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Originally Posted by Flames Fan, Ph.D.
Ta-Nehisi Coates's blog has had a series of great little posts about this incident. There is some interesting history of race relations in the area, so as always, these tensions run deep.
From my view, the act of shooting Martin was an example of Zimmerman's lack of respect for human life, not an example of his racism. However, the assumptions Zimmerman made regarding Martin prior to engaging him in the confrontation were undeniably race-based. |
Probably, and I don't know Florida well. I do have to say that there are neighborhoods around here that are completely segregated. Before I moved out to a little more normalcy in the suburbs, I lived in a nice, but not fancy older neighborhood. It was 100% white. 2 blocks down, there was another neighborhood, a very rough neighborhood that was 100% black. Every kid in that neighborhood went to the crappy public school. In my neighbourhood, the kids either go to private school or you move to the suburbs. Kids in the other neighborhood shoot each other often and it is not uncommon for shootings to occur while the kids are getting off school buses. It sucks its that way. There are plenty of black families in the suburbs and other areas that are integrated. In parts of the city though, it is 100% segregated.
While we lived there, we had a female, black cop knock on our door said that there was a lot of gang activity heating up in the other neighborhood, and told us that if we see someone who "doesn't belong " to call the police right away. Is that racial profiling? Sure. But race is a factor that can't be ignored.
It brings up a lot of interesting moral dilemmas. I was born and raised in Canada, grew up pretty much ignoring race and calling racism evil. But it is not always easy to judge others when the situation is so different. Does it make the black schools crappier when the weller off white people don't send their kids there? Yes. Do I feel bad about not sending my kids there and contributing to the problem? Yep. Am I going to make a stand and send my kids to a school that pretty much sucks, where they'd be about the only white kids, and it is not safe? No way.
These are just the situations and considerations you have to consider here. Gated communities are not common here, so I've never lived in one, but I know that in Florida they are hard to avoid in the decent school districts. You don't always have a choice where you are going to live. If you have a good job and don't want to leave, you look for a house in a safe neighborhood, good schools and good commute. If gated communities are the only choice, then you do what you do.
I am totally against shooting the guy by the way, and think that the guy should be in jail. But some of the judgements in this thread are a little off base when you don't know how different things are here. Also, much of the segregation in some of these areas is not about white people keeping the blacks out. It is by both races choice really.