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esskay
Digital storyteller, Photographic narrator, Hogwarts alum. In real life, I write things. I speak fluent sarcasm. I'm unintentionally funny. My favorite thing is food. Guac is life. I'm a fountain of the most random information. I'm pretty, only because it's weird to call oneself beautiful. I'm weird in all the good ways. I live in the greatest city on Earth. I was Sasha before Beyonce was schizophrenic. My life is stranger than fiction. But please, don't take my word for it. My pen is mightier than my sword. Instagram
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Saturday, June 29, 2013 || 11:18 AM
I've been contemplating the George Zimmerman trial for a few days now, whether I should share my opinion or keep it to myself. And over and over, I argued that EVERYONE has an opinion about this so I doubt anyone would care about one more floating around in cyberspace. But every time I watch the news or look at any social media, my soul is truly irked. And so, I cannot hold my tongue any longer.The first thing really bothering me is the prosecution's key witness Rachel Jeantel and what everyone is saying about her. When she took the stand, a lot of people had a lot to say. There was insult after insult about her looks, the way she spoke, her testimony, her attitude, etc. And then, as was bound to happen in a situation like this, the opposition got up on the highest of horses and reprimanded all the naysayers with speeches of support for Ms. Jeantel and of course the whole black self-hate argument, blah diddy blah blah blah. But if I'm being honest, I was and still am one of the naysayers. Don't talk to me about how she's doing such an amazing job and she's a great witness because half of you are saying that out of pity and only had that opinion after seeing people's initial reaction to her. I've watched people justify her ignorance at every turn and it is ignorance because if she knew better, she'd do better. When people commented on her saying over and over again "I do not watch news!" there were people whose argument was "so what, I bet half of you didn't watch the news when you were 17 either and probably still don't." That's not really a valid argument though because not only did I watch the news when I was 17, I picked up newspapers too. Maybe I'm a special case but for me, the issue wasn't with a 17 year old not watching the news. The issue was this young lady putting black people out there in a bad way. She doesn't watch the news, she can't read cursive, she "lied" under oath, she referenced First 48 and she had a crazy attitude. Now people are saying that our (black people's) criticism of this girl is racist and it's situations like this that tell others it's ok to be racist towards us because we're racist towards us. But that's not it at all. I think that some folks are just frustrated because it's people like Ms. Jeantel who validate the stereotypes and paint a picture to other races that this is the way all black people are. And it's not her fault. I feel like she's a product of her environment and like I said before, if she knew better, she'd do better. But it's still frustrating. I really don't care what she looks or sounds like. For me, it was about the way she presented herself and her representation of our race. Also, shit like this irks me. I think the apologies are more insulting than anything else because it tells me that people think that this is the way young black men and women are supposed to speak and this is what their level of intelligence is supposed to be. And that's definitely not the case. I think what frustrates me most about Ms. Jeantel is that she reminds me of every person I went to school with who told me I talk like a white girl. Why? Because I use proper diction and enunciation? Because I'm eloquent when I speak? FOH. I will never defend this girl. I'm sorry for what she's gone through. I know how difficult it is to lose someone close to you and it can't be any easier to be forced to relive it and grilled for hours on end. For that, I sympathize. But I cannot defend the mockery she has made of herself. Another frustrating thing is that because of this, people have managed to make this entire case about her. The fact that I had to lead with that whole statement is irksome but I felt it needed to be said. But I think this needs to be said more: George Zimmerman is a coward of the highest order. The fact that there's even a question of his guilt is just mind boggling to me. And in my mind, it isn't even about race, the fact that Trayvon Martin was black or George Zimmerman isn't. Murder is murder, no matter what (Olivia Benson taught me) and the fact is, Trayvon Martin is dead. You stalk an unarmed teenage boy in the middle of the night after the police tell you not to follow him and when he starts whooping your ass, you can't take the ass whooping you sought out so you kill him and cry Self Defense? Zimmerman is the definition of a coward and even if he gets off, he will have a miserable life because God isn't sleeping. Sooner or later, he'll have to answer to Him. Labels: babble and rant |