the Murder of Trayvon Martin, and America's Gun Culture

Solidarität, Genossinnen und Genossen

I've been wondering for a while how to write about this- or even if I should.  I'm very conscious of Alcoff's caution against speaking for others- even a well meaning outsider speaking on behalf of an oppressed group, even in the best case scenario, diminishes the attention paid to the legitimate spokespeople of that group.  Nothing I say here changes the fact that I'm white (and of Prussian descent at that)- part of the oppressor class at least as far as race relations go, and that the issues of profiling, lynching, police brutality, and a disparate legal system disproportionately affect African Americans, and are indeed holdovers from Slavery and Jim Crow.  On some level, I am less qualified than a black person to speak about this.  Despite that, I think I ought to say something- a question arises of whether I will do the most harm openly speaking about the suffering of an oppressed group to which I do not belong, or by remaining silent at an important time.  I can't pretend to offer a convincing explanation for this exercise in cultural Imperialism, but I want to talk all the same.

The facts are- an armed man assumed an unarmed black youth was a criminal, and stalked him after police specifically told him not to do so.  A conflict resulted- and the unarmed boy was shot dead.  The killer was exonerated on the grounds that an unarmed teenager posed a threat to his life in the fight that he himself had started.

Several things are fundamentally wrong here- for one it's nigh impossible to see a similar outcomes had the ethnicities of the attacker and victim been reversed, making this another visible symptom of our unequal legal system which harasses, prosecutes, convicts and executes black citizens far more often per capita than whites.  I had the opportunity to speak with a St. Louis Park Ranger about the matter, to which he responded that there's "no such thing as an innocent black man", revealing with horrific clarity the depth of the system's bias against African Americans.  But putting that aside for a moment, as it is conceivable that Zimmerman acted within the bounds of Florida self-defence (yes I prefer British spellings)  law (itself another abomination), we must still focus on the horror of armed vigilantes picking fights with unpopular minorities.  This case seems familiar- the angry, white, madman railing against the scary black criminals who always get away because the police go easy on them...  What planet is he living on?  But because this is America, operating under an outmoded law designed to support the rebellion of the landed aristocracy against civil order which has since been appropriated to expedite the repression and murder of convenient targets, the power of angry racists is serious, no matter how wild their delusions.  (While canvassing for Nixon's gubernatorial bid in 2008-don't ask, I'm already ashamed- I met a fellow who insisted the greatest threat to public order was black families registering their dogs to vote in a mass bid to gain extra leverage over innocent white folks.  No joke- though I grant he did make a pretty good argument for the franchise being restricted, albeit in his case not that of the 15% of the population he labelled as canine co-conspirators).

The fact remains that many relish the thought of using violence against those they hate, and that this attitude is romanticized in many aspects of our culture.  The entire gun control debate is framed around the (!)glorious(!) image of a powerful, armed man shooting those who would do him or "his" women harm.  The last time I mentioned this issue my interlocutor offered this defence of totally unregulated gun ownership- it's better to kill your woman than to let her fall into the hands of a criminal.  Perhaps I'm oversimplifying things, but I think the cult of the weapon is much broader- a cult of "simpler times", when a man would need to have the power to kill those with whom he disagrees, and to maintain a hold over a dutifully adoring wife, who was as much his property as the slaves he'd keep toiling under the lash for personal profit.  Most of those I've met who champion unrestricted weapon ownership are desperately eager for a chance to use weapons to defend themselves against the perceived criminals of their choice.  It's pretty clear Zimmerman was one of these- he kept hanging around the police station, trying again and again to join, then joining some self-important neighborhood watch around a gated community, apparently for an excuse to intimidate and harass black people.  In the weeks following the shooting, policemen began selling portraits of Martin as targets for shooting practice, while unrelated incidents of brutality-like an unarmed couple in Cleveland being shot 137 times, an unarmed vandal being repeatedly tasered to death amid cheers and laughter,- and violence continue pouring in.  The Chief of Police of Gilberton Pennsylvania has summoned a supporting force of Tea Party Militia after the Mayor had the audacity to question his use of his badge in political videos in which he shoots mockups of Minority Leader Pelosi and calls for the murder of all Democrats in the city, (to say nothing of Socialists like yours truly).  We idolize violence, and as a racist country, we encourage race-based violence.

We've got a serious problem with racial discrimination as it is (The Supreme Court's myopia notwithstanding), and gun nuts eager for their chance to fight and kill, living some irresponsible fantasy of suppressing a slave riot on the old plantation are among the ugliest symptoms.  America may not have invented race-based oppression, but we're damned good at it, and at pretending it doesn't exist.  As long as someone's out there yelling for "States Rahts", or "Self Defence", it will always be that much more permissible to kill black people in cold blood.  We always obfuscate the issue, but the underlying pattern is that racist movements enrich militia movements, while militia movements provide insular homes for the honing of racist practice.  What happened in Florida is the necessary outcome of a society that values the freedom to lynch.

In Dejected Solidarität, Genossen und Genossinnen
Genosse Graham