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| He's dead because he wasn't seen as a human being Photo via Hollywood Reporter |
I am not a white person. I am a human being. The more people start thinking like that, the better off we all become.I came under a bit of fire for that because of the first sentence. It appeared as if I denied that the phenomenon of white privilege exists. Yes, it's true that Zimmerman would not be considered white by most people, but at the same time, he's been adopted by white people who seemed to revel in the attitude that Trayvon Martin had it coming. I fully believe that it exists. I fully believe that as a white, straight, male, I'm beneficiary of that white privilege, even though I'll never be accepted into the "gold club" because I'm neither rich nor outwardly Christian. I still have a leg up on most other Americans.
— Gozer Pyle (@tholzerman) July 14, 2013
The message I wanted to relay was not to renounce my "whiteness" or my privilege, but to try and spread an attitude that everyone is a human being, regardless of race, creed, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. Trayvon Martin shouldn't be dead right now, and I'd argue that he wouldn't be dead if he were white. I find it hard to believe that Zimmerman targeted Martin based on anything but perception of race. It's a sad fact that there are many people out there who see young black males as "thugs" without any second look just because of their attire. Skin color plus hoodie plus baggy pants with underwear showing plus anything else that's considered "hood" wear is a deadly combination.
But what if Zimmerman saw him as a human being instead of a black kid? Would Martin still have been alive? Would Zimmerman have pursued him even after 911 dispatchers told him not to? There was no reason to pick a fight with Martin at all. That's what Zimmerman did, ostensibly because of the societal viewpoint held by armed cowards in neighborhood watches that black is bad, especially if they're dressed "black."
Even now, I see a second problem with my own original statement. I can tell everyone I know that we should all strip ourselves of visual trappings and look at everyone as human beings, but my message will not reach the people who need to see it. Those people, the ones with all the money and all the power, will wish to cling to their own material goods and treat rights as if they're a scarce resource rather than an abstract thing that everyone is entitled to. They're the ones who continue to deny homosexuals their right to marriage, who wish to ban tampons ahead of guns in the Texas Legislature Gallery, who would gut the Voting Rights Amendment and allow corrupt and racist poll workers to enforce inherently unfair identification laws, who want to tie welfare rights to school grades, and who defend "Stand Your Ground" laws, even for gutless lowlives like George Zimmerman, who neither stood his ground nor defended himself against Martin.
That is why things like feminism, the NAACP, ACLU, Anti-Defamation League, Planned Parenthood, and any other movement or organization that aids the fight for minorities need to exist. We can't be equal just because a rich white dude appointed by George W. Bush says so. Equality comes with work, and we haven't done enough work yet.
But, the message in that original tweet remains solid and standing. I implore each and every one of you who reads this, if you take one thing away from it, to treat everyone like they were a friend or relative of yours. Strip away preconceived notions that you get from stereotypes and treat everyone like a human being. Give them the same treatment until they give you a reason to distrust them. If everyone did that, maybe this world would be a better place. But at the same time, I fully admit that's a hard thing to attain. That's why we must keep fighting.