

Annons
Annons
The Trayvon Martin trial started this week, and the big story coming out of those proceedings is that while being stalked by his eventual killer George Zimmerman, Martin told Rachel Jeantel over the phone that he was being followed by a “creepy-ass cracker.”The usual right-wing pundits pounced as soon as they could. Their blessed outrage machine was cranking out zingers implying that Martin and Jeantel are racists, while the left-wing media found inexplicable ways to somehow claim that Trayvon’s use of the word was not “racial” or “offensive.”This column has always been about exposing America’s lie that we are in some sort of “post-racial harmony” era because of Barack Obama’s ascendance to the White House. Much has changed for the better in this country, but so much is worse, primarily because of the instant, archivable forms of communication offered by modern technology (the internet, cell phones, etc.)No one can keep their hatred a secret they way they used to, as illustrated by the ten inane tweets I compiled below, but this is also shown by Martin's use of a racial slur. Even if the right-wing media is attempting to use this quote as a way to demean Martin in death, they are right that what he said was wrong. I have no interest in joining with any pundit who thinks that calling someone a “cracker” is OK. I believe that Zimmerman should be punished for killing an unarmed child, but the sort of racial mistrust and enmity that both parties displayed in this tragedy is exactly how we got to this point in the first place. RACIST
Annons

Annons
