I’ve been sitting in front of the monitor for about fifteen minutes trying to find something cogent and erudite to write about Renisha McBride and I really just can’t come up with anything. Partially it’s because I feel like any attempt to express outrage and shock is, in some way, appropriating the right of response from black people who might want to do so. I know that’s kind of silly in some respects, but it’s how I feel nonetheless; after all, nobody’s ever going to shoot me in the back of the head for being white. I don’t have any particular stakes that I have to worry about.
But nonetheless I think it’s important that I write something, if only because I’m white, and because I didn’t hear about this until the few segments of Black Twitter that I follow exploded over this story (as they were entirely right to do). I think it’s important that white people acknowledge this, and say it’s wrong, and say that laws that allow this to happen are bad laws. I think my friends who are black deserve that from me (and more, although to be honest I don’t know what more could be done in this instance – and it appears, not unfairly, that many black people don’t know what more could be done either, because it seems that regardless of anything else they’re still going to keep getting screwed over by laws and getting shot for no goddamn good reason).
But I think white people need to be reminded of this, every day. And if they whine about how black-on-white crime is never reported as intently or how black people don’t treat black-on-black crime seriously, then they also need to be smacked upside the head at least a little. And so I’m writing a post about a tragedy that should not have happened but did anyway when I don’t really have anything constructive to say about it: because I think it’s important to do that, if nothing else.
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And part of the horror of this situation is that there really is nothing new to be said. It’s the same old story with different players. Somebody was killed for no reason, and that — somehow — is just the world we live in now.
Something I’ve been wondering about in cases like this. I come from a country that, while really racist, has it’s own different racial dynamic and racism to the North American one. And while I’m obviously outraged, is it really appropriate for me to bring along the same sort of White Guilt an American might? Both because of the cultural seperation and because, on some level, it might feel like play acting.
The scary part is, this is probably only the beginning. Thanks to the precedent set by the Trevan Martin verdict, far too many people think that “stand your ground” means “free to do harm to anyone who crosses our path who seems threatening”. And sadly, for far too many people, “seems threatening” often means “has skin of a different colour”.
This is also a problem, a huge one, with the reckless obsession of gun owners to be more aggressive with their “rights” to not only own but USE their guns without any responsibility or respect for the rights of others (there are more non-gun owners than gun owners for God’s sake).
Most of us are people who just want to go on with their lives without getting shot at. F-ck the NRA.
Yeah, the people who complain about black-on-white crime not being reported as “intently” are delusional. It isn’t reported as intently because there is hardly ever reason to be outraged over a lack of prosecution.
If the races were reversed, if George Zimmerman was black and Trayvon Martin was white, Zimmerman would have gone to jail immediately, been prosecuted without need for intense public pressure to do so, and been convicted and given a sentence at the severe end of the spectrum.
If a black homeowner in Detroit shot and killed a 19-year-old white woman who was seeking help after a car crash, they would never be free again.
It’s clear as day: law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, juries, and American society as a whole don’t value the lives of black people as much as they do white people.
@Will-
“Somebody was killed for no reason, and that — somehow — is just the world we live in now.” That’s the world folks have ALWAYS lived in, sorry to say.
It’s not just the precedent of the Martin case, Spruce; in my state, at least, it’s specifically written into the self-defense laws that there doesn’t need to be an actual threat, just the perception of one.
I spent my Halloween on a jury hearing the case of a man who hurt a teenager and claimed self-defense. We acquitted him. The victim wasn’t a good witness–he gave one version of events to the 911 operator, another to the police who responded, and two more to us while on the witness stand, plus his own brother contradicted him on the most important bit (whether or not he’d swung a skateboard at the man’s head before the man threw him to the ground). But even if he’d been beyond reproach, the prosecution still failed to prove that the man didn’t perceive that he was in danger.
The problem therein… is with the perception and with the fact that there is no ‘reasonable standard’.
I am certain, when this case eventually gets to trial the defense will hang everything on the homeowner being nervous with the stranger on their porch, and just accidentally the gun went off.
That he didn’t call the police immediately post shooting? Ignored.
That he could have called the police before / instead of going to the door? Ignored.
