[Content Note: Racism.]
Really, CNN? What "debate" is that, exactly? The "debate" over whether this country is riddled with white supremacy? The "debate" over whether racism still exists? The "debate" over whether black people's lives are worth anything to their country? The "debate" over whether George Zimmerman was "defending himself" or engaging in racist eliminationist violence against an unarmed black teenager because he hasn't a shred of decency? What fucking "debate" hasn't been magically solved by the verdict in this case, CNN? DO TELL.
Pretending that there is even a "debate" about racism in the US with two valid sides, pretending that the reprehensible fact that "Zimmerman also has support" means there are two equivalent positions and DARN IT we just can't
objectively determine which one of them is right, are key narratives to perpetuating white supremacy.
There is no debate. There is only obfuscating the aggressively wrong with false equivalencies.
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Um. George Zimmerman Trial Juror to Write Book:
Juror B37 in the George Zimmerman trial has signed (along with her attorney husband) with literary agent and Martin Literary Management president Sharlene Martin.
Along with the other jurors, Juror B37 found Zimmerman not guilty in the controversial trial. Literary agent Martin had this statement:
My hope is that people will read Juror B37’s book, written with her attorney husband, and understand the commitment it takes to serve and be sequestered on a jury in a highly publicized murder trial and how important, despite one’s personal viewpoints, it is to follow the letter of the law. It could open a whole new dialogue about laws that may need to be revised and revamped to suit a 21st century way of life. The reader will also learn why the jurors had no option but to find Zimmerman Not Guilty due to the manner in which he was charged and the content of the jury instructions.
The juror has chosen to remain anonymous at this point.
Um.
On Twitter,
Ron Hogan tweets (
one;
two;
three): "The Zimmerman jury turned in a verdict Saturday night. Juror B37 had a literary agent & started pitching the book Monday morning. When a juror shops a book within 48 hours of a verdict, it's legitimate to ask: When EXACTLY did that juror get a literary agent? If Zimmerman had been found guilty, Juror B37's book plans would almost certainly lead his attorneys to ask the verdict be set aside."
Anyone else got a problem with this? I sure as fuck do.
The
Son of Sam law prohibits convicted criminals from profiting from their crimes, but it does not prohibit jurors from profiting from sitting on the juries in notable cases. Um. Time to fix that.
[H/T to
Jess.]
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Nina Simone: "Mississippi Goddamn"
(Filling in for deeky this week while he is smoking the Cigars of the Pharaoh.)
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"Dogs, amirite?"
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
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Here are some things from the news today!
Zimmerman trial related news [content note on all items for violence and racism]:
Federal prosecutors are reviewing the Zimmerman case and may still bring civil rights charges.
The NAACP's site has crashed because of overwhelming interest in their petition to the Department of Justice calling for federal prosecution.
George Zimmerman wants to go to law school to help people like him. There ain't enough fuck off in the world for this guy.
Here is the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement report on the 120 extrajudicial killings of black people by police, security guards, or self-appointed law enforcers since January 1, 2012.
An oldy but relevanty piece in The Nation about how ALEC took Florida's 'License to Kill' law national.
Other stuff [content note: hostility to consent and misogyny]:
A women's healthcare clinic, which was the primary abortion provider in Virginia, has closed as a result of new legislation requiring abortion providers to have hospital-grade facilities.
Ian Millhiser has Eight Things You Should Know About the Court That Will Decide if Texas' Abortion Ban Is Constitutional.
Republicans are lying liars about their support of the Violence Against Women Act.
And Suzanne Venker says men are the new second class citizens, because she is a total fucking dipshit.
Finally! Hey, Gameofthroneheads! Do you want to see King Joffrey cuddling with a puppy? It might make you hate him less! (HA HA NO IT WON'T!)
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For Wendy Davis
a poem by Bald Soprano
my story,
mine
standing in the texas legislature
standing in the galleries
standing in the hallways
standing in the streets
my story,
mine
my pain, my health
my agonized decision
or easy one
my story,
mine
you cannot shut me up
you cannot tell me
to sit down
you cannot tell me
to be quiet
you cannot tell me
that I learned
the wrong lessons
you cannot tell me
that nothing I say
is germaine and
everything you say
is
my story,
mine.
shouting in the legislature
shouting in the galleries
shouting in the hallways
shouting in the streets
my body,
my story,
mine.
* * *
[NB: Not only women need access to a full spectrum of reproductive health options.]
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"We should ask ourselves if we're doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities. We should ask ourselves if we're doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that's a job for all of us. That's the way to honor Trayvon Martin."—President Barack Obama. Good advice.
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[Content Note: Guns; violence; white supremacy.]
I thought if I gave myself a couple of days, I would know what to say about George Zimmerman being found not guilty of all charges in the killing of Trayvon Martin. But I am still struggling to find good words.
Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton will never get their son back, but George Zimmerman will get back the gun he used to kill him. That is what justice [sic] looks like for the death of an unarmed teenage black boy in the United States.
This crime was an act of terrorism. The verdict was an act of terrorism. People are terrified because of it. This is white supremacist terrorism. And no, it doesn't matter that Zimmerman identifies as a white Hispanic. The point is not whether Zimmerman is or isn't white; the point is that Trayvon Martin wasn't.
