George Zimmerman’s acquittal for the second degree murder of Trayvon Martin sends the worst possible message to a country already awash in negative racial stereotypes and polarizing rhetoric about guns, crime and the criminal justice system.
It gives suburban guys with guns a license to view any young man of color, no matter how blameless, as a potential criminal who can be chased down and killed with impunity. And it tells young black men they have no protection of any kind – not on the streets, not in their own neighborhoods, not from the police or the courts, not when they are minding their own business as they head home with the groceries and not even when they have been gunned down by a confessed killer.
There’s nothing new about black families fearing for their teenage sons when they go out after dark. The only thing truly different about Trayvon Martin’s killing was that it seemed so despicable it promised to be a turning point — what President Obama likes to call a teachable moment.
A teachable moment?
And, for a while, it was. We examined the deadly record of “stand your ground” gun laws pushed by the National Rifle Association and the American Legislative Exchange Council in Florida and almost two dozen other states. We talked about the scapegoating of young black men and the need to ensure that the criminal justice system works for all Americans. And we started to reevaluate some of the stereotypes and false assumptions perpetuated by the media that lead to such scapegoating in the first place.
Sadly, Zimmerman’s trial and acquittal have put all those debates into reverse gear, vindicating those who want to blame the victim and find fault with Trayvon Martin for his own death.
We need to do far more than condemn what I see as a poor trial outcome, and what I would also characterize as a botched investigation. We need to repeal laws that leave room for juries to justify and exculpate citizen vigilantes. We need to stand up to lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association and the American Legislative Exchange Council that promote laws that hurt our communities. We need to encourage the Justice Department as it dives deeper into its investigation into the killing and considers federal charges against Zimmerman for violating Martin’s civil rights.
Changing culture, fighting for our rights
Perhaps most importantly, we need to change the culture. It cannot be that an unarmed teenager in a hoodie is more threatening to the average American than an angry, profanity-spewing man with a gun who I believe could not take advice from a police dispatcher, even though he disputed this during his defense.
At ColorOfChange.org, we know the media bears substantial responsibility for reinforcing and amplifying unfounded perceptions of Black men and boys as dangerous threats, and we’re urging the media to take the lead in correcting them. Stand your ground laws may embolden citizen vigilantes and provide them with legal protection, but it is the media that prompts them to see enemies and threats where none may exist. Bernie de la Rionda, the lead prosecutor in the Zimmerman trial, had it right when he said Zimmerman made a number of false assumptions about his target, and that those assumptions were responsible for causing Martin’s death.
Clearly, we have a long way to go to change those assumptions. The struggle will not be easy or short, but we are working from an easily graspable basic principle: that we all deserve to be protected from harm, by the police and the criminal justice system and also by our communities. We know now that Florida could not protect Trayvon Martin, or hold the man who killed him accountable. How much longer will black families have to live in fear?
Rashad Robinson serves as Executive Director of ColorOfChange, having joined the organization in May 2011.