White People, You Will Never Look Suspicious! by Michael Skolnik


I will never look suspicious to you. Even if I have a black hoodie, a pair of jeans and white sneakers on...in fact, that is what I wore yesterday... I still will never look suspicious. No matter how much the hoodie covers my face or how baggie my jeans are, I will never look out of place to you. I will never watch a taxi cab pass me by to pick someone else up. I will never witness someone clutch their purse tightly against their body as they walk by me. I won't have to worry about a police car following me for two miles, so they can "run my plates." I will never have to pay before I eat. And I certainly will never get "stopped and frisked." I will never look suspicious to you, because of one thing and one thing only. The color of my skin. I am white.

I was born white. It was the card I was dealt. No choice in the matter. Just the card handed out by the dealer. I have lived my whole life privileged. Privileged to be born without a glass ceiling. Privileged to grow up in the richest country in the world. Privileged to never look suspicious. I have no guilt for the color of my skin or the privilege that I have. Remember, it was just the next card that came out of the deck. But, I have choices. I got choices on how I play the hand I was dealt. I got a lot of options. The ball is in my court.

So, today I decided to hit the ball. Making a choice. A choice to stand up for Trayvon Martin. 17 years old. black. innocent. murdered with a bag of skittles and a bottle of ice tea in his hands. "Suspicious. " that is what the guy who killed him said he looked like cause he had on a black hoodie, a pair of jeans and white sneakers. But, remember I had on that same outfit yesterday. And yes my Air Force Ones were "brand-new" clean. After all, I was raised in hip-hop...part of our dress code. I digress. Back to Trayvon and the gated community in Sanford, Florida, where he was visiting his father.

I got a lot of emails about Trayvon. I have read a lot of articles. I have seen a lot of television segments. The message is consistent. Most of the commentators, writers, op-ed pages agree. Something went wrong. Trayvon was murdered. Racially profiled. Race. America's elephant that never seems to leave the room. But, the part that doesn't sit well with me is that all of the messengers of this message are all black too. I mean, it was only two weeks ago when almost every white person I knew was tweeting about stopping a brutal African warlord from killing more innocent children. And they even took thirty minutes out of their busy schedules to watch a movie about dude. They bought t-shirts. Some bracelets. Even tweeted at Rihanna to take a stance. But, a 17 year old American kid is followed and then ultimately killed by a neighborhood vigilante who happens to be carrying a semi-automatic weapon and my white friends are quiet. Eerily quiet. Not even a trending topic for the young man.

We've heard the 911 calls. We seen the 13 year old witness. We've read the letter from the alleged killer's father. We listened to the anger of the family's attorney. We've felt the pain of Trayvon's mother. For heaven's sake, for 24 hours he was a deceased John Doe at the hospital because even the police couldn't believe that maybe he LIVES in the community. There are still some facts to figure out. There are still some questions to be answered. But, let's be clear. Let's be very, very clear. Before the neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, started following him against the better judgement of the 911 dispatcher. Before any altercation. Before any self-defense claim. Before Travyon's cries for help were heard on the 911 tapes. Before the bullet hit him dead in the chest. Before all of this. He was suspicious. He was suspicious. suspicious. And you know, like I know, it wasn't because of the hoodie or the jeans or the sneakers. Cause I had on that same outfit yesterday and no one called 911 saying I was just wandering around their neighborhood. It was because of one thing and one thing only. Trayvon is black.

So I've made the choice today to tell my white friends that the rights I take for granted are only valid if I fight to give those same rights to others. The taxi cab. The purse. The meal. The police car. The police. These are all things I've taken for granted.

So, I fight for Trayvon Martin. I fight for Amadou Diallo. I fight for Rodney King. I fight for every young black man who looks "suspicious" to someone who thinks they have the right to take away their freedom to walk through their own neighborhood. I fight against my own stereotypes and my own suspicions. I fight for people whose ancestors built this country, literally, and who are still treated like second class citizens. Being quiet is not an option, for we have been too quiet for too long.

