Leaving aside that Zimmerman’s Mother is from Peru and he has probably never a day in his life considered himself “white” – whatever that is anyway. What IS white? My great-grandparents: Italian, French, Italian, Russian Jewish, Scotch, Irish, English, Norwegian. I answer Other on race surveys because I don’t know what white means.
And that the Zimmerman/Martin case has become THE DIALOG on race in this country is tremendously sad. Zimmerman may have overstepped his bounds. He was scared, he did flip out…but he is not a cold-blooded hitman. He was full-mounted and pinned by someone stronger and more athletic than he and his head was being pounded into the pavement. Dire straits. He made a tragic decision that ended in taking Martin’s life.
If Martin was my son, I would want Zimmerman dead. If Zimmerman was my brother, I would want him alive and to do what he needed to in an effort to stay alive. Any perception outside of his immediate family and friends are just opinions being formed independently by us based on preconceived notions and media spin.
And now they arguing about whether he should be able to carry his gun. Please. Maybe he should not have been on neighborhood watch with a hand cannon, his response whether justified or not was clearly extreme, so that argument can be made. But now? Um, yeah, masses within the nation want him dead. Yep, probably gonna keep his piece around. You think taking his ONE pistol will prevent those who would like to take a shot at him from obtaining weapons? The arguably millions of people that see him as devil incarnate currently?
Or maybe that’s the point – let him become a sacrifice to the cause? Maybe he can be mowed down, conveniently unarmed after the courts strip his weapon, so the argument can be made for looser gun control laws? Don’t underestimate the connections between things.
Moving on, during a smoke break in East Village NYC around 3am, I watched an 18-20 year old “black” male walk across the street, address a “white” couple walking towards us 25 feet away…an interaction of less than 15 seconds, he pulled a pistol and shot the man in the face and sprinted down the street as the man’s girlfriend descended into shrieking screams. So WHAT?!? You think that is a comment on all black teens or all white couples? Um, no.
In neither case is this making a comment on race as a whole – or the feelings among us, between us. That said the stats show increased prevalence of violent crimes by “minorities” compared to people answering “white” on race surveys – so to all parties involved arguing that the white people are the great villains in 2013 is absurd.
So let’s leave the stats alone and focus on living together. Becoming color blind is realizing that the distances within our circles are far greater than the distances between them. Race is irrelevant. Socio-economic class, financial stability – these in fact are all that matters. Those without this stability and what they perceive as no manner in which to rectify the situation (arguments can be made that such opportunities exist, right or wrong) – but the PERCEPTION that there is no other way…this is what drives people to violent crimes of this ilk, or abuse of the gov subsidy systems, or robberies, panhandling, etc – blue, purple, black, white or otherwise.
Does there need to be RACE DIALOG in this country? No, there does not. Race is stupid. We need to have a HATE DIALOG. And there is a LOT of hatred on all sides and from all colors. And that is sad. One love.