@revelette,
Quote:On the issue of racism it seems there is a new (maybe not so new) way for racist to get away with it by blaming the victim of racism of race baiting for talking of racism.
I think in the case of Obama, there are people who have never been happy with the fact that our President is black because they were biased to begin with. So when he reminds everyone he is black, by commenting on his own experiences and feelings, as he did with Trayvon Martin, he kicks up a lot of dust, on all sides, because he is seen as supportive of the black community, lending legitimacy to their grievances, and helping to empower them.
A lot of people in this country, who don't consider themselves racially biased, really don't want to see blacks politically and socially empowered, with the capacity to effectively organize and control policy and decisions. As long as they remain an underclass, still dependent on the help and assistance of the white power structure, that's fine. But anyone who gives voice to the black community's dissatisfaction with that position of inequity, soon faces accusations of "race-baiting". Why? Because whites prefer to see issues of race in this country still kept in the closet, denied, ignored, and swept under the rug. "Race-baiting" is the epithet hurled at those who demand an open discussion of race, who call for change, who tap into already existing conflicts and dissatisfactions, and who disturb the fantasy that all is well and harmonious in our great country.
Those who feel no compunctions about attacking the ones they see as black "race-baiters", generally exercise selective perception, and ignore the pernicious race-baiters on the right--the Tea Party types, the ones who want to "take back our country", meaning they will cling to notions of white (generally male) supremacy, and their guns, until someone pries both from their cold dead hands, because they panic at the idea that whites are slowly losing their majority status in America and they can sense the ground crumbling under their feet. That's who was out in Arizona yesterday, telling the President of the United States, "go back where you came from," referring to his skin color, and denying the legitimacy of his Christian beliefs by calling him a Muslim. It would be an affront to our nation if our President was treated so disrespectfully elsewhere in the world, that it happens on our home turf, is an out-and-out disgrace. It exposes the very real racial divide that no one has to manufacture, because it's already there.
There is no doubt that the Zimmerman case hit a racial nerve in this country. Those who say there are no racial aspects to it, including those saying it in this thread, are ironically doing the most to show just how much about race it has been, and still is--by constantly and systematically trying to excuse or deny racial profiling, and then, rather paradoxically, by trashing the victim with every negative racial stereotype they could possibly ascribe to a young black male, with almost complete disregard for reality, and the totality of the circumstances that led to his death.
If victim-bashing, and victim-blame have to be employed this to this extent, so this victim is seen as solely responsible for his own death, then these people really don't believe George Zimmerman--they feel compelled to bolster his questionable account with fantasy embellishments of his victim to make a supposedly stronger case for his possibly unjustified shooting of that victim. That is not the legal case for Zimmerman that was actually made at his trial, or the reason he was acquitted by the jurors, it is an expression of racial bias on the part of these posters, and this case provides an excuse for its expression.
These same victim-bashers and victim-blamers fear the potency of Trayvon Martin as a symbol to energize and mobilize the black community, which adds to their zeal in trying to discredit the character and memory of this young person. Their efforts won't work--this sort of race-baiting, which is what it is, will help to solidify the black community even more because it shows them the racially biased forces they are up against, and it gives them renewed energy to push back against them. Trayvon Martin will continue to be a symbol of the cry for justice, and the need for change, long after George Zimmerman fades into oblivion and resumes the nonentity status he held before he became known for the dubious notoriety of killing someone.
