It is open season on young, black men in America.
At least that’s how millions of blacks at home, along with several black legal analysts on CNN, felt after yet another grown white man avoids being convicted of murder for the cold-blooded killing of yet another unarmed black teen male.
But the real question is this: what is the common denominator in the Michael Dunn and George Zimmerman murder trials, excluding the obvious racial composition of the shooters and gunshot victims?
- Both extremely inflammatory cases involved white men initiating verbal or physical contact with young black males who were minding their own business before they were killed at point blank range;
- Both episodes of perceived “murder” could have been easily avoided had the white males retreated or used common sense;
- Both case involved with aggressive — even arrogant — white men who quickly changed from being the aggressors to acting like victims;
- Both cases involved white men who used maximum force when they initially had an array other options they could have employed to either avoid or diffuse the situations;
- Both cases involved the criminalization of innocent, unarmed teens who were shot dead;
- Both case involved white men who were able to employ the power of persuasion to get the jury to believe their story, with little effective countering because the witnesses who could have testified against them are … well … dead. It’s a practice that the Mafia has long ago perfected. You can’t get convicted if the witness is taken off the planet.
- And both cases involved white men who were not convicted for killing young black males;
Even seasoned, grizzled legal practitioners of color were reduced to tears and quivering voices because the devastating outcome has wide sweeping ramifications, and none of them positive for the most feared and vilified demographic in America: young, virile black men. White people in the Stand Your Ground states only need to find a jury of their peers — mainly other white people — to absolve themselves of gunning down young black men with impunity. Only the flimsiest, thinnest excuse or rationale is required for the shooting. Another jury has made other Caucasians instantly believe that they can, too, arm themselves with a half-believable concoctions of being fearful of their lives before they pump a black man full of lead.
Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Travyon Martin’s parents in the George Zimmerman murder trial in Jul 2013, said point blank what many African Americans feel: that black lives, particularly young black males, are devalued, and the bar to justify killing them has gotten ridiculously low, Jim Crowism low.
“It’s getting to the point where if a black man blinks, white people can say there were in fear of their lives” and shoot and get away with it, Crump added.
No need to slice off black men’s genitals anymore and put it in a jar to place on your mantel piece. That’s too much work. Just shoot them. Worry about perfecting the excuse later.
In this case, Dunn said he felt threatened by a gun that no one ever saw and the police never recovered to help bolster his justification for nearly emptying his clip into a vehicle at random. He said Jordan Davis was out of the car, but when questioned admitted that the door was only cracked open with his leg out. Dunn then sits in jail and pens a rabidly racist letter about his hatred of black men and the extreme steps that need to be taken to get them into compliance with his standard of behavior. And this was after he told his girlfriend that he hated that “thug” music as he pulled up beside their vehicle. And still, some jurors believed he was acting in self defense and was justified in his Clint Eastwood-style of street justice.
Nothing about his defense was believable or made sense. Yet he got off of the 1st and 2nd degree murder charges.
Then you add Trayvon Martin’s killing with the transit officer who shot the Bay Area BART subway rider in the back after he was lying in a prone position with his hand cuffed behind his back (which became the inspiration for the Michael B. Jordan movie Fruitvale Station). Then add dozens of dubious, highly-questionable cases of white male shooters of young black males nationwide, with most of them getting off lightly if not completely, and the American system of jurisprudence has created a toxic atmosphere for black men who now feel they cannot defend themselves against dastardly white men who will shoot to kill at the slightest provocation — or, as in the case of the murdered father in Texas, white men don’t even need to be provoked to commit, and then get away with, murder. Hey, his ear is cut off and his jugular vein was severed, but let’s just say he killed himself.
This hung jury emboldens right-wing racists, kooks and the sociopaths who believe can even admit they harbor racial animus against black people before they pull the trigger knowing that prejudiced whites on the jury will get them off, regardless of the circumstances or the excuses. Worse, white men feel confident that they can even start the conflict — as Zimmerman and Dunn demonstrated — then wind up killing black kids and still be at home for dinner, unless you want order takeout food instead. Heck, he doesn’t even have to bother to report the shooting and killing at all.
Yes, the jury convicted Dunn of three counts of attempted murder and one count of shooting into a vehicle. You could’t possibly justify that under any circumstances. I guess Jordan Davis’ family should feel lucky and grateful for that much, huh?
Funny how no one in black America is feeling very lucky right now. Or valued. Or safe.
