High-flying Bird, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld
July 20, 2013 Martha Thomases 9 Comments
The news about the Trayvon Martin verdict didn’t reach me until I was already at the airport. Ready to board, I didn’t pick up a newspaper, and my access has been spotty since. In other words, I am behind on my pundit-mongering.
In lieu of keeping up with the news, I read Neil Gaiman’s new novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I read it pretty quickly, in big, greedy gulps, so I don’t have any kind of fine-tuned literary analysis yet. However, the mood of the book seeps into all my other thoughts.
(This happens a lot when I travel. In 2000′ when we went to Versailles for our twentieth wedding anniversary, I read Windchill Summer by Norris Mailer, a novel about a young woman’s coming-of-age working at a pickle factory in Arkansas. Whenever I think of the royal palace, the elegant gardens, the magnificent fountains, I imagine the smell of vinegar.)
Gaiman’s book concerns the memories of a man of the time when he was seven-years old. Like all seven-year olds, the kid is at the mercy of forces beyond his control: his parents; other adults; friends (or lack thereof), the weather. He stumbles by as best he can, looking for quiet and safety, a place to read in peace. In the process of making a new friend, he has a magical adventure that causes him to bring a great evil into the world.
I hate great evil, don’t you?
Anyway, the evil tries to split our hero away from his family, to turn them against him. When the evil is defeated, things get really scary. The magic world sends out the hunger birds to clean up, carrion who do what carrion does — eat it, strip the bones, so there will be nothing left.
They are the most scary of all.
It is because of the great evil that is racism and classism in American society that we are all afraid of each other. It does none of us any good, except for those who sell to our fears. It’s killing us. It’s killing our kids. It’s killing our chances to come together to solve our problems.
I imagined how it must have felt to be both George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin on that terrible night. Each was probably quite sincerely afraid of the other, Zimmerman because of what he believed about African-American kids in hoodies, Martin because the guy was following him. Trayvon had the actual, observable problem, but Zimmerman had a head full of stereotype and bigotry.
I don’t claim to be free of bigotry. I’m not. I make judgmental assumptions based on people’s appearances, their place of residence, their style of speech. I am no better In that regard than George Zimmerman.
Here’s what is different: I don’t carry a lethal weapon. And I don’t expect the law to cater to my prejudice.
Zimmerman might have been the prison who shot Trayvon, but it our own hunger birds that devoured him this weekend.
Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, is grateful she has no reason to support the state of Florida in any way, shape or form right now.
George Haberberger
July 20, 2013 - 7:57 am
…Zimmerman because of what he believed about African-American kids in hoodies
What exactly DID Zimmerman believe about African-American kids in hoodies? Has he ever spoken about it? Why do you infer what he thought was pejorative?
… Zimmerman had a head full of stereotype and bigotry.
On the contrary the FBI concluded the exact opposite. Zimmerman was investigated by the FBI to determine if he could be charged with a civil rights violation. The FBI told Eric Holder that not only was there no evidence that Zimmerman was a racist, but there was a preponderance of evidence that he was not.
Zimmerman was raised along side two black children. He has Black/Peruvian relatives. Black neighbors testified that he was the only person of any race or color who introduced himself when they moved into the neighborhood. When a homeless black man, (Sherman Ware), was assaulted by the son of a Sanford policeman, George Zimmerman was so outraged that nothing was being done that he printed flyers publicizing the assault until the cop’s son was charged with the assault.
There is more evidence that Zimmerman is not racist he has been portrayed as just as there is evidence that Martin was not the angel that he has been portrayed as. I will not list them here out of deference to the dead, but the facts are out there if journalists cared enough to look.
The issue is that what has been reported about both individuals appears to fall far short of objectivity.
Howard Cruse
July 21, 2013 - 7:47 am
Yeah, George, but on what grounds, if not skin color, did Zimmerman conclude that a young man walking calmly in his own neighborhood was “suspicious” enough to justify a 911 call? Is no one except Neighborhood Watch volunteers allowed out at night in Florida?
Tedzini
July 21, 2013 - 7:56 am
Hi George- If he wasn’t packing heat there is a much higher likelihood that no innocent person would have died. It’s just a very sad story.
