There are so many stories about institutional racism going around on Facebook and Twitter right now it is hard to keep track of them all. Here is a small sampling:
LeVar Burton explains his ritual to prevent being shot by police
Actor and director LeVar Burton explained Monday on CNN that he follows a particular procedure every time he is stopped by police to avoid a potentially deadly confrontation. He removes his hat and sunglasses, rolls down his window, and puts out his hands to show he is not armed.
Fla. mom gets 20 years for firing warning shots
Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville had said the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law should apply to her because she was defending herself against her allegedly abusive husband when she fired warning shots inside her home…
The Zimmerman Jury Told Young Black Men What We Already Knew
“Are you safe right now?” he asked again.
My girlfriend was white. I am not.
Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s not right,’” Nguyen, 28, said. “Do they think they’re animals, and they don’t want them to breed anymore?”
Stand Your Ground Increases Racial Bias in “Justifiable Homicide” Trials
The data is clear, compared to white-on-white crimes, stand your ground increases the likelihood of a not-guilty finding, but only when a person is accused of killing a black person.
For generations, African American parents have imparted “special knowledge” to their children…
Is George Zimmerman white or Hispanic? That depends
The genius of white supremacy is in its elasticity: It can expand to include the not-quite-right, the off-whites, when necessary, and then otherize and eject us when convenient.
The Trayvon Martin Killing and the Myth of Black-on-Black Crime
There’s no such thing as “black-on-black” crime. Yes, from 1976 to 2005, 94 percent of black victims were killed by black offenders, but that racial exclusivity was also true for white victims of violent crime—86 percent were killed by white offenders. Indeed, for the large majority of crimes, you’ll find that victims and offenders share a racial identity, or have some prior relationship to each other.
The Whole System Failed Trayvon Martin
The system failed him when everyone in the courtroom raised racial bias in roundabout ways, but almost never directly
Questlove: Trayvon Martin and I Ain’t Shit
Seriously, imagine a life in which you think of other people’s safety and comfort first, before your own.