Jay G. on Zimmerman Trial

Jay G. hits one out of the park today.  Go read the whole thing.

Of particular interest to me is his discussion of "the talk" fathers have with their sons.  People think "the talk" is something only black fathers give to their black sons which, according to my roommate, should include a bunch about racial inequities, white privilege etc. etc.

My father had the talk with me, and I don't recall him driving the point home that some people will treat me with derision because of my skin color.  I had to learn that sad reality on my own.  No.  The talk was about respect, how to act, how to respond to police / authority (even if they're wrong) and generally how to stay the hell out of trouble.

I've spent my whole life engaging in conflict avoidance.  I'm not one to have frequent moments of macho bravado where I need to prove my manhood. I've had people get in my face, provoke me, threaten me, say nasty shit about me, and even strike me and I've never felt compelled to just pounce and pummel someone.  Somehow I've lived my whole life so far without engaging in predatory violence.  For all you racists out there, the difference is upbringing and culture, NOT inherent traits.  Black men are not inherently more violent or more prone to violence simply because they are black men.  Hearing that disgusts me to no end.  I've heard it from my own part-black roommate, that they are inherently more violent and aggresive than other races and therefore perhaps we should deny them 2nd Amendment rights.  I was floored by that statement from a black man.

 I was taught to respect women, and to stand up for them.  I was taught that you can stand up for yourself and be a good man without throwing down and throwing haymakers at anyone who catches your ire or "disrespects" you.

The "gangsta" culture Trayvon was a part of teaches entirely different lessons.  You can cry racism all you like, but this cultural difference is a serious problem, particularly among some black, urban youth.  It colors how they act, react, how and when they consider violence appropriate, and how cheaply they view their own lives and the lives of others.  Couple the influence of that culture, a broken home life and the general impulsive nature of teenage boys and it's not hard to see why Martin didn't just run the ~70 yards home in the several minutes he had to do so.

Martin was a lost youth.  He was going down the path of thuggery and violence that claims far, far to many young black men. Drinking "sizzup" posing with guns and bundles of jewelry, apparent homophobia etc. etc.  This was not some innocent young flower with tea and skittles.  This was a strong young man whose mother had sent him to live elsewhere because she couldn't control him.  This was a young man who, according to his friend, was the only one to make overtly racist statements.  This was a young man who had a serious problem with fighting and had been given a 10 day suspension.  When I was in HS you had to do a lot to warrant a 10 day suspension.Thank you violent gangsta rapper culture.  Money, guns, drugs, hoes, and wanton violence as a means of gaining and maintaining "respect" all combined with a lack of parenting and no positive male role model.......and we wonder why the Trayvon's of the world end up the way they do.  He chose the wrong victim to assault and is dead because of it.  You want truth?  Had he chose to engage in the same actions against an inner city black drug dealer he'd be just as dead and you and I wouldn't even know his name.

If I were black I would NOT be Trayvon, because I have an entirely different set of morals and values.  When a community as a whole fails young blacks this is what you get.  That is NOT to say that you can paint any young black man with the same broad brush.  I would be the first to call people who do so genuinely racist.  However, to ignore that it is a problem and in fact the central problem, one that heavily influenced Martin's actions and death, is the true travesty here.

Zimmerman and his family on the other hand had a history of mentoring, taking in, and standing up for black youth.  Nothing in his background would indicate that he's a racist.  Quite the opposite in fact, yet the narrative is that he's an evil racist who hunted down a poor black boy.  He helped mentor black children, and continued to do so after funding for the program ran out.  His family helped raise black children who spent yearly every day with him.  Nothing in his prior time doing neighborhood watch points to racism.  In short, there's not a shred of evidence in his background to indicate racism against blacks.  It's been proven the racist utterances on the 911 tapes were in fact not.  A "white hispanic" killed a "young black"  In the eyes of some this is proof positive of Zimmerman's racism.

Now, the claim of the NAACP and others is that "These punks, they always get away" is racist and racial code.  Now me, being a reasonable man, when I use the word "punks" I'm referring to thugs, criminals, those up to no good, without reference to any one skin color.  A thug is a thug, black, white, hispanic or asian. a punk is a punk, black, white, hispanic or asian.  In point of fact the only racial epithet utttered in this conflict was an overtly racist statement by Martin, not Zimmerman. To read racism into "These punks, they always get away." is, in a word, insane. 

It wasn't the legal system that failed Trayvon Martin.  It was culture.  A culture that contributes to the murder of thousands of Trayvon Martin's every single year.  Martin supporters are engraged at racism, declaring it "open season on young blacks" by this mythical, dangerous creature known as the "White Hispanic with a CCW permit." In all of society CCW holders are among the least likely to murder or prey upon others.

 Truth is a young black man is far more likely to be gunned down by a fellow black who is carrying illegally.   An inconvenient truth for some to realize, but truth nonetheless. It's insane for the left to be claiming that It's "open season on young black men to be hunted down by whites with guns."  Nowhere in this country is there an epidemic of this occurring, and there hasn't been for many decades.  A white / white hispanic CCW holder presents such a low risk of harm to the average black man as to be statistically insignificant.  By and large blacks murder other blacks and whites murder other whites.  The only key difference is that Blacks do so at exponentially higher rates, and that black on white murder occurs at a significantly higher rate than white on black murder.

Perhaps, if they were willing to put aside all the needless racial emotion and be introspective they might gain perspective and hone in on real problems.  They would rather scream about racial injustice to the rest of America than face the inconvenient truth about what's happening in their own communities, where several Trayvon's are senselessly murdered by other young blacks.  

I fear we will never see that occur, just like we will never see President Obama come out and admonish the young blacks who are predominantly attacking non-whites in these "knockout games" and the "flash mobs" before that.  We will never have an "honest discussion" because race hustling only works one way, and the race hustlers, particularly those on the left, are not interested in honesty nor discussion.