Mike Gold
July 21, 2013 - 10:22 am
In theory, it’s an understandable idea. In practice the phrase “Stand Your Ground” seems to be missing the fourth word.
Unleash your inner whitey.
George Haberberger
July 21, 2013 - 4:51 pm
Yeah, George, but on what grounds, if not skin color, did Zimmerman conclude that a young man walking calmly in his own neighborhood was “suspicious” enough to justify a 911 call?
Zimmerman’s neighborhood had a number of burglaries in the previous weeks. Anyone walking around in the dark, in the rain, would be perceived as suspicious. Zimmerman did not volunteer the information, “He looks black.” as NBC reported in their edited report. The dispatcher asked him, “ Is he white black or Hispanic?” Race had nothing to do with Zimmerman’s suspicions. No arrests had been made in the burglaries, so anyone would be deemed suspicious. Zimmerman had made forty-six 911 calls since 2004. “I would not consider it excessive,” Cannaday, (spokeswoman for the Seminole County sheriff’s office), said. “That’s typically what we encourage, is if anyone in the community sees something out of the ordinary, concerning, or suspicious, we would want for them to call.”
If he wasn’t packing heat there is a much higher likelihood that no innocent person would have died. It’s just a very sad story.
I agree it is a very sad story but it would have been a sad story either way because if Zimmerman had not had a gun he would likely have been killed. Martin was on top of Zimmerman. He had already broken his nose and was bashing his head on the concrete telling him, “You’re going to die tonight.” The time it takes to walk from the convenience store to the townhouse where Martin was staying, (4 minutes for about 100 yards), indicates that Martin had been waiting for Zimmerman because he had only gone about 30 yards before the confrontation as indicated by the time stamp on the 911 call. There are reasons why Martin may have felt obliged to attack Zimmerman but they have nothing to do with self-defense.
Mike, the Stand Your Ground issue was not brought up be either the prosecution or the defense in the trial.
What is really sad about this whole story is that during the Zimmerman trial, 54 people were killed in Chicago alone, but they got no national coverage and certainly no speeches from the president or Al Sharpton. Why? What made the Martin shooting so significant?
Race is at the heart of the unrest. But race had nothing to do with the shooting. It is interesting that the woman and babies killed by Kermit Gosnell were also black but Al Sharpton did not appear to lead any protests and the president was able to stay out of the case.
Mike Gold
July 21, 2013 - 5:01 pm
“I agree it is a very sad story but it would have been a sad story either way because if Zimmerman had not had a gun he would likely have been killed.” Yes, because that is not a matter before the jury. The law is a law, and the jury upheld that law as they saw it. It’s not their place to invalidate the law nor is it a legal option — that pretty much only happens on television. This is why I say we should get rid of the law. Self-defense is enough of a defense. This additional gun law creates confusion, promotes racism, gets everybody even more on edge, and ultimately just kills more people.
Neil C.
July 22, 2013 - 6:35 am
Ah…it’s the old BLACK PEOPLE ARE KILLING EACH OTHER IN CHICAGO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT statement, which all racists and Fox News bring up every fucking time. People do talk about it, you just never listen to it. My main problem with this is Zimmerman is stalking a kid, kid is pissed about it and Zimmerman is told to stop by 911 and let the police handle it (because police would have such a problem arresting a black kid on his say so). Kid hits Zimmerman because he’s being bothered. Instead of reporting to the police or fighting back, Zimmerman shoots the kid. If he didn’t have his penis substitute, he wouldn’t have confronted the kid. If someone is bothering me and I hit them to get them to stop, they don’t have the right to shoot me.
Neil C.
July 22, 2013 - 6:44 am
I guess “Chicago killings” is the meme to show Zimmerman was a hero, like Travis Bickle.
George Haberberger
July 22, 2013 - 7:05 am
“Ah…it’s the old BLACK PEOPLE ARE KILLING EACH OTHER IN CHICAGO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT statement, which all racists and Fox News bring up every fucking time.”
If you are calling me a racist, I take great offense at the accusation. I said nothing when you called me an asshole in this thread:
https://mdwp.malibulist.com/2013/05/im-every-woman-by-martha-thomases-brilliant-disguise-mdworld/#comments
but I object to being called a racist.