One (more) Thing about the Trayvon Martin Tragedy that Pi$$es Me Off

Last week I did a post linking many of the best offerings of the internet on the Trayvon Martin tragedy.  But there is one thing that is really (I mean really) making me angry.  

On March 8- my Facebook updates page was burning up with shares and comments and links to Kony 2012.  Some were friends who have long been sharing links about things in the social justice movement.  Many were people who do not.  But person after person shared the story of Kony as told by Invisible Children.  Something like 100 million people had watched the Kony video and commented on it. 

30 days after the killing of Trayvon Martin only a handful of friends have posted about it on Facebook.  Of the people who have, only three are not parenting Black children.  In other words, most of the people who posted about Trayvon have (and pardon the pun) some skin in the game.

So I got to thinking about the discrepancy between the two stories.  What is the difference between the two stories that spoke to people (or didn't) and the only thing I can think of is that this is a unique interaction of privilege meeting the White Savior Complex.  (for a perspective on the White Savior Complex- check this out.)

Lets look at Kony 2012.  Many Ugandans are upset and speaking out about the campaign for a multide of reasons; Kony hasn't been in the country for 5-6 years, peace has come to most parts of the country, Invisible Children has few if any Ugandans on the board of directors, that Invisible Children align themselves with groups who do the exact same thing that they accuse Kony of doing.  But the criticism seems to boil down for many as it is not the place of American White people to swoop in (or lobby our government to swoop in) to save Africa, and Uganda in particular.  They presented the Ugandans as helpless to stop or change the situation (all the while ignoring the fact the situation has changed  substantially)  That presentation of Ugandans as helpless to change their fates presents the perfect opportunity for us to rush in with our money to save the children.  We get to be the heroes- the ones who rush in on their white horses and their white hats to rescue the women and children.  And face it- who doesn't want to be a hero?

But when we look at what happened to Trayvon Martin, we are forced to look at how we allowed laws to be passed to essentially sanction killing with minimal/no cause and how we view our fellow citizens.  We need to look at how we sit back and accept a societal narrative that convinces us that a teen in a hoodie in the rain is a threat.  We need to admit that we are being poisoned by the smog of racism and bias that invades so much of our society- from our media to our history books to the language we use.  It all contributes to the pollution of bias that infects us all with racism.  All of that poison impacted the events of that night in February and regardless of the facts of that night- we can not ignore the fact that as soon as we think  that race might have played a role in this tragedy- that is the time we need to talk about race in this country- and talk HONESTLY.  And unlike Kony 2012 where we get to be the saviors, instead with Trayvon we have to look at whether we have been unwilling accomplices to the killing.  Have we allowed jokes, stereotypes and racist comments to go unchecked?  Have we complained, or even noticed, when media consistently shows us one dimensional stereotypes and presents them as news.  Do we ask why the Black characters don't get the same screen time as the White characters?  For those of us who are White- do we challenge what we receive from our privilege?  Do we even understand we have privilege?   Or do we believe that racism is someone else's problem to deal with. 

In the Trayvon Martin story- we don't get to be the hero.  We don't get to write a check and order a activist kit to show we "helped".  Instead (at least for those of us with a functioning conscience) we get self reflection and the realization that for most of us the best we did nothing to help and at worst we may have contributed to what happened.

Talking about Trayvon Martin means talking about race and privilege and other hard things- things that MUST be talked about if we ever really want to make a difference in this country and it pisses me off (but doesn't surprise me) that people don't want that conversation.  It's hard and ugly and necessary.

It feels way better to just be a hero.