People
are murdered all the time. Particularly in America. Most of you would of heard
of Trayvon Martin and as a new fan of the Global Mail I read an excellent
article regarding his shooting. I think what made it so controversial, the
reason his death was different to the other hundred deaths, wasn't because he
was black, black people are murdered all the time, it wasn't because he was 17,
young black people are almost excepted to have untimely deaths, it
was because Trayvon was murdered by a white neighborhood watch
volunteer. The shooter wasn't a police officer, he wasn't another black guy, he was a run-of-the-mill white
guy who thought he had the right because he had a gun permit. It really got me
thinking, is racism really dead? Was this a hate crime or was it in fact self defence?
Does society sometimes jump the gun in pointing the racist finger or was the shooting in fact justified?
I watched the Hunger Games the other day and a
particular scene caught my attention. If you haven't seen it, stop reading now,
spoiler alert. When the young black girl dies (who didn't see that coming,
seriously people) there is outrage from her "district". People start
throwing chairs, guards get attacked, sporadic fires suddenly ignite, it's
dramatic stuff and do you know the first thing I thought? "This is a bit
racist, isn't it?" See, the people from her district, the only ones in the
film that make this barbaric coup, were black people. Why did I think that? In a
bid to become more accepting of multiculturalism have I lost a sense of
rationality? When I read the article about Trayvon I was outraged at the seemingly
obvious and blatantly racist hate crime inflicted on this young man, was it
fair? I didn’t hear the shooters perspective, I only read that he alleged it
was self defence but instantly discounted it. Maybe I should start thinking
about all perspectives of a story, not just the perspective that I want to see.
I still think what the guy did was wrong. Just because I see his perspective, doesn’t
mean it changes my opinion. Take away the fact that one was black and one was
white, fact of the matter is, a 28-year-old man gunned down an unarmed 17-year-old boy and wasn’t charged. The fact Trayvon was black, is rather irrelevant when you
look at it that way.
Article I read on the Global Mail:
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