"A maladjusted, Negro man-child, (who) could kill an armed man with his bare hands. He had to die."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 8:44 AM 14:57:42 GMT-0700
The “Trayvon Martin had it coming” narrative

Black men are treated as menaces every day. At 17, Trayvon may have done what most of us know we can't: Confront it

By Kai Wright, Colorlines.com



Trayvon Martin had it coming, or so we will soon be led to believe. The surely unattractive details of his short life as a black man in America will tumble forward—his troubles in school, the weed baggie that got him suspended, the altercation in which police and George Zimmerman claim he was the aggressor. He was a maladjusted, Negro man-child, so ferocious he could kill an armed man with his bare hands. He had to die.

On Monday, local law enforcement offered a preview of this old, familiar narrative when someone leaked Zimmerman’s account of the night to the Orlando Sentinel. According to the Sentinel, Zimmerman had given up his hunt of Martin and was returning to his SUV when the 17-year-old caught him by surprise. Do you have a problem, Martin is said to have asked, before answering for himself, “Well, you do now.” He reportedly began pummelling Zimmerman, leading the armed man to shoot and kill.

Sadly, it’s necessary to point out that there isn’t an imaginable scenario in which an armed man can shoot an unarmed child to death and it be okay. But set that obvious fact to the side. Trayvon Martin did in fact have it coming. He was born black and male in the United States and was thus marked for death. The cruelness of our economy and of our criminal justice system isn’t reserved for men or for black people. But there is a particularly gendered and particularly racist way in which black men are set upon in this country, most acutely those who don’t have the resources to push back. And it has a very long, still relevant history.

For the entirety of American history—from the first African captured and enslaved to the moment Geraldo Rivera opened his mouth to pimp Martin’s death for ratings—black men have been relentlessly caricatured as menaces to society. We were dangerous, so chattel slavery was necessary, and a nation’s wealth was born. We are still dangerous, so a police state is necessary in black neighborhoods all over this country, and the wealth of a prison-industrial complex flourishes. This is what Trayvon Martin’s murder is about. It’s not about his high school suspension. It’s not about his hoodie. It’s not even about Florida’s Kill at Will law, at least not at root. It’s about the enduring, dark fantasies to which America still clings, in order to justify a society in which more black men are locked up or on parole today than were enslaved in 1850—to pick just one of many indicators of the scale at which black men are battered. But we’re menaces; we’ve got it coming.

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/27/the_trayvon_martin_had_it_coming_narrative/

[noiretextatique]

1. sadly...it is true

the racists are all over the internet saying as much. he had it coming because he was black and male, and therefore suspect. such it the mindset of many americans...sad, but true.

[LaydeeBug]

3. Oh, don't forget the hoodie. He was black, male and wearing a HOODIE. He had it comin' nt

[Pachamama]

2. Sad summary of the truth....and add to that how many white men since the beginning of time were

....threatened by the stronger built and well-endowed Black man.....talk about that threatening their virility and why they must remain enslaved and controlled....Because Gawd forbid any of us white girls liked them better.....

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Absolutely true. I'm saddened by the fact that America can't

seem to out grow this.

[libodem]

5. I am heartbroken for Trayvon's mother

I've cried a little every day for her since this happened.

I hope for justice to ease her pain and suffering.