Neighborhood Watch

This Trayvon Martin situation is the real life example of what I've occasionally talked since I started this blog. What concerns me, however, is how we're reacting to it. I was right there with the public outrage that George Zimmerman wasn't charged. Where I get off the bus, however, is when I start seeing Facebook statuses talking about "White people still think they can kill Black people and get away with it."

I'm ringing the bell and I'm getting off the bus.

I think that's going too far. First off, George Zimmerman isn't White. He's Hispanic. Second, even if he was White, how does the actions of one person directly apply to the entire group? Are we not doing the exact same thing we accuse them of? I think generic hyperbolic statements like that are reckless and insulting to the millions of White people who don't feel that way. Reverse racism really irks the hell out of me. How are we ever going to bridge the gap if we're always pushing people away?

Now don't get it twisted, I don't think things are peachy for us. When I walk out of my apartment I immediately go into Black man mode. I turn on my nonthreatening voice. I take my hat, hood and sunglasses off whenever I go in a store and speak to every clerk I see. I'm careful not to stand too close to the shelves and I don't put my hands in my pockets until I leave. I choose my outfit carefully when walking at night. I keep my hands in plain view the whole time.  If the worst of the worst should happen and I find myself alone at night on the street behind a White woman, I cross to the other side or go another route. Hell, I even keep my Runkeeper app going at night so that I have GPS proof of where the hell I was in real time in case I should fit the description of a suspect.

I shouldn't have to do any of that, but I've always been worried about having my own Trayvon experience. It's a conundrum. I look like the people out there committing the majority of the crime in this city. Hell, I get scared when I see a dude in a hoodie coming my direction at night. I've been robbed a few times and each time they were wearing hoodies, so that's become the official uniform of the criminal underworld as far as I'm concerned. Not all dogs bite, but I still get scared if I see a rottweiler. But the fact that George Zimmerman chased down the person he was supposedly afraid of tells me that Trayvon could've been wearing a suit and tie and he still might have shot him.