Trayvon's Death

Trayvon Martin is a teenager that lives in Florida that got killed on February 26, 2012, by George Zimmerman. Everybody has heard about this case, it’s a big controversy involving the murder of Trayvon Martin. People have suspected that his killer, George Zimmerman, killed him for no reason, because he was unarmed. It’s sparking up thoughts of it being a racist act committed by George Zimmerman.

                Trayvon Martin is 17 years old and was on his way home from the convenient store after purchasing some skittles and an Arizona tea. As George says, Trayvon looked like a suspicious person lurking the streets so he calls 911 to report the suspicious act. In the phone call he reports what he sees and requested to have a police officer come to the scene. He hangs up the phone and 911 received another call from a neighbor that they hear someone outside screaming. Many audio experts say they recognize the screaming in the background of the call, they believe the screaming was Trayvon’s voice, but some claim that it’s also George’s voice also. The neighbor says it sounded like someone was screaming for help. When the officer arrived on the scene George Zimmerman claims that he shot Trayvon in self-defense. Many people claim that it’s a racist act against Trayvon all he was doing was walking home and talking on the phone with his girlfriend after going to the convenient store. Trayvon was unarmed it was like George was racial profiling him and thought he was suspicious just because he was black. Nobody is being charged for the murder of Trayvon Martin, because it is believed that he was killed in self-defense. George Zimmerman claims that he was injured when fighting with Trayvon, but he made it back to the police station in a fast amount of time. If he was that severely hurt he wouldn’t have been so quick to make it to the police station.  He would’ve had no time before reaching the station to receive a medical examination.

                It doesn’t help each media station puts their own perspective on this situation. Each station has a different view, for example, some believe that it was murder and a racist act while others really believe George and think he killed Trayvon in self-defense. It’s hard to decide who to believe, because you never get all the facts in the media. They like to manipulate things to get the attention of the viewers to keep watching and most people will believe what the media provides for them. If you can’t believe the news, how can you know what is really going on in the world?

                This controversy reminds me of an article that I read about from Peggy MacIntosh called, “White Privilege and Male Privilege”. I think that the police officer believed what George Zimmerman had to say, because he was male and he was white. He gets more privileges than Trayvon could ever receive, because Trayvon is not white. White men are over privileged by our society. Many people don’t see the aspects of this, but it is true.  It’s an unearned privilege that you receive without even being aware of it.  In the article, “Defining Racism: Can We Talk?” by Beverley Daniels Tatum talks about cultural racism. What cultural racism is when cultural images and messages that affirm the assumed superiority of whites and assumed inferiority of people of color. The police believed everything George said and he isn’t getting charged for murder. I think this brings up the case of cultural racism. The police just believed him, because there was no witness for this act. I think that if it was in reverse order and Trayvon killed George; Trayvon would be arrested for the murder of George.

                I think this news about Trayvon has some things related to what we have learned in this class, because people of color understand the oppression that women also receive. We learned that people profile and don’t even realize it, as it states in Beverly Tatum’s article. She says we stereotype without even realizing it because it’s what we think is right from years of people teaching us the wrong things about life.  It’s a sad story that a young man of only 17 had to die for people to realize that there still is racism.

References

McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege and Male Privilege”. Women’s Feminist Voices Visions Classic and Contemporaty Readings 5^th edition. Pg. 75-82.

Tatum, Beverley. “Define Racism: Can We Talk?”.

CNN Wirestaff.(2012, April 2). Who screams on 911 Call in Trayvon Martin Case? CNN Justice. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/02/justice/florida-teen-shooting/index.html?hpt=us_c1