Racism as a story of fear

[sheshe2]

By now a pattern has emerged in the stories we've heard about the shooting of unarmed black men/boys. Whether its George Zimmerman, Michael Dunn or Officer Darren Wilson - all have claimed that they fired shots in self-defense because they feared for their lives. If we give them the benefit of the doubt and accept that this was their motivation, the question remains whether or not that fear was justified by the actions of their victims.

That's what makes the shooting of Levar Jones by state trooper Sean Groubert an important piece in this puzzle, even though Jones survived. Groubert is also basing his defense on the idea that he feared for his life. But we have videotape evidence of the events provided by the officer's dash cam.

Here is the story Groubert tells his supervisor about what happened.

I pulled him over for a seat belt violation. Before I could even get out of my car he jumped out, stared at me, and as I jumped out of my car and identified myself, as I approached him, he jumped headfirst into his car. I started retracting back towards the rear of his vehicle, telling him, 'Look, get out of the car, let me see your hands.' He jumped out of the car. I saw something black in his hands. I ran to the other side of the car, yelling at him, and he kept coming towards me. Apparently it was his wallet.

But what he is, is a citizen of a country where the fear of black men is downright viral. That doesn’t mean he burns crosses on the weekend. It means he’s watched television, seen a movie, used a computer, read a newspaper or magazine. It means he is alive and aware in a nation where one is taught from birth that thug equals black, suspect equals black, danger equals black.

Thus has it been since the days of chains, since the days of lynch law, since the days newspapers routinely ran headlines like “Helpless Co-Ed Ravished by Black Brute.” It is the water we drink and the air we breathe,, a perception out of all proportion to any objective reality, yet it infiltrates the collective subconscious to such an unholy degree that even black men fear black men.

The Groubert video offers an unusually stark image of that fear in action. Viewing it, it seems clear the trooper is not reacting to anything Jones does. In a very real sense, he doesn’t even see him. No, he is reacting to a primal fear of what Jones is, to outsized expectations of what Jones might do, to terrors buried so deep in his breast, he probably doesn’t even know they’re there.

You almost feel sorry for Groubert, his life in ruins for a crime he probably can’t even explain to himself. But let us also spare some empathy for Jones, for Trayvon Martin, for Oscar Grant, for Amadou Diallo, for all the other African-American men who have died because of — or who struggle to live through — this nation’s unreasoning fear of them and their sons.

Consider that video and answer honestly: Just who should be frightened of whom?

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article2502069.html#storylink=cpy

It is in this way that the stories we tell ourselves take precedence over the actual circumstances of our lives. Unless and until we recognize that fact of human existence and begin to examine the stories we tell ourselves (especially the ones that are based in fear), we'll never understand the ways we have embraced the "isms" we've been fed all our lives. As we've seen lately, our certainty that these stories we tell ourselves are a true reflection of reality is dangerous.

Read More/Video at link:http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2014/10/racism-as-story-of-fear.html

[surrealAmerican]

1. One would hope that law enforcement personnel would have training ...

... to fall back on that would cause them to question that fear. I understand that it could well be their "gut reaction", but they ought to be trained to respond to the actual situation at hand, not what they may be predisposed to from their upbringing or the media.

[tblue37]

8. It seems that most of their training is aimed at teaching them the standard

justifications for beating or shooting someone who is unarmed and unresisting.

[marym625]

2. All I can do is cry

It goes along with what 20Score just posted on police brutality

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025714476

[sheshe2]

5. Thanks marym...

I just posted at your link.

[marym625]

6. I saw that

Great comment

It speaks volumes that the majority of the threads on racism and/or police brutality, stagnant

Sad reality

[Hoyt]

3. The misplaced "fear of the Black man" is behind a lot of what is wrong with this country

including the arming up of our society.

It really ticks me off when the Zimmermans, Dunns, Wilsons, Grouberts, etc., use that fear to excuse their actions.

[johnp3907]

4. Fear and suspicion.

As a 49 year old white man I'm much less likely than a black teenager to be perceived as "lurking." An alleged bulge in Jordan Miles' jacket was assumed to be a gun. Do the police where I live in the rural area 30 miles from Pittsburgh stop every white man in a pickup truck on the assumption that he has a gun?
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/04/pittsburgh-jury-issues-split-verdict-jordan-miles-civil-case-wrong-arrest-wrong-use-excessive-force/

[20score]

7. Great essay, thanks for posting.

It's such a complicated issue, with multiple solutions. (No one answer will solve anything more complicated than a leaky travel mug.)

What you're doing is important. On an individual level we can educate our coworkers and friends, encouraging them to be less fearful and to look at everyone as human beings, not the "Other." Maybe asking producers, news editors and directors to be mindful enough to treat all humans equally in their portrayal. Just my two cents.

[marym625]

9. This haunts me n/t