Fear of Smiling Men
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Transcript of Fear of Smiling Men
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Then I would hand that story to people like George Zimmerman.
A lot of what I have read about George Zimmerman and the tragic not guilty verdict those six
jurors came to last Saturday has been about hate. Zimmerman was driven by hate; those six
women must hate black people; the criminal justice system hates black people too. Hate, hate,
hate, hate, hate hate
Im not writing this to disagree with any of it. Our interpretations about this American tragedy
are ours to have, but mine is slightly different. Hate isnt why Zimmerman killed Trayvon
Martin. Fear is why George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin.
George Zimmerman was afraid of Trayvon Martin because Trayvon Martin was black. GeorgeZimmerman feared Trayvon Martin because black people adorned in something as simple as a
hoodie and khakis and sneakers with a bag of candy in their hand look dangerous to people
who are either not black themselves or isolate themselves from black people to the point where
most of their exposure to them is via the media and entertainment.
George Zimmerman feared Trayvon Martin because he never saw one of the numerous pictures
of the young black boy smiling.
There are laws in place to prevent hate crimes. As a matter of fact, the New York Times
reported (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/us/justice-department-to-restart-hate-crime-
investigation-in-trayvon-martins-death.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0) the Justice
Department has re-opened an inquiry into whether or not Trayvons murder was a hate crime.
If you read that article you will notice a disturbing quote at the end (spoiler alert!): There
arent that many of these cases, and it is not because the government is not being vigilant, said
William R. Yeomans, a former chief of staff in the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division. It
is very difficult to establish a defendants state of mind.
Hate is a common emotion. Everyone hates someone. The vast majority of us dont deal with
that hatred by taking the lives of the person we hate or a person from the group of people we
hate. We dont go to such extremes because deep down inside we know hating someone isnt a
reason to kill them. Also because most of the people we hate are people we probably knew and
liked at some point. The people or group of people we hate that we know nothing about, well,
theyre not really worth the bullet or the effort to eliminate and theyre definitely not worth the
time we would get in prison for acting on our hatred.
But the way people deal with fear is entirely different and transparent. If you look closely
enough, you can sometimes see or smell fear on someone, and the way they deal with that fear,
in places like the state of Florida, is legal, coded by the words stand your ground.
Hate is not why managers and salespeople people will follow you around in stores. Hate is not
why some places only allow 5 percent black people into the club. Hate is not why I got stopped
and frisked by a police officer in the park around the corner from my apartment one night.
The fear something bad is going to happen is what prompts those things.
Zimmerman created a mythology about Martin based on recent events in his neighborhood. He
was, by all accounts, an overzealous, paranoid, neighborhood watch volunteer who thought he
had a reason to protect his home. He bought a gun to ensure such safety.
At face value, these actions are taken by someone who is not afraid. But factor in all the 911 calls
Zimmerman made over the years, and you see Zimmerman wasnt driven by bravery. He was a
neighborhood watchman because he was afraid. Its sort of like the reason I try to swim. I dont
particularly like the water, but Im afraid of drowning, therefore I attack a pool and swim any
chance I get to make sure I dont fall victim to the thing I fear.
I keep looking at two photos of Trayvon Martin in two different football uniforms. In one, he is
wearing a huge smile on his face. In the other, he isnt smiling, but you can just tell hed much
rather be showing his teeth.
I want people who arent black to try and see themselves in these pictures of Trayvon Martin. I
certainly do, and its not because of his skin complexion. Its because like me, he smiles morethan he grills at a lens. A lot of people have no idea how counter-culture such a thing is.
When I was a child, I played one year of Pop Warner football for the Seaside Raiders. On the
day we took our team picture, our black coach told our majority black team NOT to smile. A
couple of my teammates looked at me and said, Jozen, you better listen to coach.
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This had everything to do with the culture of our city and our team. We were the Seaside
Raiders. We wore black and silver jerseys. Seaside was the black city in the county. Football is a
sport driven by fear and going face to face against that fear. The entire point of not smiling in
the team photo was less about looking like we werent afraid, and more about putting fear into
others. When we would do tackle drills, anytime a player looked shook, the coach would make
them go against a much bigger player. Were going to get that fear out of you, the coach
would say. In his eyes, the way you dealt with fear is you attacked it.
Zimmerman had the same philosophy.
George Zimmerman wasnt a racist because he hated Trayvon Martin, he was a racist for fearing
Trayvon Martin simply because he was black. In the coming days, weeks, and months, peoplewill talk a lot about trying to erase the hate, but I want to try and figure out a way to erase the
fear of others who dont look like us, talk like us, or socialize with us.
I believe people are two things: Inherently good and inherently afraid of what they dont know.
The former makes it difficult for us to be the latter sometimes and thats unfortunate.
I wish more people would open their eyes and face their fear with peace rather than aggression
and violence. I wish George Zimmerman would have simply asked Trayvon Martin where he
was going and remained in his car, instead of cha rging after him with a gun. But I wish most of
all George Zimmerman wasnt afraid of a boy who liked to smile. Trayvon Martin didnt have to
die. There was no reason to fear him.
Jozen Cummings is the creator of the blog Until I Get Married(http://untiligetmarried.com/), where this essay was first published. He has written for
numerous publications including, Grantland.com,Vibe Magazine, andPaper magazine. He is
a native of Seaside, California and currently lives in Harlem. He can be reached at on Twitter
@jozenc. (https://twitter.com/jozenc)
In a project overseen by contributing editor
Kiese Laymon (mailto:[email protected]),
Gawker is running a personal essay
(http://gawker.com/5927452/how-to-
slowly-kill-yourself-and-others-in-america-
a-remembrance) every weekend
(http://www.poynter.org/latest-
news/making-sense-of-
news/183518/gawker-essay-experiment-
brings-weekend-audience-attention-to-
new-writers/). Please send suggestions to
(mailto:[email protected]).
How to Slowly Kill
Yourself and Others in
America: A
Remembrance
(http://gawker.com/5927452/how-to-slowly-kill-
yourself-and-others-in-america-a-remembrance)
Gawker published the essay, "How to Slowly Kill
Yourself and Others in America" last year, three
weeks after George Zimmerman told Sean
Read (http://gawker.com/5927452/how-to-
slowly-kill-yourself-and-others-in-america-a-
remembrance)
(http://gawker.com/5927452/how-
to-slowly-kill-
yourself-and-
others-in-
america-a-
remembrance)
Discuss
38 discussions displayed because an author
is participating or following a participant.
94 additional replies awaiting review.
32 participants
GoOnWithoutMe (http://goo
What Makes You Liberal Or Conservative?
Fear In Both Cases, Says Study
http://www.science20.com/news_releases/..
.
(http://www.science20.com/news_releases/
what_makes_you_liberal_or_conservative_
fear_in_both_cases_says_study)
More on fear
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2...
(http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/
09/fearmongering-h/)
28
144 participants
PeteRR (http://peterr.kinja.c
What's stunning is the detachment from
reality and its substitution with the
conventional wisdom. Zimmerman is a racist
even though there is zero evidence of that
and the FBI's investigation backed that up.
Zimmerman is afraid of Martin not because
Martin was kicking the crap out of him and
was afraid he'd die, but because Trayvon was
black.
Martin started the physical confrontation.
That isn't disputed by the Prosecution or his
girlfriend. I imagine he wasn't doing a lot of
smiling as he broke Zimmerman's nose and
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