Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Zimmerman: Tired of Hearing His Name Yet?

Zimmerman. That name is very well known these days. It's associated with racism, murder, riots, justice, self defense...
Last night, a Facebook friend of mine posted a status that got a lot of attention and had me ranting a bit, as well. Apparently there is a video of Black Panther members threatening Zimmerman's life, which upset my friend. He believes that Treyvon Martin was killed in self defense.
And then there are those who don't. Many believe that Zimmerman murdered Martin simply because Martin was black. And here we are, back to square one.
There's no black and white here (no pun intended), but I believe that today, white people always have to be afraid that something they do or don't do is going to be considered racist or discriminatory.
There's affirmative action, Miss Black America, BET, Black History Month (which is American history)... I'm okay with this (with the exception of affirmative action, which I completely disagree with), but would it be okay to have a Miss White America? A White History Month? Absolutely not. Those involved would have their pants sued off their backsides and chances are, their great grandchildren would pay for it too, just as we pay for the fact that our white ancestors used black people as slaves 150 years ago.
Today, when a white person kills a black person, it's racism. But if a black person kills a white person, it's simply a random act of violence. Fifty years ago it was the other way around. It's not the fault of this generation of white people that black people were slaves or had to sit on the back of the bus or weren't allowed to go to college. It sucks that it happened and I don't agree with it on any level. But it's also not my fault that it happened simply because I am white.
We're all human beings whether we're black, white, red or otherwise. Let's move on and practice what we preach when asking for equal rights. Let's embrace each other as friends and neighbors. Who gives a damn if I'm white and you're black?
I am white. I don't hate you or think of you any differently simply because your skin is darker than mine. I don't think I'm any better than you are simply because your ancestors were slaves to white people.
So please, stop thinking that white people owe black people something because white people made black people suffer in the past. And stop thinking that black people are beneath white people because George Washington used black people as slaves.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I hate that they made it a black white thing to begin with when Zimmerman is a Latino! Hello people open your eyes! Don't be sheep!