North by Northwestern

Normally, I don’t give a damn what people think about me. Maybe it’s the result of my blind optimism about how the perception of young black males is evolving, or even, the result of this world-class education shielding my inescapable identity as a minority amongst a population that doesn’t look like me. The thought that those things could not stop me from resembling a “gangsta wannabe,” as Geraldo Rivera eloquently put it, truly irked me. 

I then wondered if 17-year-old Trayvon Martin felt like a criminal as he walked home from that 7-Eleven on that fateful Sunday in late February, wielding a nonviolent combination of Skittles and iced tea. 

Probably not.

It didn’t matter though. Vigilante George Zimmerman saw him as a threat on the streets of Sanford, Fla. and took action, sealing Martin’s fate with a single bullet to his chest. And to add salt to an already fatal wound, the Sanford Police Department made no arrest on the scene, and has yet to make an arrest in the aftermath, despite public pressures and evidence proving Zimmerman’s belligerence and racial motives.

Is this natural? As a young black male, am I supposed to feel like a suspect in my own skin, or better yet, in my favorite hoodie?

I would like to shake these questions off and act like the societal problem of racial profiling doesn’t exist, but I cannot deny a reality that gets replicated so often in our culture.

Ignoring these questions only disservices victims of racial injustice. 

At some point, we have to recognize that there is something broken in our criminal justice system when an unarmed minor lies in cold blood in a residential neighborhood and the shooter is not arrested and tried for homicide. The state of Florida calls it the “stand your ground” law; the general consensus calls it murder. Now, the question becomes: Would this have happened if Martin were white?

The question is fair because it stems from a recurring history of racial injustice toward African-Americans and Latinos that is largely absent from the white American experience. Would four NYPD officers have put 19 bullets in Amadou Diallo’s back on his doorstep had he been an immigrant from France instead of Guinea? Would the BART police officer who shot Oscar Grant in 2009 been so aggressive if Grant were white?

Thus, my full support goes out to Al Sharpton and the public outcry to have Zimmerman charged with murder motivated by racial bias. A young man should not die because he “fit the description” when the description makes the vast majority of black men appear as criminals. 

It is also important to recognize the Northwestern students who attended the vigil and march on Sheridan in honor of Trayvon Martin at the Rock Wednesday evening. It is good to see that between rigorous coursework and extracurricular activities, students still make time to have a conscience.

If anything, the death of Trayvon Martin should be perceived as an issue about inconsistencies in the American justice system. This event has to become another chapter in the history of the ongoing struggle for civil rights and equality for all. This should not serve as a guilt trip for anyone, but rather a wake-up call into the realities of American society and racial justice. Hopefully, these revelations reverberate through the public consciousness and improve the perceptions about young black males. 

Until then, I pray that I can wear my favorite hoodie in peace.