Pitting minorities against one another: Zimmerman is half-Peruvian & speaks Spanish

There is *nothing* in this post to distract from the KILLING of Trayvon MARTIN. But from the beginning the label of "White" was put on the shooter and there is another thread on this page pointing out that Wingnut gun nuts are "throwing Zimmerman under the bus to save the Stand Your Ground" thing. Also, as is quoted in this o.p.'s link, the shooter's being part of a minority group does not exclude racism as a *possible* factor.

There was a comment somewhere about ZIMMERMAN's being called "White," "Do they call President OBAMA 'White'?"

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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017819414_zimmerman23.html

Originally published Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 10:05 PM
[font size=5] Florida shooter George Zimmerman not easily pigeonholed[/font]

By Manuel Roig-Franzia, Tom Jackman and Darryl Fears
The Washington Post

.... Why are they calling him white, wondered Paul Ebert, the Prince William County commonwealth's attorney who knew Zimmerman's mother, Gladys, from her days as an interpreter at the county courthouse. Zimmerman's mother, Ebert knew, was Peruvian, and he thought of her as Hispanic. ....

"You have people with Anglo first and last names who speak perfect Spanish and are from Puerto Rico. And you've got a third- or fourth-generation Joey Gonzalez from Tampa who can't speak a word of Spanish." ....

"Who is Hispanic and who's not is not as clear as other ethnic groups," said Martinez-Fernandez. "There's no such thing as a Hispanic race. It has to do with origin, culture and race. Some people argue that language should be a part. All this complicates identity." ....

"There's a sense that one group has been harmed historically more than the other," Martinez-Fernandez said. "There's been [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]a history of the dominant group in power pitting one group against the other[/FONT]. I think we have not fought together. There have been few instances of that."



Post staff writers Brady Dennis, Sari Horowitz and Jeremy Borden contributed to this report. Material from The Orlando Sentinel is included in this report.


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