"If Trayvon Had Only Answered In an Appropriate Manner There Would have Been No Problem"

[loyalsister]

257. Bigots truly believe this kind of crap

Springsteen did a good job explaining it to people willing to listen.

"On these streets Charles, you've got to understand the rules.
If an officer stops you, promise me you'll always be polite.
And that you'll never ever run away and keep your hands in sight."

'You can get killed just for livin' in your American skin."

White people don't have to tell their kids such things.
The guy on AC was talking about a belief in a natural authority that should have been respected. Whether he held that perspective or not, I don't know.

It's pretty clear that Zimmerman is a racist SOB who believed he was a cop. That does not automatically put the burden on the shoulders of Trayvon legally or by any natural order. Nothing does. But, it did put Trayvon at an unknown greater risk than an average white kid would ever have to consider.

The idea that Trayvon should have been more respectful of a white guy understood from the perspective of a person who believes it to be a true and natural state of affairs is part of some people's belief systems. These are belief systems that many white people deny exist.

Parents of children of color still have to react. Some feel they need to teach their kids that bigoted people who could be willing to kill them exist. And that it could be people they least expect to turn on them that way.

These reports make me angry because they have potential to communicate something of value, but they leave out the important part. White people, myself included, need to take responsibility for at least knowing and caring that there is something very wrong with the difference in what citizenship means in this country.