-Michael Skolnik, Editor-In-Chief of GlobalGrind. com

Anonymous wrote:If you were black and yell the n word before beating another one is, it a hate crime, they say it alot in rap, native we could them to stop saying it if was a crime

well the real problem, outside your idiotic attempt to make a strawman argument, is that black on black crime exists and is a serious problem in the community. and people do demonstrate those, its just that they dont become national news so i understand your small mindedness assumption that if its not making major headline news, it must not be happening. its kind of like the tree falling in a forest where nobody is around argument. does it make a noise or not?

you seem to be implying that if you dont see people in an uproar about black on black crime in the community on the news, it must not be happening. it is

Anonymous wrote:I understand that in Florida there are flyers with Zimmerman's pic and a $10,000 bounty, "Dead or Alive". His friends are quoted as stating that Z is afraid for his life. Hmmm, I think he needs to Stand his Ground.

the bounty is being made by an idiot "new" black panther party with 20 members.

i dont think one reasonable person seeking justice for trayvon supports this idiotic idea. i say its dumb and brings negative attention to the situation.

i suggest you not try to lump this with the genuine people who have been peacefully seeking justice for this because tha majority of the people dont align themselves with that at all

If you were black and yell the n word before beating another one is, it a hate crime, they say it alot in rap, native we could them to stop saying it if was a crime

I understand that in Florida there are flyers with Zimmerman's pic and a $10,000 bounty, "Dead or Alive". His friends are quoted as stating that Z is afraid for his life. Hmmm, I think he needs to Stand his Ground.

Anonymous wrote:I remember when I was around 16, dressing up in hand me down prom dresses and making pouty faces at the camera. Putting my hair up with my hands, acting all sexy.... in my own home with my best friend taking the pics.

I wonder if I had been a rape victim, and those pics had made it on to the internet, if I would have deserved to be raped?

Dressing up and trying on different looks and personalities - at home no less - is a part of child hood. It doesn't mean that a teenager deserves.... anything at all.

Ohh yes, The Desperately Seeking Susan Days. Remember the bandana in your hair and the blouse hanging half way off your shoulder with the bra strap showing as appeared in FlashDance. Yes, I suppose if we were raped, some of these crazies would swear we deserved it because of those pictures and the clothes we wore.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:certainly a tough situation and a tough set of facts. I'm not sure how much race really played a role in any of this.

My thoughts are:

1. I don't think the new Florida statute is relevant.
2. This is more old-fashioned self defense. So what is the law? If you chase someone down, and the chasee fights back and is beating you up, is it then self defense to use deadly force? on one hand the shooter was getting beat up and his life may have reasonably been threatened (maybe a stretch). but on the other hand the entire confrontation was started by the eventual shooter, so how is that self defense?
3. Again, I wish the kid was white so the race-baiters wouldn't be so obsessed.

2- The law does address agressors (or those who may provoke the use of force against themself)- SEE BELOW. From the testimony of the guy who gave eye witness to police, its no wonder Zimmerman is not in jail. He told the news agency that he saw Martin on top of Zimmerman and heard Zimmerman call out for help. So the only two direct witness info we know is that Zimmerman claims he was attacked as he was going back to his car, and that the eye witness saw Martin on top of Zimmerman.


776.041?Use of force by aggressor. —The justification described in the preceding sections of this chapter is not available to a person who:
(1)?Is attempting to commit, committing, or escaping after the commission of, a forcible felony; or
(2)?Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself, unless:
(a)?Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant; or
(b)?In good faith, the person withdraws from physical contact with the assailant and indicates clearly to the assailant that he or she desires to withdraw and terminate the use of force, but the assailant continues or resumes the use of force.

Trayvon was just standing his ground. Duh.

Anonymous wrote:well, unfortunately, I'm guessing 90% of the robberies in that neighborhood were committed by black teens wearing hoodies. that is the unfortunate reality. so while it means nothing with respect to guilt or innocence, it was not totally unreasonable for Z to think the victim was up to no good. Right?

