STEPPING BACK TO CONTEMPLATE THE LYNCHING OF TRAVON MARTIN

 Heretofore it was my practise to immediately let loose on my opinions concerning the many troubling issues of the day.  Those times have long since changed, replaced by a new philosophy in which I take time to watch, listen and digest the news of the day.  I adopted this technique and to be honest, borrowed it from my Father, for two very good reasons.  First of all it allowed me to calm my easily roused temper down before blurting out anything I would regret or retract later.  Secondly, It afforded me the distinct advantage of approaching a topic that was relatively new with a wellspring of insight past, present and future to add to whatever argument I might develop in my musings…

The history of lynching’s of Black American men as an unofficial national sport and pastime is still a living reality all Black men must be wary of in America.  Then as now little cause for the sporting murder of a Black man is required, since it is considered to be sporting.  Likewise, when a Black man is hunted down and assassinated for sport little or no attention, explanation, reaction, enforcement or justice is either offered or expected, because, after all… it is merely a national pastime, a time-tested, American tradition…

In spite of the fact that many generations of Black and White freedom fighters, luminaries and humanitarians have fought to end this practise, it continues to be a blemish upon the visage of American culture.  People whose bigotry and racism prevents them from seeing this nightmare objectively will have a different perspective, to them it is a "Matter of Right"! Clearly both views can neither be correct nor can they continue to coexist without precipitating the kind of social hysteria and outcry as the recent lynching of Travon Martin has created.  The murderer of Travon Martin is described as, "A Local Vigilante".  What does this mean in common terms? It means that his murderer had no more authority to identify and pursue any potential, "Threat" to the community than the equivalent of a neighborhood watchman, and what community arms its neighborhood watchmen with weapons of deadly force in a quiet one-horse town?  Again we are speaking of a small, obscure southern jurisdiction where the act of crossing the street is a noteworthy event.  Travons murderer was clearly a favorite of the local police who resurrected an obscure special exception in the laws that was clearly applied in error; every aspect of this case pointed to the fact that Travons adult assassin was not only not intimidated by him, but aggressively preyed on him ultimately to his death, even to the point of defying the instructions of the police.  Clearly when the local Sanford Florida police decided to cover up this obvious murder case they opened up a Pandora's box the likes of which they could never  have imagined in that otherwise uneventful, slow southern town.  For those who remember the social atrocities of the late 1950s and before this case has all the trappings of a lynching.  It reeks of bigotry and hearkens back to a way of life that most Americans thought had died with the civil rights movement of the 1960's.  Some Americans have asked themselves, "Why Now"? What social variables present in The United States could have inspired this man and an entire police force to revert  to such Archaic measures?  Have they been inspired by the recent vulgarities and bigoted outcries of the Tea Party?  Are they overstressed by the precarious economy? Or is it just a reflection of a depraved way of life in the rural south that has never quite been touched by civilized social evolution?  How could trained officers of the law believe that a grown and sizable man armed with a gun could be intimidated by a small child unarmed?  How? Or was he intimidated only by the fact that this was a young promising young Black man who's talents would some day lift him far above the dull, banalities of the tired southern town of Sanford Florida? Zimmerman is no case study for the American success story, he appears to be an emotionally troubled man who has had little success with his aspirations in life other than being a troublesome vigilante who has had numerous brushes with the law in his zeal to enforce his own sense of justice.  At the time of Travons assassination Zimmerman was a loose cannon and in spite of many warnings to stand down he ultimately fulfilled his fantasy of killing a young, innocent, defenseless Black kid.  This atrocity has garnered support internationally from humanitarians who have reached out to express their anger and frustration.  Where exactly, and when will this type of insane genre of social atrocity end?

Now we have witnessed recent lynching’s of Black men across America; in Southern states, in New York City and Los Angeles and what is more disturbing, by none other than officers of the law, it is a common staple of the psyche of Non-Black Americans, it has historically been treated as a common right, an act of manifest destiny, an expression of racial superiority and of sexual dominance.  Why I would not be at all surprised to see T-Shirts and television ads selling the promotion, “HAVE YOU LYNCHED A BLACK MAN TODAY?”  One could find reasonable argument that, given the current act of violence against Travon Martin, it would fit comfortably within the fabric of American culture.  I would be remiss if I did not also mention that in addition to Black American men having to fear lynching from others, they must also fear them from their own race manifested in the form of Black on Black crime… The cumulative effect is that Black men are literally besieged by the immanent threat of assassination regardless of their age, level of intelligence, occupation, political or religious affiliation, (or not), sexual preference, etc.  When a Black man steps out of his door, leaves his job, or even walks within the confines of his own neighborhood he is constantly a target for violence.  And not random violence but a very focused and deliberate, premeditated violence against his very being as a Black man in America, this my friend is very, very real.

