Already, the conversations regarding Trayvon Martin have begun to dissipate. But that does not have to happen, if we use Trayvon’s death as a teachable moment. Some good can come out of this tragedy, some continuing conversations if you will.
How many of us prejudge people because of their headwear and clothing? While it is easy to focus on George Zimmerman and the assumptions he might have made about Trayvon because of his hoodie, how many of us have done that very same thing, whether it be a hoodie, a hairstyle, a hijab or a burqa, or maybe a turban?
How many of us view the Trayvon Martins and George Zimmermans of the world simply as individuals, and forget about the larger social context? By the same token, how many view what happened as a commentary on the criminal justice system and race relations in the U.S., and forget about Martin and Zimmerman as individuals, with unique personalities, talents, interests, and backgrounds?
Perhaps people of different ages are inclined to view this tragedy differently. Yesterday, I was talking to my daughter, a millennial, and she made the point that people of her generation are less likely to put Martin and Zimmerman in “racial boxes” so to speak. Rather, many variables other than race are relevant.
What we learned from the incident involving Professor Henry Louis Gates, the continuing relevance of the classic, To Kill A Mockingbird which was written some fifty years ago, the racial profiling of Danny Chen and other Asian-American soldiers, and the refusal of many voters to even consider voting for Mitt Romney for President simply because he is a Mormon are all unfinished conversations. We need to continue to discuss these both privately and publicly, with our students, our children, our friends, our community, and our country.
How true that is that we ‘profile’ others everyday in no matter if its relational or social. We inturn with our eyes subconsciencely access others with our eyes without evaluating the person first. We all need to take the extra step in looking deeper into a person instead relying on the quick fix summaring what we’ve seen or heard in the media or through peoples personal experiences. Some may say, “Who has that kind of time.” Then the next question is, if it would be you how would you evaluate yourself in a place of a different cultural and surrounding. A place where their ‘norm’ isn’ what your accustom to and you are visually not accustom to the them.
Sometimes we can only understand others if we take the time to ‘put on someone elses shoes and walk the road of another’.