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A Letter to a White Boy Named Andy …
By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
Dear Andy,
By now you should have heard a lot of talk, comments and
opinions about the death of the black teenager, Jordan
Davis, who was murdered while allegedly arguing with a white
adult male about loud music coming from his parked car at a
carryout in Florida.
The car that he was in was shot at 10 times by this white
male who was enraged by this “thug music” and he concocted a
lie saying that he felt his life was in dire jeopardy
because he thought he saw a gun in the car. (Note: no gun
was ever found or anything that resembled a gun).
This white male had such a craven disregard for human life
that after he murdered the teen (and placed the other three
black terrified males in the car in dire jeopardy of their
lives), he and his girlfriend left the carryout and went
home and had pizza and wine!
The shooter did not call the police until the next day. To
his way of thinking, he might as well ran over a possum in
the street by the way he treated the murder of one black
teen and threatened the lives of the other three teens.
Now remember, this murder was after the killing of the black
teen, Trayvon Martin, and was also done in the gun happy
state of Florida.
Why did not the shooter show some empathy or remorse for his
untoward actions against an unarmed teen? Apparently, in the
mindset of the shooter, that black teen’s life was of
minimal value and why should he inconvenience himself by
waiting around for the police to arrive…after all, we are
only talking about black folks.
The cowardly shooter could have easily left the area by
calling to his girlfriend, who was in the store at the time,
and driving elsewhere…or he could have put up with the “thug
music” (as he called it) and, upon finishing the carryout
business, leave… hurling curses and invectives in his
pathway.
The callous shooter did neither. He was in a bloodlust and
he wanted to be satisfied and that is why he imagined his
life was in danger and that is how he fortified this fantasy
lie so he could justify pulling out his gun and blowing that
teen into the next life.
The shooter…the bully…the racist gun slinger…the coward…the
liar…wanted revenge. Revenge against “thug music.” Revenge
against black people. Revenge against his perceived threats
of black people taking over. Revenge against his false
sense of security that can only be ameliorated by the use of
a loaded weapon.
The dead black teen had no options. No chance. He was facing
the spectre of death in spite of anything he could do…or not
do.
The firing of 10 bullets into that car meant that the
shooter wanted to establish himself as the John Wayne of
that carryout and all that mattered was that his bloodlust
had to be quenched.
All that mattered is that he had a chance to arguably
relieve pent up hatred and anger against black people via
the code words of, “thug music.”
His 10 angry bullets spoke that message in ten different
life threatening ways.
You then fast-forward to a trial where a jury was incredibly
unable to find this killer guilty of first or second degree
murder. We do not yet know the numbers that made up the
mistrial on the murder charge but for a jury to not find the
shooter’s act deliberate…10 times over… is a stretch of
credulity.
You may have also heard of black parents now either telling
or re-telling this story with admonitions to their male
children that they need to “step lightly and circumspectly”
when dealing in or with any situation involving not only the
police but now also, the added burden of a non-black person
who carries around a presumed or apparent authority to act
like a cop (backed up with a loaded gun) in a situation
involving black youths.
You may have heard the recent story of a 76- year-old white
male in Minnesota who confronted, shot and killed his
next-door neighbor who was a 13-year-old black kid whom he
thought broke into his house and stole some guns.
The kid was shot to death while his frantic mother and other
witnesses looked on. The kid’s crime at the time of the
shooting? Taking out the trash, in the middle of the day and
being confronted by this gun-toting angry white man.
The conversation has again been with black parents telling
their kids, especially the black male child, that living in
America, even in a so-called safe gated community (where
Trayvon Martin was visiting his father at the time of his
murder) is fraught with danger and you just do not know when
a black parent could get a call from the police department
or, worse yet, the coroner’s office, saying that your son
has been shot dead.
For your parents, Andy, such a call would be rare because
you walk around with the mantle of the presumed innocence
due to white skin privileges and the gun-toting policeman or
wannabe vigilante are, for the most part, white.
Andy, you got it “made in the shade” with the societal grant
of white skin privileges! If there is a doubt between you
and a black kid in the same and similar situation, the
investigators (probably being white) will give you the
benefit of the doubt when they see who you are, where you
come from and how well you speak the English language.
Yes, Andy, society has weighted it “goodies” towards you and
your posse. The good low-hanging fruit of this society bends
toward the kid who has white skin and blue eyes, who does
not drop the endings of his words… even if you wear a hoodie
and like to listen to black rap or hip hop music blaring out
of headphones or a car.
Andy, society allows the white skin privileges that you
consciously or unconsciously enjoy as a cloak for giving you
the benefit of the doubt that you are a good white kid and,
as such, you are given every benefit of the doubt that, when
in trouble, law enforcement will say to each other and to
the media, “ that’s Andy, he is one of us.”
Andy, my boy, society has given you a pass that it will
honor and protect unless and until you do something so foul
and heinous that it will revoke your white skin privileges
in order to make sure that the next Andy can still use or
benefit from them.
Andy, by accident of birth, you are given a pass to the
American Dream if you just keep your nose clean, work hard
and follow the script.
You know the script: you can act out while you are young and
even act like a wannabe black boy, and with all of the
gesturings, clothes, shoes and music, you can act out your
fantasies but when it is time to close down the show and act
white, you gotta know when to assert the white-skin
privileges and return to “your own.”
So, go ahead Andy, have the time of your life, walking that
tightrope between obedience and disobedience, indulging in
any forbidden fruits that catch your eye with the safe
realization that if things get tough, really tough, and you
are caught up in a jam involving race, you can lean back,
smile and throw down that race card that… “get out of jail
free card” and walk away and make it home…alive.
In closing, Andy, enjoy your race card but at least have
some respect for yourself that you will seek out to know how
America’s long and tortuous racial history that has caused
such a card to be issued to the Andys in the USA.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at Tolliver@Juno.com |
