Trayvon Martin

[slimmouse]

Whilst I would wish to check outside if the BBC newsreader told me that it was raining, I heard it said on there yesterday that 1 in 3 Black people will be incarcerated in the US their lifetime as opposed to 1 in 108 caucasians.

I think if that is even close to the truth, its a pretty gruesome statistic, however you wish to look at it.

[American Dream]

The Trayvon Martin Shooting: Examples of Institutional and Interpersonal Racism?

Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch captain with a long-standing interest in law enforcement. He thought Martin looked suspicious and called 911. Although the 911 dispatcher told him not do so, Zimmerman followed Martin and according to Zimmerman, Martin attacked him, causing injuries to Zimmerman’s nose and the back of his head; Zimmerman says that in order to defend himself, he fired on the unarmed teen.

The case highlights Florida's 2005 "stand your ground" law. The law allows people to defend themselves, using deadly force, if they feel their lives are threatened. Florida legislators who crafted the law say that it was meant to allow Floridians who, for example, were defending their own property, to avoid being charged with a crime. Zimmerman invoked the stand your ground law and has not been arrested or charged; given that Martin was unarmed, and simply walking through the neighborhood there has been widespread outrage and charges of racism. Throughout the U.S. and even in London, thousands have protested the fact that Zimmerman has been neither charged nor arrested. What do you think about the case?

As a student of sociology, you can use two concepts to consider the question about the role of racism in this case: institutional racism and interpersonal racism as aspects of racial domination. According to sociologists Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer, institutional racism refers to “white domination of people of color” at the systemic level, including diverse arenas such politics, law, culture, education, and business. Institutional racism occurs not because of racist attitudes or behaviors on the part of any individual person; in fact, it may occur in spite of individuals who are decidedly opposed to racism.

The Trayvon Martin shooting in Sanford has highlighted two other cases in that central Florida city that suggest institutional racism. First, in 2005 two white security guards shot and killed an African American teenager in the back. They said he was trying to run them over and they were acquitted after what many contend was a flawed investigation. Both of the security guards had ties to the Sanford Police Department—one was the son of a police officer and the other was a department volunteer. Second, in 2010, it took weeks to arrest the son of a Sanford lieutenant who sucker-punched a homeless African American man.

Initially released without being charged, the officer’s son was arrested only after video of the beating aired on local television stations. When law enforcement policies make racial/ethnic minorities their targets or overlook the illegal behavior of whites they are engaging in institutional racism. Although they may not use the sociological term “institutional racism,” that’s what people mean when they argue that these two previous cases along with the handling of Trayvon Martin’s shooting are indications that the criminal justice system in Sanford is racist. In fact, many of those protesting police handling of Martin’s shooting are calling for “justice”—asking that the relevant institutions—law enforcement entities—respond to his killing as they do when white Americans are victims.

In contrast, interpersonal racism occurs between individuals and is defined by Desmond and Emirbayer as “racial domination manifest in everyday interactions and practices”. Interpersonal racism may be conscious or not—and it is fed by our ideas and stereotypes about people of various races. Interpersonal racism refers to attitudes and behaviors between individuals rather than to institutional practices.

In the shooting of Trayvon Martin we have heard quite a bit that paints—or is intended to paint—Zimmerman as a racist. If he was acting on his individual racist attitudes, this is an example of interpersonal racism. (See this post for a discussion on the two major narratives being used by media to report the case.) Included in the evidence that Zimmerman was engaged in interpersonal racism are his 46 calls to police in little over a year—and the fact that most of the people he reported as “suspicious” were black males. Was Zimmerman afraid of Martin because the teenager was black?

Conceivably such feelings may be influenced by racism at the institutional level—for example, portrayals of black males in mass media as menacing—but on the individual level we respond to those images in varying ways. For example, we may clutch our purses when a black male approaches or feel so scared when we see one that we react as Zimmerman did.

