I watched the President's Trayvon Martin remarks. I also saw the large amount of vitriol directed at the President on the social media. So, I wrote this response on my personal blog; the idea is that the President was NOT acting as a scold nor was he attacking anyone.
More below the fold...
I saw a huge amount of vitriol directed toward the President about the remarks he made about the Zimmerman trial and the reaction to it.
Now I know some aren't going to like anything he says. That is just how it goes; some of my liberal friends were that way about President Bush. And some people are just plain racist in the extreme. NOT everyone, and not even most and (probably) not even you, but some. (I say "probably" because, on rare occasion, I've had genuine neo-nazis visit.) That is just how it goes too. I am not addressing these people either.
But to those who aren't extreme racists and to those who have an open mind, I'll present the following:
I've been through the "sensitivity training" and while sometimes it is good, more often than not I sat there listening to some windbag moralize from the podium, presumably from a position of moral authority. I've heard the "YOU ARE GUILTY OF....(insert "ism de jour" here)...and have seen the finger wagging."
That is NOT what I am attempting to do here.
I have no more moral authority than anyone else; I am an imperfect human being who, at times, have let my prejudices get the better of me. I won't list all of them, but they include some things like regional prejudice, cultural prejudices and other things.
And I can say this: when it came to the so-called "women's issues", all too many times, when I heard "your experiences aren't a woman's experiences are", I tended to roll my eyes and think that they were making a big deal out of nothing. After all, I didn't do X, Y or Z.
But I missed the point: the point wasn't to make me "feel ashamed to be a man", or to "feel guilt" for anything except for my own behaviors. The point was to gain a perspective from someone whose life experiences were different than mine. And yes, sometimes those who felt compelled to "deliver this education" appeared to want to first establish a position of moral superiority and self righteousness and no, I did NOT go along with that part.
But gradually, as I listened to more women speak, I found that someone who was side by side with me for a long time may have actually been picking up on different signals that I did and with good reason.
I wasn't and never will be a woman, so I'll never see things the way that a woman sees them.
But I can listen and attempt to understand.
But it took me time; I had to get over the feeling of "being attacked".
And so it is with the President's talk. He was NOT attacking anyone; he was attempting to explain the pain and angst that many African Americans felt about the trial and the outcome. This was NOT: "if you ware white, you suck". It was more of: "this is how many people felt about this".
This was not: "Trayvon Martin was an angel who always acted optimally". Yes, some Martin supporters seem to act that way, but no, this young man wasn't that. Then again neither was I and neither are many (most?) teenage boys, especially the kind of guy I hung with (football players, wrestlers, etc.)
This was merely an attempt to explain to a large section of the country how a significant minority of the country felt, and to give some insight as to why they felt that way.
The President acknowledged why it would be tempting to profile black males (they cause more violence on a per capita basis) and yes, a black male is more at risk from being killed by another black male than anyone else. The President boldly acknowledged that too.
This was NOT a "PC-whitewash". This wasn't a scolding either.
If you are skeptical that many people were in anguish about the verdict, and if you are not black, I invite you to talk to your black friends about this, and spend time listening.
If you don't, you might consider making some black friends, at least on twitter or on the internet.
Again, this is not an attack on you at all; this is a merely a plea to "imagine yourself in the other person's shoes".
You can watch the talk (17 minutes) and read the text here.