Discussions around the Zimmerman case appear to be thus: Zimmerman is racist against African Americans and this is yet another case of racial profiling, Zimmerman was simply an overly zealous wannabe cop who got carried away with the idea of carrying out justice, or Zimmerman was just waiting to attack someone and Trayvon happened to be in the vicinity. Some conclusions are more erroneous than others, but the overall reaction of the public seems to agree that Zimmerman should not have "got off."
In an effort to keep race out of the courtroom, the case was repeatedly brought back to the facts. A person is hard-put to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the incident occurred merely because of Trayvon's race. Racial profiling is an issue, don't get me wrong, and one that needs to be dealt with, but when dealing with a case such as this, which involves a civilian taking the law into his own hands, it is difficult to argue that the system is at fault. This seems to be a case of an individual's lapse in judgment.
Individual racism is a different thing from institutional racism. Both exist. Both are atrocious. Both are natural human tendencies. But individual racism is between two parties, and needs to be dealt with on that level. You can try to change the individual's mind with persuasive, anti-racist arguments, but you cannot force them not to be racist. Socially, you can discourage racist actions by punishing ones of a criminal nature, but as I said before, you may still be hard-put to prove that someone acted from racist motives unless the individual professed that he did.
Institutional racism, on the other hand, has to do not with individuals but with a system in which a person is living.
Imagine there were some ponies and horses living together in a pen. Imagine the owner started feeding the ponies better food, and occasionally letting them graze in a nicer part of the farm. Further imagine that because the ponies were getting a better brand of food (Pony-Delight instead of Pony-Feed, if you will), the horses were now given less food (of the same Horse-Sense Feed). Then the owner said he would give better food to all the ponies and horses who ran the fastest and learned all the ricks he wanted them to. What follows is that the ponies have an unfair advantage of having better food and can now run faster than the horses, who have been weakened by their slim diet. That is institutional racism, Charlie Brown. That is to say, so far as my understanding of it goes.
As a Christian, I am convicted that institutional racism is an injustice that needs to be addressed. Throughout the Old Testament God demonstrates He wants those who follow Him to look after those who could be neglected in society, such as widows and aliens. Jesus advocated caring for the poor, and not discriminating against those who were from other races (such as Samaritans). Not just to be nice, because Jesus wasn't just a "nice guy." It was to carry out the second greatest commandment he gave, to love others as ourselves.
Sooo, back to racism. I honestly don't think individual racism can be eliminated. Ever. Because I believe human beings are naturally sinful, and historically racism is a sin that has continued to recur- whether between Eastern and Western societies, between Native Americans and settlers, and between African Americans and Caucasians. I say "between," because a racist mindset is often present in those being oppressed as well. The real problem lies in the system. We need to stop focusing on cases like that of Zimmerman and Trayvon, and instead think about why institutional racism exists. When we get to the why (who the horse owner is and what his motivation is), only then will we be able to move forward.
As a side note, I am not condoning Zimmerman's actions. But there were so many disparities in the accounts of the witnesses and not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it was not self-defense. I would not want anyone to be locked away on only what seems to be true from an outside perspective.
No comments:
Post a Comment