(no subject)

[muckefuck]

Tonight I watched the Iranian movie جدایی نادر از سیمین‎ (A Separation). Extremely well done, but extremely depressing. To unwind afterwards so I could sleep, I folded some laundry, did some dishes, and then--as long as I was upstairs--I stopped and logged onto Facebook.

That was a mistake.

I'm too cynical to be surprised by the Zimmerman verdict. But I had held out hope that the manslaughter charge would stick. I thought perhaps--even in central Florida--we'd come that far as a people. Nope.

I'm going to go play with my dictionaries now.

Comments

[bunj.livejournal.com]

Considering the injuries to the back of Zimmermann's head, I'm not surprised there was an acquittal. Unfortunately, we only have his version of events, and one can certainly argue that getting your head banged into a sidewalk is enough to make one fearful for one's life. What led up to that moment is another matter, but, again we only have Zimmermann's word for it. As for whether he targeted Martin because he was a kid in a hoodie or a black kid in a hoodie, that's also something Zimmermann only knows.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think Ta-Nehisi Coates has summed up the dilemma pretty succinctly: "In trying to assess the the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, two seemingly conflicted truths emerge for me. The first is that based on the case presented by the state, and based on Florida law, George Zimmerman should not have been convicted of second degree murder or manslaughter. The second is that the killing of Trayvon Martin is a profound injustice."

[bunj.livejournal.com]

The article is good, but I think it breaks down in the second half: it seems to me that the real takeaway here is that the Florida "stand your ground" law is a bad law (something people have been saying since the incident). Yes, people on the internet have been saying terrible and untrue things about Martin, but they've also been saying terrible and untrue things about Zimmermann. And the shooting mentioned at the end of the article is both tenuously connected and unlikely to end in an acquittal.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

See, this implies that simply repealing stand your ground will fix the problem, but Coates' point is that the law is only surface expression of a much deeper issue. To quote Bell Hooks (All about love, 2001):

White supremacy has taught him that all people of color are threats irrespective of their behavior. Capitalism has taught him that, at all costs, his property can and must be protected. Patriarchy has taught him that his masculinity has to be proved by the willingness to conquer fear through aggression; that it would be unmanly to ask questions before taking action. Mass media then brings us the news of this in a newspeak manner that sounds almost jocular and celebratory, as though no tragedy has happened, as though the sacrifice of a young life was necessary to uphold property values and white patriarchal honor. Viewers are encouraged to feel sympathy for the white male home owner who made a mistake. The fact that this mistake led to the violent death of an innocent young man does not register; the narrative is worded in a manner that encourages viewers to identify with the one who made the mistake by doing what we are led to feel we might all do to “protect our property at all costs from any sense of perceived threat."

Stand your ground is just the logical outcome when the people with this sort of view of the world continue to make the laws.