The Devaluation Of Black Life

March 21st, 2012 by Guest Contributor

This worry-less behavior is unearthing some Jim Crow-like vigilante energy, and I am genuinely afraid for Black and Brown youth. This country has vilified young men of color so heavily that just existing makes them dangerous and threatening. Some say you can’t put value on life, but the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Emmett Till and so many other innocent young men of color says otherwise.

Take a minute and sign this petition calling for the arrest and conviction of Trayvon Martin’s killer who is still safe in his home and share it widely. We should all feel personally charged to acknowledge the racial politics involved in his murder and to spread awareness about it.

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Posted in activism, black, legal issues, privilege, racism | 11 comments

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  • k.eli

    Given recent events in our country, it’s obvious to me that the honor of a white woman (re: Sandra Fluke) still has more value in our society than the life of a black male. After nearly a month, the major networks (minus Fox News, of course) are finally starting to give this story major coverage but I still feel they’re treating it as an exception to the rule when it’s sadly the norm. The networks are so afraid to acknowledge the elephant in the room that they’ll grasp for any other plausible reason – “this wouldn’t have happened without the Stand Your Ground Law …” Yes, it would and yes it does all over this country. People need to stop all this post-racial/colorblind society nonsense and start acknowledging that too many black men and boys have died and continue to die due to racist-driven hatred. But what else can you expect from a society that constantly depicts black males in such exclusively-negative ways? Once people have been conditioned to not recognize the humanity in others, they’ve essentially been conditioned to justify their demise. 

  • Anonymous

    Everything about this case makes me sick. Zimmerman didn’t see Trayvon as a young man, still legally a child, buying candy for his little brother. He saw him as a dangerous “other” who must surely be committing a crime because he is Black and male. One of the grossest things about this whole mess is Zimmerman’s father claiming his son can’t be racist because “he has Black friends” and Latino family members. When will people realize that having friends from a persecuted race doesn’t give you a “Get Out of Racism Free” card?

  • Rebecca A

    Why aren’t black boys and girls getting coverage when white kids will get literally months of coverage for being gone? They are all children! Raped, abused, and lost children! People make me sick.

  • http://twitter.com/vnk01 Vitjitua Ndjiharine

    What makes me so sad about all of this is that Martin was shot just yards away from his home, a scared harmless boy trying to get home, and the guy who shot him was not even supposed to carry a gun! Its a slap in face to black people everywhere, this guy did not even get charged with a measly reckless endangerment charge, or even charged for possession of a gun, nothing! The police did not even bother to make it look like they were investigating I mean seriously, they are pissing on us without even the courtesy of calling it rain…

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/XZCOUVFYOUAOFO2VOXS3E66DHQ ShoniquaD

    Thank you so much for this essay! Spreading awareness is so important and you present compelling issues. Black folks are so dehumanized in our culture–so demonized in the American imagination–we are rendered invisible. WE ALL need to embrace a critical consciousness and unlearn white supremacy, like yesterday!, because as k.eli articulates: we do not live in a post-racist society!

  • http://twitter.com/TheSuperAmanda Super Amanda

     I completely agree.  One needs to look like Barbie or Bieber  in order to get any attention as a kidnap victim.  The same week Polly Klass was found dead in Sonoma County another Sonoma County child victim of kidnapping and murder , a Black girl,  was buried ( I sadly cannot find her name in Google to even give her an identity, but I recall Tom Waits, a long time SoCo resident went to the funeral to pay his respects) and she attracted almost ZERO media attention. And while it is true and inexcusable that few hate crimes against whites are ever widely reported ,  nowhere in the entire world could a Black self appointed neighborhood watch vigilante shoot a white teenager with no criminal record dead and with no witnesses walk away scot free. It has never happened yet if there had been no protest over Trayvon Martin it would have faded away unnoticed. Absolutely sick.

  • Jay

    I’m from the bay area, and I remember the black girl who was killed that week too. I don’t remember her name either, which is upsetting to me, but I vividly remember her face on the news. I was just a kid myself when those murders happened, the same age as Polly Klaas. That was the first time I noticed how the white victim received so much more attention. It was frightening for me as a child, knowing that not only could children like me be the victim of murder, but at the same time finding out the harsh truth that some children’s lives are more valued than others. It made me feel sick then, and it still does today.

  • Jay

    I’m from the bay area, and I remember the black girl who was killed that week too. I don’t remember her name either, which is upsetting to me, but I vividly remember her face on the news. I was just a kid myself when those murders happened, the same age as Polly Klaas. That was the first time I noticed how the white victim received so much more attention. It was frightening for me as a child, knowing that not only could children like me be the victim of murder, but at the same time finding out the harsh truth that some children’s lives are more valued than others. It made me feel sick then, and it still does today.

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