What is implicit about all this talk of that poor baby boy Trayvon Martin is white America's belief about Black men. The sentences that have yet to escape any white man's lips but it on the tip of his tongue and radiating from his dome is: Why didn't Trayvon just assent to white male authority? Who did this child think he was talking back to a white male authority figure? Do as you're told, boy.
When are we going to have frank discussion of race in this country? I mean, when are we really going to get really real? I want raw, unvarnished truth. Because if we continue to flitter around the edges of this discussion, we will be discussing race for another one hundred years.
Racism in this country has been reduced to name calling and job discrimination. The laws have been changed (not enforce fully) and there is nothing more to do unless we implement some Derrick Bell-esque racial licensing system allowing racist to post a sign and pay a fee to restrict their business or store.
We need to talk about waht's really going on: white supremancy. Yes, white supremacy. Unfortunately, it will be forever linked to neo-Nazis, skinheads, and the KKK. But, the reality--worldwide and especially the USA--is that anyone brown or black is obiltirated so completely, so intensely, and so inconspicuously; the majority is seemingly unaware of it. To arrive at sanity on the other side of constant attack is to wage battle. Black and brown is ugly, stupid, unworthy, unimportant, bothersome and utterly incapable of seeing race impartiality. The brown or black, whether she be a wise Latina, a strong Black Woman, or an ideal Black man, is per se unequal to whiteness of either gender. Whiteness is the norm; and, the brown or black is abnormal...an aberattion. There is a a phsyciatric war waging against the constant barage of being seen as "abnormal."
Let me illustrate: You woke up tomorrow in a different county. Everyone was black. The president and all the elected representatives: black. You turned on the TV and all the commercials featured black actors. All the sitcoms had black characters as well as black storylines, punchlines, and jokes. You went to the local theater and all the movies were romantic comedies with a black male and female leads. All the superhero flicks featured black heroes. There was only one or two of you EVER featured in futuristic sci-fi movies. Every magazine you opened featured black models look like Alek Wek and Tyra Banks. There were no blondes anywhere, in fact it was considered odd and undesirable to have yellow hair. You had to go to a special section in the drug store for shampoo, conditioner, combs and brushes. If you are a woman, there is no make-up that matches your complexion. Foundation color started at Halle Berry and just got darker and darker and that goes for panyhoses as well. You try to find dolls for your little girl that looked like a little “her” but you had to go to three stores to find one. All your X-mas decorations were black: Santa, elves and angels. You attend church and all images of God, saints, prophets and disciples are black. You go to Hallmark to buy a card for your grandmother’s birthday and they only feature wooly-haired, zaftig, dark grandmas wearing brightly colored Kente cloth. As you make your way to your apartment, every billboard is showing a black hand or black foot or black family. Many of the very famous or rich men that look like you have a black wife and never even acknowledge, date, or marry a women that looks like his mother (in fact, sometimes he even disparages and ridicules them). It’s hard to explain to your baby that it’s okay to have thin lips, a thin nose, straight hair and funny colored eyes. All the cartoons are black characters and have black voices and when your kid colors pictures of your family with the crayon marked “nude” invariably everyone is the color of a luscious Hershey’s bar. 90% of the doctors, lawyers, accountants, police officers, insurance agents, politicians, judges, teachers and fire fighters are black. Whenever you lamented about these facts, your friends or colleagues told you “You’re paranoid. I can sort of understand what your talking about."
This physic assualt is unrelenting. It effects every aspect of human activity and it begins before BIRTH.
And, guess what parents of Black and Brown children do to make it out with a semblance of self-esteem, self-worth, and self-love: Black/Brown power. What else can they do? Black people are more compassionate. Brown people see the world more clearly. Black people see the hidden agenda. Black people see the "invisible" slights. Brown people can judge the world as it, not as white supremancy wants to see it. Black and brown experiences of white supremancy make a better person because of the character building through adversity. Black and brown parents are attempting to balance the constant attack. What results? High achieving people that come out with only a partially damaged self esteem.
This is the world that Trayvon Martin was navigating. This is the world that we have left for the children. This is the world that continues to sink into the abyss of denial, narcissism, and arrogance.
Thank every deity that exists that violence against Black/Brown in the country can induce outrage in all races and not just the targeted group. But we cannot continue to ignore this issue. The George Zimmermans of the world will consume us in flames.