A Question of Racism

As an African-American male, I know firsthand how it feels to be eyed more than others as you enter shop and leave any store.  I know how it feels to hear others remark about your style of dress as if they can tell what type of person you are by the way you dress.  I have dressed in suits and been told that I look like a preacher or dressed causal only to be asked if I had any drugs to sell.  It’s the same as recently being told that my facial expressions and manner of speaking makes me appear angry while the guy sitting next to me who were as animated as I was seemed more passionate.  It did not go unnoticed that the guy sitting next to me was white.  These and so many more instances makes anyone wonder why I can be assumed to be angry, a preacher or a drug dealer while others dressed as I am are passionate and looks like a business man or lawyer.

Still the use of the word racism bothers me when it is used.  It, like the “n” word is not an answer to why people do what they do.  These words are thrown around like they define someone but they do not.  No one person knows what’s in the hearts and mind of another so to label one of another was racist is truly meaningless.  Knowing who may or may not be a racist is not determined by any one particular action because unless you know the full content of that action, who are you to judge.  To best figure out if a person is racist or not should be based on a totality of that person’s actions and not a single piece.  It should be based on how they act around different types of people instead of how they act around those who think like them.  Some people can do racist things but not have a racist bone in their bodies.

This conversation comes to me after listening to the 911 tapes of George Zimmerman, self-appointed neighborhood watchman in Sanford, Florida while he was pursuing and before he allegedly shot and killed the 17 year old Trayvon Martin.  There is evidence that Mr. Zimmerman wanted so badly to be a police officer and did all that he could to make up for his short comings in that department.  His father says that he is not a racist, yet listening to the 911 tapes could easily convince you of something different.  In situations like this you have to ask yourself one question which is what would make a non-racist person say such racist things?  The only answer that you may be able to come to is the statement (s) were made not due to the personal feelings of Zimmerman but because Zimmerman felt that it was okay to speak in this manner.  What if in his numerous contacts with police, he learned that this was the manner in which they spoke and repeated this only to fit in with them.  It wouldn’t be the first time a person done things in order to fit in.

Bottom line we all need to be more careful when we throw around the label of racist.  Labels never will be a true definition of any person and when it comes to trying to wrap your head around events we should never choose the easy way.  If we all claim that we are understanding of others, there is no better way than to refuse to label another person until you have exhausted all efforts to learn more about the person.