Stop pretending racism is confined to Florida

[RevStPatrick]

22. My wife cancelled her trip to Florida this weekend...

She was going to some kind of reunion, and decided to stay home.
Overall it cost her about $300 to cancel, and she is fine with that.

The last time she was there was a month or so after the shooting happened, and she got into a couple of very uncomfortable conversations with people. She has been upset about the whole thing, and the verdict just made her never want to step foot in the state that she grew up in ever again. She said that one conversation with one person who is a "Zimmerman supporter" (which is likely to happen) will ruin whatever fun she has the rest of the time.

It's a visceral thing. Kinda like my mom, who was arrested and jailed during the 1968 Chicago convention, has never been back to Chicago. In fact a couple of years ago, we were traveling somewhere together, and had to make a connecting flight at O'Hare. She realized that that was the first time she had been anywhere near Chi-town in about 40 years. It brought back a flood of negative memories, and she said "c'mon, let's find our gate and get out of here."

It's a visceral thing. Humans do that. Sweetie and I live in NYC and know young men who've had to deal with Stop and Frisk their entire lives. We know damn well that our home has some terrible racial problems, and that no place is immune to racism.

It's a visceral thing, exactly like what you are doing with this OP. It's a way of venting like how you are venting. And I think that's OK. And I think it's OK to say "let's pick one place as a symbol and try to do something about it." Start in one place and maybe other places will follow.

Personally, I don't think that a "boycott" of Florida is going to affect a single thing in the short run. Maybe it will in the long run, maybe not. Maybe like with Arizona and immigration, it will get the conversation moving along more, maybe it won't make a damn bit of difference.

This country is pretty fucked up right now, and I don't think there are too many people who are "blaming it on Florida alone." Yes, it's an easy target at the moment and a scapegoat. It's a symbol. Sometimes people need symbols. Sometimes symbols become icons, and icons beget change. At some point, the focus will move elsewhere. Maybe the next incident will be the thing that finally gets things moving in the right direction. Maybe it will be the incident after that.

Maybe never...