The Politics of Black Masculinity
The Op-Ed columnist Charles M. Blow on the difficulty of explaining the Zimmerman verdict to his sons.
By Christopher Cascarano on
July 15, 2013.When we stand mute in any public social or community discourse that affects us all, then by default we are complicit in the inequities which in quiet company we claim to abhor. How then should our children mirror us if we show two faces?
The upset over the verdict represents the upset over the very fact that this lack of impartiality seems to affect the lives of black men in this country differently and seriously so, than it does others. To not recognize that is naive at best. Sadly there seems to be either a road to death or a death sentence depending on which side of the gun they stand. Had there been a role reversal here as the only changed variable, keeping all other ridiculous details in tact - most feel fairly confident that if Martin was the shooter he would have been convicted...as an adult no less. It is this pessimistic yet confident view - surpassing doubt which would be sad enough - that creates the upset here, for it is unfortunately caused by an inability to suspend (racial) judgment in our society and thus prevents impartiality in any (racial) response. And so, these results keep repeating, as quiet confirmation of a system that the majority claims unable to do nothing about. It is actually in this context that Mr. James Baldwin wrote a searing examination of the Atlanta Child Murder Investigations in his book The Evidence of Things Not Seen, questioning our justice system, the manner of investigations, and further, the application of law in the quest for them to equally and patently serve us all.
All the reaction and rhetoric flying around regarding the 'Not Guilty' verdict for Zimmerman, and perceived lack of justice for Trayvon Martin, and what this means to young black men in America made me think immediately of a debate I watched earlier this year between William F. Buckley and James Baldwin in Cambridge 1965. They were answering the question:
"Is the American Dream at the expense of the Negro?"
- Buckley for 'No' and Baldwin arguing 'Yes'.
Both erudite, both keen in the structure of their arguments, but one clamors for creative dismissal that these days falls flat, while the other pulls from experiential accounts, winning over the Cambridge students then - and unfortunately, over time, still rings true today. It is, among many of his other genius observations of America's failure to provide an experience of equality, the most complete and relevant response to the matter of race and how mythologically prejudicial perceptions continue to endanger all our citizens.
Both erudite, both keen in the structure of their arguments, but one clamors for creative dismissal that these days falls flat, while the other pulls from experiential accounts, winning over the Cambridge students then - and unfortunately, over time, still rings true today. It is, among many of his other genius observations of America's failure to provide an experience of equality, the most complete and relevant response to the matter of race and how mythologically prejudicial perceptions continue to endanger all our citizens.