Using Desmond and Emirbayer’s definitions, what other examples of interpersonal and institutional racism can you think of?

ttp://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/201 ... acism.html

[American Dream]

http://www.nomas.org/node/273

Racism in America: The Trayvon Martin Case

A NOMAS Position Statement

The National Organization for Men Against Sexism (NOMAS) is outraged by the tragic homicide of Trayvon Martin and subsequent failure of criminal justice officials to charge the man who admits to killing Martin, George Zimmerman. This is an injustice to Martin and his family, and epitomizes the racial injustice that continues to permeate our society. Racism remains a primary source of inequality and oppression. At the individual level, it renders all young black men "suspicious". At the institutional level, it is particularly evident in the criminal justice system.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporate-backed organization, supplied legislative language nation-wide virtually identical to the Florida "Stand Your Ground" law under which Zimmerman is walking free. ALEC's taste for promoting institutional racism is also evident in its promotion of bills that make it harder for people of color to vote. Thus, too large a focus on the actions of one individual like Zimmerman, tend to shift attention from those whith the power to abet such handiwork on a massive scale. So let us turn a spotlight on the corporations aligned with ALEC through its Private Enterprise Board. [1]

NOMAS stands with Trayvon's family to call for justice. We urge every decent American to take action until justice is served. It is imperative that each of us examine the dynamics of racism in our own lives and the ways that our history and culture promote its existence. We must work to change a society that permits this kind of violence to persist, in its most subtle forms that occur every day and in more blatant acts like the homicide perpetrated by George Zimmerman.

[1] Mr. W. Preston Baldwin (Centerpoint360), Mrs. Sandra Oliver (Bayer Corp.), Mr. John Del Giorno (GlaxoSmithKline), Mr. David Powers (Reynolds American), Ms. Maggie Sans (Wal-Mart Stores), Mr. Jerry Watson Ms. Sano Blocker (Energy Future Holdings), Mr. Don Bohn (Johnson & Johnson), Mr. Jeffrey Bond (PhRMA), Mr. William Carmichael (American Bail Coalition), Mr. Derek Crawford (Kraft Foods, Inc.), Mr. Robert Jones (Pfizer Inc), Ms. Teresa Jennings (Reed Elsevier, Inc.), Mr. Kenneth Lane (DIAGEO), Mr. Bill Leahy (AT&T), Mr. Kelly Mader (Peabody Energy), Mr. Richard McArdle (UPS), Mr. Mike Morgan (Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC), Mr. Daniel Smith (Altria Client Services), Mr. Randy Smith (ExxonMobil Corporation), Mr. Russell Smoldon (Salt River Project), and Mr. Roland Spies (State Farm Insurance Co.). (http://www.alec.org/about-alec/private- ... ise-board/
accessed 3-1-2012.)

[American Dream]

http://www.blackagendareport.com/conten ... r-repealed

Lynch Law Was Never Repealed

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“The extrajudicial killing of African Americans, a practice that is not considered a crime, based on America's ‘unwritten law.’”

In the year 1900, the great Black activist and journalist Ida B. Wells wrote an article called “Lynch Law in America.” It began with these words:

“Our country's national crime is lynching. It is not the creature of an hour, the sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury, or the unspeakable brutality of an insane mob. It represents the cool, calculating deliberation of intelligent people who openly avow that there is an 'unwritten law' that justifies them in putting human beings to death without complaint under oath, without trial by jury, without opportunity to make defense, and without right of appeal.”

In Cleveland, this week, 13 police officers, 12 whites and one Hispanic, fired 137 bullets at a Black man and woman after a high-speed car chase. No weapon was found on their bullet-riddled bodies. Community members charged the victims were lynched.

Less than two weeks before, in Jacksonville, Florida, a white man who didn’t like Black teenagers playing loud music at a gas station fired eight or nine shots at 17-year-old, unarmed, Jordan Davis, killing him. The middle-aged shooter claimed he was justified by Florida’s “stand your ground” law that allows white people to act out their fears, hatreds, or mood swings with impunity – the same claim made by another Florida gunman when he executed 17 year-old Trayvon Martin without trial or “right of appeal.”

Young Trayvon drew his last breath in time to be listed among the 120 Black people known to have been extra-judicially executed in the first six months of this year – one killing every 36 hours. The report, compiled by a handful of people for the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, had to be pieced together from news clippings and other sources. That’s because there is no data base on the extrajudicial killing of African Americans, a practice that is not considered a crime, based on America's “unwritten law.” In fact, it’s treated even more casually than a sport – at least in sports they keep statistics.

“The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement had hoped to follow in Ida B. Wells’ footsteps with their report.”