The dizzying legacy of lynching  opens up a diorama that folds out like a pop-up greeting card with an endless ocean of tombstones each generically labeled, R.I.P. with a bottle of gin, a child’s toy, or some other sympathetic memento tattooed to the chilly-white marble headstone for all posterity.  Travon Martin has joined the ranks of the thousands of unknown, forgotten, uncelebrated Black men whose bodies have fertilized the soil of this country only to grow a tree of hatred. 

So what makes Travon Martin’s case any different from the thousands of Black men who have been lynched over the greater than 400 years since we were stolen from Africa and bought to the Americas? What makes his assassination different from that of Emmitt Till, a young promising young man visiting relatives in the south, on vacation from his home in Chicago?  How does his case greatly differ from that of Abner Louima, a man brutalized and sodomized with a broomstick by police in a station in Brooklyn?  And how does Travon Martin’s case differ from that of Rodney King or the many other nameless Black and Latino men lynched and brutalized by the Mark Furman’s of Los Angeles?  Yes, I deliberately resurrected the name of Mark Furman, a man, a policeman , exposed for having perpetrated unjustified assaults, arrests and goodness knows what other acts of unlawful violence on young Black and Latino men.  The reality of this craziness leads one to only one conclusion; the lives of Black men are under constant threat in America!  But that does not answer the question does it? What makes Travon Martins case unique among the ranks of others even more abominable than his own…

What makes Travon Martins case different from every other lynching and assassination of a Black American man in America is that we are able to do take action right now to be sure that the criminal who killed him is punished to the full extent of the law and that the negligent police officer’s and beaurocrat’s who failed to take appropriate action in spite of obvious signs that something was dangerously wrong with the way they were mishandling this case are also punished by the long arm of justice!  We can take action now!  As my mentor, Frederick Douglass famously said….

AGITATE! AGITATE! AGITATE!

FIN

Written by David Vollin on 3-24-12



IN Continuatio:

THE VOLATILITY OF POPULARITY AND SOLIDARITY OF HUMANITY...

Only a few weeks ago the entire world was speculating, reminiscing, celebrating and mourning the Tragic life of an international pop-star; Now the world is fused in one gasp of anticipation regarding the untimely murder of an innocent Black child living in the rural south of The United States.  As we move from one social tsunami to the next it reminds us of the volatility of popularity.  Like the Roman gladiators of old, crowned king for a day because life was only gifted one day of true brilliance before death.  There are two distinct sides to the wave of popularity.  The front of the wave is the most intimidating.  It rises as a great roaring and glistening arch effervescent with the threat of immanent encompassment… it is an offer that cannot be refused.  Its heavy crest defies gravity itself…  the back of the wave is a towering wall of power bent away, forgetful of us, moving toward destiny at a rate too great for comprehension.  Looking at the back of the wave we know we have survived…  A peculiarity of the wave is that it represents time as one continuous golden day; Nighttime does not ensue until the wave has sufficiently passed.   

Popular events have the power to bring millions of people together and if only for an instant, the power of its solidarity is like the realm in-between the face and the back of a mighty wave.  Its face enamors us until we are all but encompassed by its mass.  The tween-realm of the wave the meat of the wave is the very essence of the popular trend.  But the wave will pass.

I am always amazed at the power of the metaphor to construct impossible edifices.  The metaphor is an exponential variable in the equation of popular culture…  If it existed, the equation would look something like this:

{[(event/phenomenon) + (event capture by popular culture)]ᴹ ÷ (cultural relevance coefficient)}ᴹ

Where:

M = Metaphorical exponent

Right now we are at the front of the wave of the Travon Martin Popular Wave.  Whitney Houston’s wave has already dimmed into the distant horizon at its day’s sunset…  Travon’s wave has captured the imagination, passion and energy of the day.  While we are all riding within the “Meat” of this wave there are several things that it is important to recognize and likewise take away with us when it has passed:

·         Travon’s assassination has so much potential to leave communities riven with racial dissention has actually had a reverse effect galvanizing White, Black, Asian and Hispanic peoples across the globe.

·         Travon’s assassination has allowed us to see that the long struggle for civil rights has not ended in these United States.

·         Travon’s assassination has challenged us all to resist treating hatred with hatred.

Use this brief time wisely people… defeat racism and bigotry at its own game.  Reach out to your brothers and sisters of all races as allies and prepare yourself to be able to receive their charity and compassion to move history forward together.

We should not have ever heard of Travon Martin save for the fact of his assassination, a cowardly act of hatred and ignorance, has nonetheless martyred him for all posterity.  But like Emmitt Till and countless, nameless others before him his wave too will pass out of the limelight of popular culture.  But while his name rings among the highest bells let’s let Travon Martins name have such a ring as to be heard across the country and the world as a metaphor for justice…

FIN

Written by David Vollin on 3-26-12