After the verdict was read, there were white people in my neighborhood who set off round after round of fireworks. Reports came in on Twitter from across the country that fireworks were going off in lots of neighborhoods. Just a coincidence, of course. While cable news breathlessly reported on how black people weren't rioting ("yet") as they followed the peaceful protest in San Francisco, there was no mention of the white people setting off celebratory fireworks around the country. There was little coverage of a white woman attacking 73-year-old black musician Lester Chambers after he dedicated "People Get Ready" to Trayvon Martin.
The violent riots that were expected, because you know those violent black people, never came. But what if black USians had responded to white USians provocatively celebrating the exoneration of a man who killed a black boy? We all know that the narrative would not have been about the provocation, but solely about the response. The exact. same. dynamic. of. the. crime.
This is how white supremacy works. Any response to intolerable provocation will immediately be framed using racist narratives that mask white provocation, dominion, and privilege—and oppressors and provocateurs who deal out death for rebellion are heroes.
In the wake of the verdict, white people identifying as allies took to Twitter to ask for "dialogue" about the verdict, demanding that black people mourning set aside their pain to hand out cookies to white people who aren't "like that." (Pro-tip: If you ask for special recognition for not being "like that," you are like that. If the shoe doesn't fit, then don't wear it, and STFU.) I hope we all appreciate the metric fuckton of irony in seeking "dialogue" as a silencing mechanism, because a white person can't sit with the discomfort of having to face the realities and cost of the white supremacy from which we benefit.
That is also how white supremacy works—white people centering themselves and engaging in emotional policing, the most basic form of dehumanization, to deny humanity to black people even as they mourn.
And naturally black people who failed to accommodate the requests to center white people's feelings were then rhetorically pelted with the ready-made racist narratives of white supremacy: Mean. Rageful. Too sensitive. Ungrateful. Can't recognize an ally when they see one. Etc. The same fucking garbage that any of the white women haranguing black women would rightly call out as hostile if it were a man doing the same fucking thing to them.
That is also how white supremacy works.
In the wake of the verdict, white people were fucking mean. Even white people who were ostensibly on the side of justice. White people were fucking assholes. (And if you weren't, good for you, but if you make this thread about how not an asshole you are, guess what? You are an asshole!) And there will be no accountability for that, either, unless we start holding each other to account.
White people: Be mad about this verdict, because it is a grave injustice. But be just as aware about how your privilege and a white supremacist system ensures that this verdict is not an anomaly, but an emblem. There is no neutral for the privileged class in oppression. Either you're engaged dismantling white privilege, or you're enabling it. Apathy is a luxury conferred by privilege, and it is not a neutral position. If you're mad about this verdict, then get all the fuck in.
Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton will never get their son back, but George Zimmerman will get his gun back—and he intends to carry it. Because he's scared someone will levy some vigilante justice on him. Whoops.
This is a deeply broken system. Apathy won't fix it.
* * *
There are so many women of color whose work has been absolutely brilliant over the past few days (and is all the time). I strongly recommend reading through their Twitter lines and listening hard to what they're saying: Trudy, Grace, Mary, New Black Woman, Sister Outsider, Lauren Chief Elk, Tami, Amadi, Angry Black Fangirl, Angry Black Lady, Zerlina Maxwell.
That's not a comprehensive list, clearly. But it should get you started.
Please feel welcome and encouraged to link to other great stuff you've been reading in comments.
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I am gutted.
I would say this verdict is a miscarriage of justice, but justice never entered that courtroom in the first place.
Comments will be closed. There will be a discussion thread on Monday. In the meantime, I am sharing my thoughts on Twitter tonight.
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I've sent out about 20 videos for transcription today, but I'm concerned that my emails might be blocked as spam due to heavy link content. If you're signed up to volunteer, can you check the sheet and see if you have a video? And if you do have a video and didn't get my email, let me know? Thanks!
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"Why u so worried, Two-Legs?"
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
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Apparently, Texas legislators who want to legislate control of reproduction don't want to see any evidence of it. So tampons are not being allowed into the Capitol, and women (and presumably others) are being forced to empty their purses of sanitary pads and tampons. Meanwhile, concealed weapons are still A-OK!
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This blogaround brought to you by the reddest face.
Recommended Reading:
MsSpentyouth: My Own Private Abortion [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of the war on agency, hostility to choice, anti-choice harassment, and illness.]
eeshap: Reproductive Injustice and the 'War on Women' or, An Ode to the Intersections [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of the war on agency and intersectional fail across multiple axes.]
Relatedly, see also "Anti-Abortion & Health Care War is War on Women of Color" at Black Skeptics.
Lyle: New Test of California Same-Sex Marriages [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of homophobia.]
Reni: Martha-Renee Kolleh, and Tackling Racism Head-On [Content Note: The post at this link includes discussion of racism and racism apologia.]
Leigh: The Killing and the Misogyny of Hating Bad Mothers
And Mary has your 62nd Down Under Feminists Carnival! [Please note content indicators for each section at post link.]
Leave your links and recommendations in comments...
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[Content Note: Racism; eliminationist violence; dehumanization; guns.]
"The only one who was injured at all—except for the gunshot—was George Zimmerman."—Defense Counsel Mark O'Mara, in his closing remarks at George Zimmerman's trial today.
Except for the gunshot.
I truly do not have the words to express my rage at the rank dehumanization and erasure of Trayvon Martin in those words, which are emblematic of the entire terrible defense strategy during this contemptible trial.
[H/T to Shaker JarredH, who hat-tips Grace.]
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