Say That: From Asam Ahmad’s “We are NOT all Trayvon: Challenging Anti-Black Racism in POC Communities”

WeAreAllTrayvon

So many words. The outpouring over the last five days has been overwhelming. I can’t scroll through Twitter or refresh the pages on my favorite blogs and news sources for the latest commentary and reflections fast enough. The gamut of emotion on display has been raw, with many folks extending their anger over the acquittal of George Zimmerman to a frank analysis of the failure of our U.S. justice system for people of color, especially Black folks.

Of all the words, the ones that say “We are ALL Trayvon” have troubled me the most. They’ve been repeated during rallies and painted on t-shirts with genuine aims of solidarity from Black, Brown, and white folks alike. But what does perpetuating this idea that we are “all” implicated in the experience of Trayvon Martin do for our understanding of exactly how our system is specifically structured to allow for the murder of Trayvon Martin, a Black boy, and the acquittal of his murderer, a white Hispanic man? Asam Ahmad, posting his essay over at Black Girl Dangerous, captured the limitations of this sentiment with a necessary pointedness:

Those of us who are not Black need to be very explicitly clear about this: Trayvon was not murdered because he was a person of color. This verdict was not delivered because he was a person of color. Trayvon was murdered because he was Black. This verdict was delivered because he was Black. Given the amount of intense anti-Black racism that continues to circulate in non-Black poc communities, given the number of ways we continue to benefit from anti-Black racism, it is paramount that we do not forget this. To appropriate the specificity of this injustice, to attempt to universalize this travesty as one faced by all people of color is to perpetuate another form of violence. To not acknowledge the role and specificity of anti-Black racism in this whole charade is another form of violence. This murder and this verdict are very specifically about anti-black racism – about the power of White supremacy and about what it means to have a black body in a White supremacist society.

Say that!

In case you missed the link above, please read his entire post here