Don’t believe the people-hugging, new-age, “sticks and stones” notion that speech can do no one any physical harm. Words represent ideas, and as such, they can quite easily lead to action.
Trayvon Martin was the victim of rhetoric. We all know what George Zimmerman was thinking when he spotted a 17-year-old hooded boy walking through his fair neighborhood after dark; we know what compelled him to tail Trayvon and confront him. The wannabe Avenger had a perception of blacks that convinced him the boy was a threat to his immaculate community.
We know what made Zimmerman think the way he did. What? You don’t listen to talk radio?
(Lesson One: Don’t wear a hoodie while drinking iced tea.)
And Trayvon isn’t the only Florida teen affected by a so-called community protector.
In the pre-dawn hours of May 28, 16-year-old Sebastian Gregory was shot four times in the back by a Miami-Dade police officer. Sebastian, a Latino, was walking through his neighborhood sometime after 3 a.m. – family members said he liked to take walks in the middle of the night to think. He carried a metal baseball bat for protection. As a spokeswoman for the police department explained, the officer stopped Sebastian because it was “3:30 in the morning, it was a residential area and he had a shiny object.”
(Lesson Two: Don’t carry keys or any metallic objects while walking through your neighborhood at night.)
Now, I haven’t seen a photo of Sebastian (officially none have been released), so I don’t know if the officer thought he looked Latino. I can only assume Sebastian appeared non-white, because I’ve never heard of a police officer shooting a Bieber look-alike in the back four times.
Still not convinced that gun violence has spiked due to racially-charged rhetoric?
Look what happened in South Texas on the very next day. In the border town of San Juan, a suburb of McAllen, a man was shot from someone in a passing car as he stood outside a polling center holding a campaign sign for Hector “JoJo” Mendez, who is running for Hidalgo County constable.
Maybe the shooter was black or Latino; in a completely twisted way, I hope he was black or Latino. But something makes me believe otherwise
(Lesson Three: Don’t carry a sign displaying the names “Hector” or “Mendez.”)
The three incidents mentioned above may have absolutely nothing in common, and yet, they may have everything in common.
The one possible element at play in all three shootings is fear. There is a brand of hate speech in America – just subtle enough to be tolerated – that looks to label blacks and Latinos (and anyone who looks like them) as a domestic threat. Latinos are painted as an invading horde of squat brutes, and blacks are deprecated as a fungus corroding America from within.
Simply put, some Americans are being told that the country is under attack by destructive agents posing as Americans. The messages’ aim to create mass hysteria, and so far, they’re successful.
Everyone needs to tone down the “us versus them” frame of thinking. Out of all the domestic issues troubling America at the moment – an economic recession, a failing immigration system, troubled schools, a growing national debt – no solution is bound to emerge from the barrel of a gun.
About Hector Luis Alamo, Jr.
That’s the problem when you let the media paint the picture. Still can’t do anything about the violence. That’s the world we live in
Sure it does, especially when you piss off some on BL!
Mario, why do you come on to this page if you hate it so much?
It’s like you practically live on this page. You spend an obscene amount of time on something you don’t like. Life must really suck for you to be wasting your time like that. You know what I do when I come across a page I have absolutely nothing nice to say about? I avoid it.
…and you’re accusing BL of violence when it comes to hateful rhetoric. That’s quite the accusation. Wanna make a wager? Find me one instance in which BL spewed hateful rhetoric that led to violence. If you fail to do so, you find another page to troll.
No I don’t live here but there always has to be another opinion or alternate view no matter how different. Myself and others supply that. If not, BL would just be one sided. And as to aggressive or violent rhetoric it has never come from you or Lance but there have been a few individuals on BL that have gotten very violent and have threatened. They are not here anymore.
Mario, I’m waiting… Either you leave or you write. But for you to constantly complain without doing anything to change things seems pretty childish, don’t you think? http://www.beinglatino.us/be-latino/guest-writer/
Mario, you say BL as if those people that have spewed hateful rhetoric are a part of the staff. You need to clarify, otherwise it seems as though you’re accusing the page as such. I wholeheartedly agree that there needs to be another opinion. I never said there shouldn’t be, but aside from your opposing views, you decide to bitch and moan about the page itself. Every writer on BL writes about whatever they want. They aren’t assigned a topic. They aren’t barred to write about certain topics. It’s not the magazine’s fault that it all seems to go on the contrary to your views. So either do something about that, or stop complaining.
No, the BL staff never says anything hateful. I don’t agree with 1/2 of what they say most of the time but that’s another story and they are entitled to think what they want.
Amen! Words are you best friend and your worst enemy!
amen
It is Fear… FYI the acronym for FEAR is: False Evidence Appearing Real.
The First Amendment does NOT protect against verbal threats or hate speech nor any other speech that can provoke a violent physical response. Too many people are under the notion that they can say whatever they want under the First Amendment. If it’s unconstitutional, then yes, it “can” hurt you. I’m just sayin…