cocaine and methamphetamine. In the cases where drug addiction was a direct problem, our CJ response certainly didn't do anything to help the addict overcome their habit. I also never encountered a single person under the influence of marijuana who was violent, combative, or had killed someone in a DUI crash. I would say that it's not the drug that's the problem, but the social conditions that lead people to abuse intoxicants.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I wasn't making a referendum on which brand of religion, if any. I merely used the word Chrisianity to

make a point that our nation was founded on certain principles and we have walked away from them.

One of which is a belief in God. That's okay, ET, I appreciate your criticism.

The other wasn't intended to make much of a statement on the use of pot, either. But I will say that

legalizing it won't really matter, right now. I am leaning toward legalizing it, so you know.

I do definitely agree that it is the social conditions that lead to the problems, which begs to talk about

morals, don't you think? Morals come out of thing like the Ten Commandments which has been

effectively taken out of our schools and most of society. And that lends itself to the notion of a Godless

society being a large part of our problem. That's just how I feel about it.