I'm sure if we were to engage in a dialogue about this we could find some common ground. However, like many other people in this comment thread, you seem to miss the actual point of the article.
I would imagine so, if circumstances were not as they were. I admit, my statement was not on par with the point of the article, nor was it meant to be. As you said, the majority of the people missed the point of the actual article, and the discussion had begun to center around generalization, so I chimed in on the general topic. I used to go with friends, when I was young, to purchase drugs in that area. I know 3rd Street, 13th Street, and that 7-11 very well. I also know that there is no sure answer as to whether or not Trayvon Martin would or would not have been followed or shot had he been white, and nobody ever will, save one person, and that is Mr. Zimmerman. None of you know what was in that man's heart that night. He could very well have been out to get someone, anyone, that night. Maybe, just maybe, regardless of whoever was under that hoodie, they would have been followed due to the route they took, or how George felt that night, maybe he caught his wife with a young man, speculation serves no purpose but to inflame.
I think your analysis of this situation would have greater merit if the larger body of statistics showing that white men disproportionately get away with unjustifiably shooting white men, than vice versa. The law, the fundamental institutions of the U.S.A. are promoting white supremacy (because they were initially created by people we would consider white supremacists). That is the point that matters. It is the fact that the police showed up to the scene of the crime... saw a black kid dead and a "white" man with a gun... and immediately gave Zimmerman the benefit of the doubt. If the dead kid was white and the shooter was black... what would the police have done? What would the NRA have said? What would the jury have thought? You know the answers to those questions.
Racism, white supremacy, whatever it is you are calling it, is not localized to this Country. It is the same thing around the World. Every set of peoples trusts its own kind more than others. Substitute Jews and Palestinians for Trayvon and Zimmerman, substitute Hutu and Tutsi. I simply cannot abide the fact that people act like this is some sort of localized super issue with this Country. It is a horrible part of the human condition. Eventually as evolution takes its toll, we will all be of the same race, or something near it, and then, they will find other reasons to marginalize certain types of people. This is not Black v White, Minority v Majority, Rich v Poor; this is humanity, and you would be well advised to understand the nature of it.
I never claimed that racism is localized in the United States. Racism does have an evolved biological base. I never stated anything counter this point. I am an evolutionary anthropologist. I understand the nature of it very well. You should be well advised to understand social theory in greater depth. Clearly you don't.you would be well advised to understand the nature of it.
That is a completely different context. If there was institutional racism against white people in Zimbabwe I would attempt to explain that in proper historical and colonial context. You are just evading the fact that there is institutional injustice against black people in America and why that is. EDIT: Furthermore, from my experience in Africa, if ANY black man shot a white man in almost any African country, there would be international outrage and the African government in question would do whatever they could to bring the black man to justice for fear that the tourism industry would be destroyed.
That is why I chose that particular country, and not any other African Country. But again, you can garner the same results that occurred by substituting values other than location, and black and white. Of course there is racism in America, and of course the fact that the ruling class, save it's current political leader, marginalizes black people. You don''t go from rolling children's heads down the side of a temple, to slavery, to marginal equality, to equality, in a day, or even thousands of them apparently. I still think it is less of a direct issue with color and more a direct issue with the psychology of the person, or people.
The point is that this is not one isolated issue. This keeps happening because there is a cultural sickness in America that demonizes blackness. This has an important socio-historic context, which is what the article is about.
As the American Anthropological Association stated, race relations in America are being constructed around "whiteness" and "blackness". Zimmerman, due to his socio-economic status and cultural affiliations, was imaged by the American people to be "white". Or "awarded white status".