By Ryan Bomberger
Trayvon’s exploited and tragic death is not about race but about bolstering a false ideology and justifying misdirected violent behavior.
Late last Saturday the verdict on the Zimmerman trial, made front-page news by mainstream media, declared: “Not Guilty.” Trayvon Martin’s death and the perversion of justice that now seeks more death (e.g., Facebook and Twitter posts calling for Zimmerman to be murdered) illuminate the potent ability of news media to shape a nation’s perception.
Invoking Dr. Martin Luther King, talk show host Tavis Smiley asserted on ABC’s This Week: “Zimmerman knew nothing of Trayvon Martin’s character. All he saw was color.” Apparently color didn’t stop him or mainstream media from depicting this tragedy as a white-on-black . . . sorry . . . “white Hispanic”-on-black-crime.
The death of black men, according to racialists like Smiley, Jackson, and Sharpton, is due to racism. Calling Zimmerman a “white Hispanic” enables perpetuating the false narrative that black males mostly die at the hands of white men. As someone who is as black as Obama (does that make me a “white black”?), my heart is to see a nation engaged in healthy conversation about race and constructive action. This is not it.
There can’t be helpful national dialogue unless there’s context. According to the FBI, a larger percentage of white victims of firearm homicide are killed by black offenders (14 percent) than black victims killed by white offenders (7.2 percent). That’s twice the murder rate. To add further clarity, 91 percent of the 2,695 black victims of firearm homicide in 2011 were killed by other blacks—91 percent. Yet somehow, Trayvon’s death is exalted as representing racism and “gun control” failure in our country. Hoodies popped up everywhere in a visceral reaction to an exploited case that doesn’t reflect reality.
Who was willing to riot for the other 11,078 homicides, where the overwhelming majority of offenders were black? Which media outlet demanded justice for those killed by black assailants who were responsible for 37.7 percent of all homicides (whites were responsible for 32.5 percent)? The CDC reports the rate of firearm deaths among whites, in 2010, was 1.93 per 100,000 people. Among blacks, this was 10.5 times higher, at 20.35 per 100,000. Who is mourning this black-on-black violence with a march, press conference, new rap single, or moments of silence at concerts?
TOO MANY WANT EMOTION AND NO EVIDENCE.
The faux outrage from liberals over racial violence reveals itself when repeated occurrences involve black-on-white or black-on-black violence. These planned events are regurgitated incessantly in 24-hour news cycles. They barely, if at all, get mentioned by national news outlets. When flash mobs of black teens threatened others in violent acts across the country, local news media mostly blacked out race from any description. Noted economist, social theorist, and author Thomas Sowell, who is black, called this deplorable flash mob behavior “social degeneration.” From Wisconsin to Philadelphia to D.C. to Virginia Beach, these increasing acts of racially motivated behavior don’t seem to alarm the senses of the race hucksters who cry racism at every chance. Tens of thousands of black students (mostly college) descended upon Virginia Beach this past April as part of an urban BeachWeekVA event which resulted in three shootings, two stabbings, three robberies, 181 arrests, and over 300 (mostly unanswered) 911 calls in one night.
There are plenty of black families, teenagers, and young adults who are appalled at this behavior. These teens do not represent all black Americans. Their actions, to our nation’s detriment, are excused and hidden by institutions that should be exposing this fatal behavior and put youth crime into perspective. Demonizing Zimmerman allows the focus to be diverted from the far larger epidemic of violence plaguing our teens in America’s urban settings.
Here is where so much of this intersects: fatherlessness. The Radiance Foundation addresses this loss in numerous speaking events and ad campaigns. According to the Department of Justice, youth in homes with single unmarried heads of household are nearly four times more likely to experience higher rates of serious violent crime than those living in a two-parent married home. Nearly 73 percent of all black children are born into homes without fathers. Father absence has been killing the black community for decades. But you won’t see the victim evangelists out there talking about that. The NAACP? Nope. The Urban League? Nope. The Congressional Black Caucus? Nope. There are plenty of references to “pipeline to prison,” unemployment, and alleged voter suppression by these groups but no mention, at all, of the epidemic of fatherlessness.
And these groups are some of the most ardent supporters of an industry that encourages fatherlessness—the abortion industry. More black babies are aborted than are born alive in NYC, home of Planned Parenthood, enabling the city’s males to avoid becoming men. In response to the verdict, the NAACP called the “right to life” the most fundamental right. Of course, that doesn’t apply to the unborn, black-on-black violence, or women killed by abortionists. Planned Parenthood even tweeted, in response to the Zimmerman’s acquittal: “In the wake of the tragic Trayvon Martin case, Dr. King’s words ring especially true: Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The nation’s largest abortion chain, which disproportionately kills black babies up to six times more than the majority population (as in NYC), has the audacity to invoke words about justice from a pro-life Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?
The NAACP is now calling on the Department of Justice to bring federal charges against a Hispanic man whose lawyers convinced an all-women jury (so much for the “Trust Women!” mantra) that it was an act of self-defense. Yet, why didn’t the nation’s oldest (selective) civil rights organization—so eager to blame racism—demand justice for Odin Lloyd? Where was the march and the publicized national outrage for the death of Odin, a young black man? He was allegedly killed by a “white Hispanic,” too. (NFL’s Aaron Hernandez is Puerto Rican, Irish and Italian.)
Our hearts go out to the Martin and Zimmerman families. Tragically, Trayvon has become a statistic. And it would be a miracle if Zimmerman doesn’t become one, too, with the racial unrest the media establishment and like-minded liberals continue to foment. Trayvon Martin’s death should be a catalyst for our willingness to be honest about our country’s violent behavior, our desperate need for fathers, and the racial unity that benefits us all.
Ryan Bomberger is the chief creative officer of The Radiance Foundation, an educational, life-affirming 501(c)(3) organization. Through creative ad campaigns, powerful multimedia presentations, and compassionate community outreach, Ryan and his wife, Bethany, illuminate social issues in the context of God-given purpose. He is an Emmy Award winning creative professional who has launched the first public ad campaign focusing on the disproportionate impact of abortion in the black community, called TooManyAborted.com. As an adoptee and adoptive father, he dedicates his entrepreneurial and creative passion to educating the public about the intrinsic value we all possess.
This article has been reprinted with permission and can be found at http://www.theradiancefoundation.org/trayvons-death-and-the-blaxploitation-of-the-right-to-life/.