The Assassination of Trayvon Martin: A Victim of A.R.T. Descriptors

Polarizing racial events often capture this Nation’s attention. Often reminding us of U.S.’s deep dark racist secrets and continually making it evident that race still matters in the age of post-racial propaganda. Case and point: Trayvon Martin; A seventeen year old black male racially profiled, harassed, and gun down in Sanford, Florida while walking home. Black males have often been the victims of physical violence and death at the hands of whites because we are Black men. Racial profiling is not a new occurrence for Black communities. As Strange Fruit, populating southern trees we are all too familiar with racial profiling. Now it is either “driving while black” or “walking while Black,” we have been the targets of this nation’s mismanaged racial policies. George Zimmerman simply joins the list of terrorist who have troubled our existence and our desire to be both Black and American. Zimmerman’s assassination of Trayvon is a reenactment of the senseless violence and lynchings that have plagued the history of Black males on this continent.

Who are we to really blame for the Zimmermans of the America. Unfortunately, desegregation has only addressed some of the structural inequalities that were remnants of slavery and Jim Crow segregation. It did not address the ideological issues that prevail in the minds of Zimmermans who fail to evolve beyond their racist beliefs and stereotypes about Blacks. To them, we are racially profiled as either ATHLETES, RAPPERS, and/or THUGS (A.R.T Black male dominant descriptors). Each semester, I encounter cognitive dissonance when I stand in front of a class of predominantly white students who have framed black males using these A.R.T. descriptors. Their gaze alerts me to how they are struggling to disarm the racial filters they have constructed through, inappropriate socialization, limited racial interaction, and mis-education.

Trayvon unfortunately fit the description of a Thug to George Zimmerman. Therefore, while we are celebrating March Madness and cheering for teams comprised predominantly of Black male ATHLETES (who are generating millions of dollars for predominantly white institutions), PLEASE remember Trayvon Martin: a victim of A.R.T descriptors. We can never erase our racist past, but we can work to prevent a racist future for the future generations of Trayvon Martins by stopping the reproduction of Zimmermanites!