#zimmermantrial: The Persistent Devaluation of Black Bodies

Last updated on: July 16, 2013 at 8:50 am by Andre E. Johnson

#zimmermantrial: The Persistent Devaluation of Black Bodies 2013-07-16T08:50:00-05:00 Andre E. Johnson

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by Kimberly Peeler-Ringer
R3 Contributor

The trial of George Zimmerman and its subsequent verdict have morphed into a type of post-traumatic stress trigger for me. My first experience with this kind of violence occurred growing up in Buffalo, New York when Black men were being targeted by Joseph Christopher, also known as the “.22 Caliber Killer.” He randomly shot, wounded and killed several Black boys and men because he “hated niggers.” (His words.) I vividly remember the mindset that these young men must have done something to participate in their own demise. I remember it because my cousin was one of his victims. Although I can’t say I was surprised by the verdict, it hurt me like Trayvon Martin was kinfolk. And it especially hurt because we’ve been here too many times before. Emmitt Till. James Chaney. Michael Griffith. Yusuf Hawkins. James Byrd. Eleanor Bumpers. Oscar Grant. Amadou Ahmed Diallo. Orlando Barlow. Tyrone Brown. Sean Bell. And now, Trayvon Martin.

The name of Trayvon Martin becomes the latest one etched upon a monument of Black lives ended because they were perceived as dangerous. It is important to note that these names represent just a small sampling of victimswe actually know about. There are countless Black men, women and children who were removed from this earth because of the fear of and de-valuation of Black bodies. Black lives ended because of the need to control, regulate and act upon Black bodies. Black lives ended because of the erroneous perception that the actions of a Black person are indicative of the behavior of allBlack persons. This is not the first time we’ve encountered the trope of the angry, bestial, menacing Black man. It’s been used to feed fantasies, reinforce sexual stereotypes, sway voters, sway potential jurors, and sway public opinion.

The narrative of the scary Black man has been used over and over again to deflect and distort the actions of the guilty. Remember Charles Stuart? He killed his pregnant wife in Boston and said a Black man did it. Police had a Black man in custody in no time. They stood in front of media microphones and gleefully recounted how the suspect confessed to the crime. And then Charles Stuart’s brother came forward and told the truth: his brother killed his wife. I have often wondered what has become of the man who was falsely arrested, and what would have happened to him had the Stuart brother not come forward. Let’s not forget Susan Smith, a young mother who explained her missing children’s absence as a carjacking gone badly. She claimed a Black man stole her car with her two little boys still in the back seat. Turns out she drowned her own children by leaving them strapped in their car seats and allowing her car to roll down a pier in South Carolina. And who could forget the cat daddy of all criminal cases that plucked and jangled our racial nerves: the O.J. Simpson trial. Remember how people assumed Simpson was acquitted because more than half of the jurors were African Americans? And what about how Simpson’s image was significantly darkened on magazinecovers?

The erroneous presumption that all Black people act the same plus the ingrained fear of Black bodies blends into an ugly concoction that stifles the ability to see Black people as victims. The shooting of Trayvon Martin, like the .22 Caliber Killer murders, caused many a parent of color to once again have “the talk” with their children. That talk, the talk when Black parents have to interrupt their children’s innocence with cold hard facts about what little value some people will place on their lives. When you are a Black teenager, learning to drive takes on an entirely new context. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard my father say something like this to my brother: “If you get pulled over by the police, make sure you let them see your hands. Do NOT get smart with them. Answer all their questions in a calm voice, and do not let them see you angry. And for the love of Jesus memorize their badge number.”

My mother spoke to us of this as “priority citizenship,” like riding in an airplane where some passengers are seated in first class and most are seated in coach. You may be sharing the same space, but the needs of the first class passengers are the priority. It is a fine line to walk, having to parent children in ways that recognize and affirm their worth while simultaneously making them aware that there are people in the world who won’t see anything but a threat to their safety when they see Black and Brown bodies.

In his documentary Bowling for Columbine, filmmaker Michael Moore addressed this fear of Black men and how it gets embedded in American culture. The trial of George Zimmerman has been a painful reminder that this fear of Black bodies has not gone anywhere, and that this fear is life threatening. This fear is real, and this fear motivates prejudice. Prejudice is simply to pre-judge someone or something. An example of this is blending all persons of a particular ethnicity into a single entity who think and act alike. Like perhaps seeing a Black teenager wearing a hoodie in the rain and assuming that because he is breathing, he is up to no good. You don’t see this person as a citizen e

ntitled to the same rights and privileges you are, you see him as a Black body in need of containment, a problem that needs to be dealt with. Prejudice invites you to size up this teenager, and make judgments about this teenager, not based on fact, but based solely upon your fears. Prejudice’s ugly cousin is racism. Racism is a bit different than prejudice. They both involve pre-judgment, but racism has power behind it. Racism can motivate the creation of laws that justify killing people based on something arbitrary like the perception of impending harm—whether that threat is real or imagined. Racism allows you to impose your will upon that which you fear without any pesky penalties to worry about.

When you are not feared, you can lose your temper in public. When you are feared, displaying the slightest bit of indignation even when you are being racially profiled can get you killed. And when a worst-case scenario plays itself out, don’t you dare get upset about it. Just suck it up and keep the peace. It sounds ridiculous until you re-read the list of names above. And it all boils down to this: until there is a meaningful effort BY EVERYONE to place value upon the lives of Black and Brown men, women, and children, the list of names I mentioned above will keep getting longer.

Follow Kimberly on Twitter @kpringer

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