"If Zimmerman were black, I doubt the NAACP would have felt the need to issue a statement. I doubt any of the news channels would be interested in this case, just as they ignore the black on black murders and violence that is epidemic in America. This is what it means to be a parent of a young black man in America today: sleepless nights, courtesy of a cocktail of institutional racism, self-inflicted wounds and statistics. Lots and lots of statistics. About the too-high high school dropout rate among black youths, the distressingly high number of black men who are perpetrators -- and victims -- of violent crimes, the disproportionately steep incarceration rates for black men. Those who create our pop culture have learned to monetize that negative image, and some young black men are mesmerized by it, adopting it as their own. As a result, we are all susceptible to the same prejudicial thoughts that led George Zimmerman to view a 17-year-old boy with a hoodie on his head and a bag of candy in his hand as suspicious. After all, if Zimmerman were black, there would not have been a late night press conference afterward. When do you hear public outcry for the lives of young black males taken by other black males in cities such as Chicago, Baltimore and St. Louis? If Zimmerman were black, I doubt the NAACP would have felt the need to issue a statement. I doubt any of the news channels would be interested in this case, just as they ignore the black on black murders and violence that is epidemic in America."
Posted on: Sun, 14 Jul 2013 13:27:38 +0000
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