The fact that apparently the Detroit police initially lied, telling her family that she’d been killed and dropped in a different section of town? Terrifyingly, WTFingly, Ignored.
Whether it’s a black / white thing, or a gun owner jumping to shooting someone far too quickly and needlessly thing, it’s still a ridiculous condemnation of our culture right now.
MGK, thank you for posting about this. I obviously am not the Speaker for All Black People, but in my opinion, I don’t think you need to feel like your emotional reaction or decision to make a post about this event is somehow equivalent to barging in and taking ownership of an issue that does not affect you. In other words, don’t feel like you’re whitesplaining or anything.
You and I are both members of a site (that I won’t name here) where a few too many folks seem to feel that the only thing “allies” of minorities, women, LGBT and various frequently-othered groups should do is sit there meekly and silently. I feel like I want my allies out there walking and struggling and speaking with me, so, again, thanks for this post.
And as others have mentioned, this is a sadly old story and one that won’t be disappearing anytime soon. After the Zimmerman verdict, a young black man tweeted, “How many times do we have to be told we ain’t shit? We get the fucking message.” Looks like the man who killed this young woman and the authorities in Detroit both felt the need to tell him, me, and our black friends and family members one more time.
.
Three nights ago someone was tapping quietly on my front door at about 1AM. As soon as I turned on a light they stopped and presumably left the premises. I’m not ashamed to say I was terrified and that I might very well have shot the fuck of out whoever it was if I owned a gun. It may very well have been someone in need of assistance or it may have been the start of a really bad episode of CSI, I don’t know, but I’m just as glad I didn’t get killed as I am glad that I didn’t kill somebody. Terror is a hard thing to be objective about.
People have been “complaining” about black on white being underreported because the people who were upset about Trayvon Martin included Obama, Al Sharpton and other liberals. Many people’s identities are so consumed with opposing them, that they have to oppose the very notion of being upset by Trayvon Martin’s death. “Oh yeah? Well Sharpton’s the real racist for never throwing a rally against inner-city black-on-black crime (Doesn’t spend 30 seconds on Google to verify this*)” is basically a way to fight against your political opponent while not sinking to overt racism.
Yeah, I guess by being the first person to bring up partisan politics in this thread, I’m basically what I just complained about 🙁
Anyway, I grew up in a very white suburb of Detroit with next to no crime. Still, we obviously had kids who got suspended for fights, got caught with drugs, had hoodies and tattoos, listened to ganster rap and death metal, would have had dumb Facebook profiles with gang signs if it hadn’t still been college-only, and all the other stuff that Trayvon allegedly did that showed that he was a rabid dog that needed to be put down. I wasn’t friends with them. A lot of them picked on me and I hated them! But neither I nor anyone else advocated shooting them! Hell, because I’m white, the fact that I did NOT get in fights with them is brought up in discussions about the “wussification of America!”
Racism isn’t about hating all black people because they’re black. It’s about judging one more harshly based on the same thing.
*This search is tougher nowadays now, due to having to wade through the recent explosion of articles bemoaning the lack of rallies against inner city black-on-black violence.
I think that my issue is that crimes of this nature seem to only get widespread play (media-wise) when there are different races involved. My cynical side sees it as a fairly cheap ploy to drum up viewership and create a lasting scandal ripe for coverage. It’s one of the contributors (by no means the largest) to media being flat-out awful in the U.S., IMO.
As for this story, it is a tragedy. I’m just hoping that folks can prevent themselves from making the “black victim + white assailant = HAD to be a case of a white dude wanting to kill a black person” association until it can be proven that such an association SHOULD be made.
“MGK, thank you for posting about this. I obviously am not the Speaker for All Black People, but in my opinion, I don’t think you need to feel like your emotional reaction or decision to make a post about this event is somehow equivalent to barging in and taking ownership of an issue that does not affect you. In other words, don’t feel like you’re whitesplaining or anything.”
You’ve touched on an important point here: regardless of race, creed, or color, we’re all people. People react to situations in various ways. If you’re disheartened/disappointed/saddened by this news, I’d say that is a perfectly rational and understandable response.
There’s already more than enough emphasis on color and/or race. We don’t need to delineate emotional response along race lines, IMO.