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Why Trayvon Martin's Death is Different
I've read a lot of people asking why there is so much outrage over the killing of Trayvon Martin. Let's ignore the racists who have come out of the woods for this. Sadly I've seen some of that potent vile stuff rear it's ugly face even on my Facebook news feed. I don't want to talk about that. I'm talking about the people who ask why other deaths don't bring national media attention. I find the question perplexing because the answer is so obvious. Forget the racial bias of that question too. Forget that you'll never hear that complaint about missing white woman syndrome. It's much simpler than that. In all of these other horrible awful deaths that Trayvon Martin's is outshining, law enforcement has a suspect, has arrested someone, has convicted someone, or is looking for someone. And you can be sure that when law enforcement across the country finds the person they are looking for they'll run them through the system faster than you can say "you have the right to remain silent." In Trayvon Martin's case, everyone in the world knows who killed him. They have a motive, a murder weapon, and a confession. They even had the guy, George Zimmerman, in custody. And the cops let that guy go. That's why it's outrageous. There could be more to the case. Tried or not, convicted or not, there's a slim chance Zimmerman could be innocent. But don't tell me the fact that he wasn't charged shouldn't raise eyebrows. If Trayvon Martin had "stood his ground" do you think he would have been charged?

For the sake of argument I've been ignoring the racial aspect of the case. But there is obviously a racial aspect to the case. Without it Trayvon would probably be buried without any attention, like he was part of some no knock raid gone wrong. Juan Williams saw this framing of the case and asked why the black community doesn't march for all the black on black violence. Juan Williams is a personal favorite of mine. I used to see him back in the day when I would watch Fox News. He was always the token liberal who would never defend his position against a barage of right-wing opinions. He was a punching bag like Alan Colmes, but not smart enough to get out (and get a couple of parting shots in) like Colmes did. I'm so glad that he's kind of switched sides. I love watching conservatives hold him up as some sort of free thinker. He is, and always has been, awful. Anyway, Ta-Nehisi Coates easily debunks Williams' claim, showing that black on black violence is a concern. Hell, it looks like people have put so much effort into stopping it that they made a movie about it. Williams and people making similar arguments would know that if they took a minute to think and look.
 
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