Ida B. Wells kept statistics. She and a few colleagues tallied 3,436 lynchings of Blacks in the 33 years between 1889 and 1922. Eighty-three of the victims were women. Lynching reached its high-water mark in 1892, when 160 African Americans were slaughtered because of their race. That number will be far exceeded this year, at the rate the blood is flowing. The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement had hoped to follow in Ida B. Wells’ footsteps with their report; they reasoned that, armed with the facts, Black folks would get fired up enough to launch a modern day movement against lynching – just as Ms. Wells work propelled lynching to the center of the movement of her day. But the 2012 report failed to reach many people, because it was largely ignored – not just by the corporate media, but by much of so-called progressive media outlets and “traditional” Black leadership. That’s because, in the early 21st century, only certain types and classes of Black folks are likely to be extra-judicially put to death, or consigned to the social death of America’s Black Prison Gulag: poor people, like Malissa Williams and Timothy Russell, snuffed out like vermin in the Black-run City of Cleveland. For them, lynching remains the “national crime” and the “unwritten law.”

[norton ash]

http://gawker.com/george-zimmerman-juro ... -787873533

George Zimmerman Juror B37 Hates Media, Called Trayvon ‘A Boy of Color’
A mere two days after finding George Zimmerman innocent of the murder of Trayvon Martin, juror B37 in the case has signed on with a prominent literary agent, as a prelude to a book deal. This juror is a woman who hates the media and went into the trial mistakenly believing there were "riots" over the case.

The video above is the entire voir dire of juror B37— the process during which the attorneys question prospective jurors to determine their suitability. During the questioning, the juror, a mother of two who owns "a lot" of animals, revealed the following things:

- She dislikes the media in general and considers it worthless. "You never get all the information... it's skewed one way or the other."

- "I don't listen to the radio" or read the internet, she said. Her only news about the case came from the Today show. "Newspapers are used in the parrot's cage. Not even read," she said. "It's been so long since I even read one. The only time I see em is when I'm putting them down on the floor."

- During questioning, she referred multiple times to "riots" in Sanford after Trayvon Martin was killed. "I knew there was rioting, but I guess [the authorities] had it pretty well organized," she says at one point. In fact, despite a great deal of salivating anticipation by the media both before and after the trial, there were no riots in Sanford, Florida.

- She referred to the killing of Trayvon Martin as "an unfortunate incident that happened."

- Asked by George Zimmerman's attorney to describe Trayvon Martin, she said, "He was a boy of color."

Juror B37 found George Zimmerman not guilty. Her book will surely make her a lot of money.

Infuriating 'voir dire' video of juror B37 at link. Downright proud of her ignorance, and now she has a book deal.

[seemslikeadream]

Limerick Ode To Zimmerman’s Florida
Limerick Ode To Zimmerman’s Florida
By Madeleine Begun Kane

If you’d rather shoot people than skeet,
And enjoy killing folks on the street,
But you don’t want to pay
Any price, come what may,
Then Florida’s (f)laws can’t be beat.

[compared2what?]

Whilst I would wish to check outside if the BBC newsreader told me that it was raining, I heard it said on there yesterday that 1 in 3 Black people will be incarcerated in the US their lifetime as opposed to 1 in 108 caucasians.

I think if that is even close to the truth, its a pretty gruesome statistic, however you wish to look at it.

It's either close to the truth or true for black American men, depending on age and highest level of education attained. (The range is between one-in-three and one-in-ten.)

Altogether, forty or so percent of the total prison population is black although only 12-to-13 percent of the unincarcerated population is.

Here's a hideous graphic:

[seemslikeadream]

Mental illness...gun owner....fair trial...we shall see

Wis. Man Faces Trial for Shooting Teen Neighbor

By DINESH RAMDE Associated Press
MILWAUKEE July 15, 2013 (AP)
The attorney for a Milwaukee man who fatally shot his 13-year-old neighbor says his client did not mean to kill the boy.

John Henry Spooner is charged with killing 13-year-old Darius Simmons last year. Spooner confronted Darius because he believed the teen had stolen guns from his house.

Spooner is white and Darius was black, prompting comparisons to the case of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

But Spooner's attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, says the cases are very different. He says the main similarity is that both victims were black teens.

Zimmerman was acquitted Saturday in the Florida shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Gimbel acknowledges Spooner shot Darius. But he says an expert will testify that Spooner had mental illness that kept him from realizing his actions were wrong.

