A few weeks ago, while walking to my car after teaching a class on Lindell Boulevard, I saw a white woman who was approaching me on the sidewalk clutch her purse on her hip, cross the street and head past me continuing in the same direction. Out of curiosity, I looked backwards, and I saw her cross back to my side of the street after I had passed.
A few days later, as I shopped for some incidentals at a local convenience store, I looked up and suddenly realized that the Asian-American store owner had “coincidentally” decided to start reshelving items on my aisle, shifting to the next aisle every few minutes to coincide with where I was.
These types of incidents happen every single day to black professionals in St. Louis and across the country. Instead of taking these incidents personally, I have shrugged off the irrational fear that people of all ethnicities display towards black men and boys as simple ignorance not worth my concern. However, this reaction might have been a mistake. In a tragic way, Trayvon Martin’s case has illustrated how costly these fears, assumptions and suspicions can be.
As a student in law school, I found an entry point into jurisprudence through exposure to a school of legal thought called critical race theory. This theory was founded by one-time Harvard Law Professor Derrick Bell – the same Derrick Bell that President Obama has recently been criticized for hugging during his days as a student. Critical race theory takes an honest account of the role racism plays in American law and attempts to confront that sad legacy. One of my professors, Charles Lawrence, was a major figure in the field. Lawrence argued that anti-discrimination laws should not require that racism be intentional, because racism works most often though unconscious assumptions, like those made by the store owner or the woman on the street – or George Zimmerman.
Lawrence’s point applies to current federal laws in this case. Even if we all know that Zimmerman would not have accosted a young white girl who was wearing a hoodie and walking down the street, he cannot be prosecuted for hate crime or for racial discrimination in this case unless intent can be proven – unless he uttered a racial slur in the moments before his approach.
But whether Zimmerman uttered the slur or not, the law should recognize that his suspicion, if based on Trayvon’s race, was wrong. Trayvon was one of many young, defenseless black children who must cope with the daily “micro-aggressions” that society imposes on them due to unconscious racism. The incredible psychological strain these incidents put upon the black community is a real harm, and both the community and the law must recognize that.
Zimmerman and the Sanford, Florida police have now amplified this strain considerably. African-American parents and families must now confront the very real possibility that not only could these micro-aggressions damage their children’s self concept or thrust them unfairly into the criminal justice system, but it also appears that a vigilante can murder their children in cold blood without legal penalty as a result of a micro-aggression gone haywire.
None of this would be possible in the absence of lawmakers and law enforcement, which gave Zimmerman easy access to firearms, the immunity to shoot without the duty to retreat and the flexibility find a young black man “suspicious” at a whim.
Moreover, it is a mistake to believe that because the Missouri Legislature has not passed a “stand your ground” law, the case does not reach St. Louis. I believe that we would have an even greater level of concern if we knew precisely how many people in greater St. Louis – shopkeepers, law enforcement, and neighborhood watchmen – share Zimmerman’s feelings on what constitutes something suspicious. This is not equal justice under law.
This incident has had a dramatic impact on the lives of African-American parents and families, and it will be unmitigated tragedy if it does not spark a larger conversation on our community’s attitudes towards black children.
Hansford is an assistant professor at Saint Louis University School of Law.
