Why? Why do young black males ignite such irrational fear and racialized hysteria causing gross overreaction?
As was the case during Black History Month in 2013, sale we are once again poised holding our collective breath, treatment eyes fixed on the State of Florida and their controversial law called “Stand Your Ground.” The outcome of Florida’s most recent court case involving “Stand Your Ground” has yielded some extremely confusing results after an intense period of deliberation by a twelve-person jury of 7 women and 5 men. There are so many eerily similar themes being generated in mainstream media accounts and on social media networks regarding the case that it feels like a déjà vu. Yes, pills we have been here before. So many times have we been standing at this particular chasm that the lack of confidence in the American Justice System, and the extreme anxiety and skepticism with which black and brown people interpret that system, predicts an unsatisfactory outcome before the deliberation begins. Last year at this time, the name Trayvon Martin became known as a rallying cry in the struggle for justice and equal protection under the law. This week, in the same state, the man responsible for the death of Jordan Davis, another unarmed Black youth gunned down while sitting in the back seat of a friend’s SUV listening to music, yields results that do not hold the man who shot Jordan Davis to death responsible for that killing, at least not yet. The completely unfathomable truth is that Jordan was killed because, according to his killer, the music playing in the vehicle in which he was riding was too loud. This was enough provocation for the killer of this young man to go back to his own car, retrieve his gun, and shoot into the vehicle containing Jordan Davis and three of his friends ten times as the young men attempted to flee from the barrage of bullets that penetrated their vehicle that night. However, this is no more unbelievable than when Trayvon Martin was stalked, racially profiled, and gunned down carrying a can of ice tea and some skittles. It is no more unbelievable than when a young black boy named Emmett Till was accused of allegedly whistling at a white woman in the Mississippi Delta resulting in the boy being brutally beaten to death, his body weighted down and thrown off a bridge into the riverbed below. 
Why? Why do young black males ignite such irrational fear and racialized hysteria causing gross overreaction? These young black males had no weapons that could have in any way caused harm to anyone. They were each involved in their own concerns. They were not seeking trouble nor were they dangerous or involved in anything destructive. They were the sons of Mamie Till, Sabrina Fulton and Lucia McBath. These are three women you should know, not only because of the horrific loss of their precious boys for no logical reason, but because they have been unwittingly thrust into the white hot light wherein the very nature, character and right to BE and grow up as a Black male in America has come into question. The measureable value placed on the lives of black and brown youth in our country must be seriously interrogated. Why are they so easily gunned down for whistling, wearing a hoodie, and playing loud music? Mamie Till demanded answers to that question in 1955, and there has been no recognizable response as Sabrina Fulton and Lucia McBath are demanding a response to the exact same question today. What is wrong in America when men (mostly white), standing on ground that is not theirs to stand upon, cut down our black and brown young men without accountability, penalty or prosecution. Fear and reactionary responses far too often result in the use of lethal force whereupon the offending Black boy is cut down before he has the opportunity to become a man.
Dr.T
Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Ph.D.
Founder and Artistic Director
The Conciliation Project and
Associate Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University
DrT@Margins2theCenter.com
www.theconciliationproject.org
Up Next Week: The Sheroes and Heroes