[Hunter]

The prosecution didn't prove their case. It was the right decision.

EXACTLY what I have been saying and I see a lot of people overlooking that (not saying anyone particularly here but just in general) and they dont seem to care that the state didnt meet its burden they wanted a conviction anyway and to me that is scary and it is dangerous when we start to encourage juries to render convictions when the state has not met its burden or proven its case, that will lead to a lot of major, major problems that I am certain, if these people really think about it, they will not like, they do not want to to open that can or worms because once it is opened it cannot be closed again. So yea, we may not like the verdict but we have to hold the state to a high standard and burden and if they dont meet it we simply cannot then encourage jurors to convict anyway, that is really asking for trouble.

This jury did the right thing even though most of us dont like the outcome THE JURY DID THE RIGHT THING.

[Hunter]

The prosecution didn't prove their case. It was the right decision.

This trial was an illustration of institutional racism and white supremacy. An innocent child was intentionally murdered and the killer is free.

The facts do not support that assertion. I know many people would like for the trial to have been an example of institutional racism and white supremacy, but it was not.

Agree again, well said. I think we are on the same page here and I wish others would have a closer look at that page and really try and understand what that page means for all of us. That page represents due process which is the very bedrock of a free society, are we really willing to give that up for one single case, as bad as this case was and horrible as the death of TM was and as much of a jerk GZ may be, are we really ready and willing to let the state get its conviction without its burden being met.


I know I am not willing to allow that to happen and in fact I work everyday to make sure it doesnt happen. It is the most important things in my life and the biggest part of my career. That burden must be met and if it isnt, I dont care of youre Ted Bundy, you walk if they dont meet it, its really that simple because there is no excuse for the state not to meet its burden with the unlimited resources, crime labs, experts on the payroll, everything the vast majority of the accused do not have access to and if they cant meet that burden with all those resources, well sucks to me them I guess. When a guy like OJ or a gal like Casey walks free it sucks but I can assure you somethng good does come from it, the state gets better, looks more closely at how it does things and improves which cuts down on innocent people being wrongfully convicted and makes due process better and stronger which benefits each and every one of us. Sometimes verdicts like this one is what it takes to get the state to take a better look at itself and get better and less sloppy at what it does.


Bottom line, the state did not prove its case and this jury made the right decision based on the law and YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A GZ SUPPORTER OR APOLOGIST to know and understand that.

[slimmouse]

I hate to say it, but I actually agree with Hunter and Freitag on this one.

People either want a trial by jury or they don't, I should of course add that I wouldnt like to be a black person accused of murdering GZ.

However, I would finally humbly suggest that this clouds much bigger issues, that we as a civilisation need to confront, by further fragmenting the artificial fault lines required to keep us in servitude to the tiny few.

[Luther Blissett]

The killings of young black men are major, major problems for me already, notwithstanding any theoretical future problems that may arise from punishing actual intentional killers of young black men despite the state's laws, the juries' proud ignorances, and the district attorneys' loyal ineffectiveness.

I don't think we can say that there was anything right or good about this from top to bottom. It all needs to be confronted.

My friend got three years because a passenger in her car died, after a cop deliberately put her behind the wheel. This guy stalked and shot a boy in the heart and walks?

[slimmouse]

I don't think we can say that there was anything right or good about this from top to bottom. It all needs to be confronted.

[American Dream]

http://www.blackagendareport.com/conten ... -goes-free

Freedom Rider: If George Zimmerman Goes Free
Wed, 07/10/2013



by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley


“The corporate media have given very little attention to these extrajudicial killings. We call them ‘extrajudicial’ because they happen without trial or any due process, against all international law and human rights conventions. Those few mainstream media outlets that mention the epidemic of killings are unwilling to acknowledge that the killings are systemic – meaning they are embedded in institutional racism and national oppression.” – Malcolm X Grass Roots Movement

“Lynch law has never been repealed.”

Trayvon Martin was murdered by George Zimmerman on February 26, 2012. The 17-year-old was visiting his father in Sanford, Florida and left his home to buy junk food at a local store. This simple act made him the target of George Zimmerman, a 21st century vigilante of the old slavery era patroller school.