Maybe. but when Z starts calling 911 30+ times about "suspicious black males," (one of whom was 10!) it sort of makes Z an unreliable narrator when it comes to assessing the danger posed by a random young black male.

I know many folks here don't really like black people, or maybe African-American culture, or more accurately what they perceive as the tolerance for an anti-social element within the African-American community.

But in this case, it really seems Trayvon Martin is on the side of the angels here and Z was at best a poor assessor of the danger posed by African-American males, if not an outright racist, and was, most likely, the escalator of a situation that ended in the death of another human being. I mean, why would Z want to provoke the animal-like nature that racists tell me is present in each and every Black person? Why not let the police do it, and then protest when Trayvon gets off under affirmative action or the such?

There's enough honest-to-God black criminals for you to tell scary Black Male stories about. Trayvon wasn't one of them.

funny how zimmerman and his past get a hall pass but folks are spending their time trying to rip on trayvon.

if you are trying to be "fair" then throw everything out on the table.

i dont feel that trayvons past matters much considering that zimmerman had not one iota of information on him to know whether trayvon was a criminal or an A student. folks posting these pics and trying to find C's in his grades as though that justifies him getting killed. ill concede to you idiots doing this that trayvon was on the verge of being a criminal. what i want from you is to show me if zimmerman had access to all this information prior to calling 911 and approaching trayvon. if you can prove that to me, ill let you wint that one argument

Anonymous wrote:I remember when I was around 16, dressing up in hand me down prom dresses and making pouty faces at the camera. Putting my hair up with my hands, acting all sexy.... in my own home with my best friend taking the pics.

I wonder if I had been a rape victim, and those pics had made it on to the internet, if I would have deserved to be raped?

Dressing up and trying on different looks and personalities - at home no less - is a part of child hood. It doesn't mean that a teenager deserves.... anything at all.

Zimmerman had an injunction filed on him for domestic violence, and an arrest for hitting an officer.

I remember when I was around 16, dressing up in hand me down prom dresses and making pouty faces at the camera. Putting my hair up with my hands, acting all sexy.... in my own home with my best friend taking the pics.

I wonder if I had been a rape victim, and those pics had made it on to the internet, if I would have deserved to be raped?

Dressing up and trying on different looks and personalities - at home no less - is a part of child hood. It doesn't mean that a teenager deserves.... anything at all.

and to the same people posting these pics, i ask you that unless you wore button up shirts and khakis throughout your entire childhood and intend on dressing your children the same, i say you barely have a case.

i also invite you to go to any mall USA and lets play a game where we try to find teenagers (black, white, indifferent) roaming the mall in suits and ties and see how much they out number the same kids in baggy jeans, hats, and headphones. im certain you will win the day no?

OMG baggy pants hanging down and he gives the camera a finger. So basically he looks like a kid at Tysons mall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure if anyone's mentioned it but the killer looks Hispanic.

This is another pic of Zimmerman. Looks white to me.

I thin k he looks Hispanic. I wish people wouldn't post pictures of people like the ones from facebook of people with the same names. Here's a link to AP journalist Jesse Washington's twitter in which you can find a link to his story on the Black Male Code:
http://twitter.com/#!/jessewashington

I like his twitter . Read it and follow links.

didnt take long for the trayvon opponents to start posting pics of him being a teen to justify zimmerman killing him huh? i assume zimmerman had posession of these pictures as well so he immediately knew that the innocent boy walking with skittles and iced teas was not the same "evil" and "thug" person in the photo.

and i guess since we are playing this game lets ask why zimmerman this self appointed nieghborhood watch guy continually failed to achieve his "dream" of becoming a police officer. lets ask ourselves that if zimmerman was such a great citizen who got rid of a future criminal, why the police force wouldnt accept him to even train to be an officer. isnt that fair?