The Death Of Trayvon Martin - 1723 Words

About two or three years ago, I joined a couple of my friends from high school to have dinner with our old American history teacher. This is a man we respected as exemplary of good character, an intelligent man who had provoked us those years ago to think critically in new ways about the issues that have shaped our country and the debates that formed our American structures and institutions. The conversation that night, however, felt strangely alien to me despite how predictable it should have been, knowing that I would be reengaging with a conservative evangelical frame of thinking that I had spent years learning to leave behind. My old teacher talked about how when he looks around at the American political climate – the sorts of†¦show more content†¦How can we be making ourselves racist, if â€Å"we† – the enforced fantasies and illusions of our shared national identity – always already have been racist? Yet this sentiment abides among much of p ublic discourse today, that to claim acknowledgment of racial injustice as extant in our institutions and political structures and not only as singular conscious phenomena enacted by especially cruel or misguided individuals is to make America racist again, and nobody of good character or ideals would want that. This Thursday, 5:30pm at the Sheldon Museum of Art, we will welcome Alexandre Da Costa as the third Humanities on the Edge lecturer in a series themed around the question â€Å"Post-Racial Futures?† Da Costa will contribute to this ongoing inquiry with a lecture titled â€Å"Towards a Hemispheric Critique of the Post-racial† which will presumably pick up on a focal theme in his recent research publications, that is, an examination of â€Å"post-racial ideology† in the Americas, through a relational rather than comparative framework, as a â€Å"hegemonic force shaping the simultaneous reality of race, racism, and colonialism alongside their institutional and everyday disavowal† (â€Å"Thinking ‘Post-Racial’ Ideology Transnationally† 476). Da Costa combines an interrogation of post-racial ideology in Brazil with its symmetrical counterpart in America to show how this sort of ideology functions similarly across the Western Hemisphere despi te the singularity of its local inflections due to theShow MoreRelatedThe Acquittal Of George Zimmerman For The Death Of Trayvon Martin1404 Words   |  6 PagesFollowing the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin, Patrisse Cullers retweeted a friend’s Facebook status with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. In collaboration with other friends they shared their experiences and stories on other social media platforms and subsequently created a socio-political campaign. Soon it became a powerful force of hashtag activism that is now an international movement that has more than 26 chapters globally. According to it founders the activist movementRead MoreAnalysis Of George Zimmerman s The Death Of Trayvon Martin Essay1583 Words   |  7 Pageswatchman and self-proclaimed vigilante, was acquitted in the death of Trayvon Martin, a 17 year old black teenager. This was the initial impetus for the Black Lives Matter movement, which first appeared as a hashtag aft er Zimmerman’s acquittal. The movement, which has its roots in social media, has since grown to hold a much larger place in our national conscience. The movement’s place was solidified with its vocal responses subsequent deaths of black men and women in the US, including Michael BrownRead MoreHow Racial Profiling Led to the Death of Trayvon Martin821 Words   |  4 Pagesthis situation isn’t going to end well. Last thing I remember is being shot in my stomach. While I lay in the grass taking my last breaths, all I could think is â€Å"Why me†? Young Trayvon Martin was killed because of racial profiling. Due to the way he was dressed, in all black with a hoodie, he was seen as a threat. Trayvon had no intentions to hurt anyone, he carried no weapon, but just because the way he looked he was murdered. Racial profiling is wrong in many ways. The history of racial profilingRead MoreTrayvon Martin vs George Zimmerman1415 Words   |  6 PagesTrayvon Martin was killed by a neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman. He says that it was self defense, but after the tragic phone call was released to the media everything took a huge turn questioning if it was a hate crime. If Zimmerman would have stayed in his car that night then Trayvon would still be alive. It could not be self-defense if all Travon had in his hand were skittles and some tea. The whole thing blew up right after it was released to the news. Then when it was time for the trialRead MoreBlack Lives Matter Of America Essay1563 Words   |  7 Pagesthis hashtag was soon noticed all over social media platforms, after George Zimmerman was declared â€Å"not guilty† by Florida’s courthouse for the death of African-American teen, Trayvon Martin. A year later, fuel was added to the fire during the summer of 2014 with the death of Michael Brown, which triggered a major anti-cop protest in Ferguson and with the death of Eric Garner; both of these men were killed by a policeman. The Black Lives Matter movement is now known to be a huge social movement thatRead MoreThe Shooting of Trayvon Martin: George Zimmerman Essay1489 Words   |  6 PagesOn the night of his death, February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin was in Sanford, Florida on a visit to his fathers fiancee and her son at The Retreat at Twin Lakes. As Zimmerman noticed him he called the police non-emergency number to report a suspicious person in community, describing Martin as a very suspicious guy reporting that he had his hand in waistband and was walking around looking at homes. Also, Zimmerman is quoted saying that â€Å"he is just walking around looking about in the rain†, and â€Å"ThisRead MoreTrayvon Martin Case Essay1268 Words   |  6 PagesFebruary 26, 2012 marked the day that the innocent minor, Trayvon Martin, was shot to his death in a gated neighborhood in Sanford, Florida. The shooter, George Zimmerman, still has not faced any serious consequence for the murder. Many people in the Sanford community, and even around the country, believe that there is no question that Zimmerman should be convicted and sent to jail, but, unfortunately, it is not up to the people; it is up to the justice system. With the consideration of Florida’sRead MoreXBCOM 275 Debate Paper1638 Words   |  7 Pageskilled 17 year old Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman was the neighborhood watch patrolman and Martin was visiting his father who lived in the gated community where the shooting occurred. Zimmerman called the non-emergency number to report a suspicious male walking in the neighborhood. He was told by the non-emergency dispatcher the police were on the way and to not follow the individual. The police arrived on the scene only to find Trayvon Martin dead on the groundRead MoreTrayvon Martin Pros And Cons992 Words   |  4 Pagesstereotypes. This brings him to the case of the murder of Trayvon Martin and how symbols, connotations, and stereotypes could have been the cause of his death. Campbell’s talk may be interpreted differently by two different audiences such as former President Barack Obama and white feminist activists. Trayvon Martin was a 17 year old, African American high school student visiting his relatives in Sanford, Florida. The events go down as follows. Martin leaves a 7-11 at 6:34 pm. 37 minutes later, ZimmermanRead MoreAfrican Amercans versus the Justice System794 Words   |  4 Pagespeople think you are and what people think you should be. You are held to low expectations and are conjectured to be a statistic. I believe race plays a huge role in our justice system today because in the cases of Emmett Till Rodney King and Trayvon Martin we witness unjust verdicts and broken-hearted families as a result of negligence. I believe the issue would’ve been different if these African American men were Caucasian because the racism in this country is alive and well. In the case