The Zimmermans of this country have a very long history. The much debated Second Amendment to the Constitution gave the 18th century vigilante the right to control the enslaved and Native American populations. The “well regulated militia” was nothing more than a means of making sure that the white population had every other group under control with the threat and use of violence. Slavery was a perfect means of doing that. When it ended, Jim Crow and lynch law ruled. As we previously pointed out in Black Agenda Report, lynch law has never been repealed. Trayvon Martin is just the most famous victim of recent times.

George Zimmerman is now on trial for Martin’s murder and expert legal observers agree that a guilty verdict on the charge of murder is far from assured. The case ought to be open and shut. Martin was minding his own business and breaking no laws as he returned to his father’s house. The unarmed Martin was attacked by Zimmerman and a physical altercation followed. Trayvon Martin had a right to defend himself from being assaulted and there was no reason for Zimmerman to have ever approached him. Zimmerman ought to be found guilty and pay the heaviest penalty possible under Florida law. Instead he stands a good chance of going free because the deceased and any other black person who speaks for him has been put on trial in the court and in the court of public opinion.

“Trayvon Martin had a right to defend himself from being assaulted and there was no reason for Zimmerman to have ever approached him.”

The defense claims that the man without a gun threatened the life of the man who did have a gun. Rachel Jeantel, the friend who spoke to Martin before he was attacked was herself attacked in and out of the court room. It couldn’t be otherwise because her words should be enough to put Zimmerman behind bars for a long time.

If not for the courageous persistence of Trayvon’s parents Sabryna Fulton and Tracy Martin, Zimmerman would never have been charged. The local police didn’t arrest Zimmerman who they said acted properly under Florida’s “stand your ground” laws, an updated version of the 18th century militia. Stand your ground laws have been repeated in many venues across the country. At first glance they seem just silly, a solution in search of a problem. They are in fact quite serious, giving white people the right to shoot anyone for almost any reason. There are long standing and universally observed self-defense statutes which made stand your ground unnecessary. But if one group of people is to successfully maintain its power over others, no means of control can be over looked.

From the beginning, the victim was made out to be the criminal. Martin’s body was tested for drugs. Zimmerman was not. Martin’s grades in school, his facebook postings and his temporary suspension from school were and are still made an issue. Zimmerman’s history, education and deportment were never issues to law enforcement, or to the media for the simple reason that they don’t think he did anything wrong when he killed Trayvon Martin.

“The deceased and any other black person who speaks for him has been put on trial.”

In 2012 the Macolm X Grass Roots Movement published a report which detailed the extra judicial killings of black people by the police, security guards and self-appointed law enforcers like Zimmerman. In the first half of that year they reported that 120 black people were murdered in this manner, one death every 36 hours. That report was report was recently updated to show that modern day lynch law takes place every 28 hours.

If Zimmerman goes free how will black people respond? There will surely be public expressions of anger and anguish, but there is a larger question. As a group, how will we react to the denial of justice for Trayvon Martin and the hundreds of others whose names we don’t even know? It wouldn’t be enough to tell people not to be violent, or to march in silent protest.

There must be very public, very outspoken acknowledgement that our system demands that black people be victimized by those in authority on a regular basis. A volunteer security guard qualifies as an authority if he kills a black person. The songs, parades and kumbayahs should be kept to a minimum. Anyone who speaks about the case should be unafraid to tell the ugly truth about the many ways in which black people are targeted in this country.

The well paid pundits and black misleaders should be called out if they aren’t willing to speak openly about why Trayvon Martin was killed. If the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement is correct, some 300 black people have died in the same manner since the day Trayvon was killed. Their names need to be known and there should be a frank discussion about why they died. Mealy mouthed platitudes urging us to “talk about race” and silly questions about why black and white people see things differently are an affront to intelligence and to justice.

Trayvon Martin is dead because lynch law still lives. If George Zimmerman is acquitted that simple fact ought to be spoken loudly and often. If it isn’t then the injustice is magnified for Trayvon Martin and the hundreds of other unknown victims.


Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well as at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.

[slimmouse]

I don't think we can say that there was anything right or good about this from top to bottom. It all needs to be confronted.

What say you AD ?

Trayvon Martin is "dead".

Quo Vadis?

Black vs White, Jew vs Muslim, Stupid label vs Stupid label?

OR human vs human ?