"Progress:" Twitter culture celebrates Trayvon Martin's birthday, awards Zimmerman celebrity status

The Trayvon Martin case was so publicized that it seemed to become a part of pop culture -- the same way we Keep Up with the Kardashians, we tuned in to CNN for the case updates. It was controversial, provocative, complex, and America ate it up.

It was hard to see through the haze of cheap media buzz that surrounded the trial. Consequently, I was reluctant to speak on the issue when it resurfaced in honor of Trayvon’s recently-passed birthday. The way I was made aware of Trayvon’s birthday was, alone, enough to discourage me from adding to the media buzz. A Trending Topic on Twitter, I saw #HappyBirthdayTrayvon in the same spot on the social media website that #RIPShirleyTemple appeared days later. Was Trayvon a martyr or a pop icon?

Even more inappropriately, Zimmerman’s notoriety has rewarded him with a celebrity status. (See George Zimmerman sightings in tabloid magazines/newsy-gossip sites.) Coverage of the cancelled “George Zimmerman celebrity boxing match” falls under the cheap media buzz umbrella, too.

Via impromptu conversations, I have found that my family and friends draw mirrored conclusions about the case.

I also find these similar conclusions unsatisfactory in their analysis of the tragedy.

We've already juxtaposed George Zimmerman’s malicious cowardice and Trayvon innocence. We know Zimmerman was a blood-thirsty-cop-wannanbee and Trayvon a black-boy-shooting-target. We have examined the reasons Zimmerman should have waited for back up, and what effect Trayvon’s raised hood had on his “martyrdom.” But I think there is something being held back here. To individually label Trayvon “victim,” Zimmerman “evil-doer,” and put a “past tragedy” stamp on this horror story is too easy. We are missing the 3-Dimensional perpetual nature of this injustice: both parties are manifestations of the systematic racism that’s plagued this country for centuries.

Told from Zimmerman’s perspective, SIUE freshman Kenny Coleman’s spoken word piece Dark Knight Vigilantes tells the true story of Trayvon Martin. It is the first accurate analysis of the tragedy that I've heard.

(You may not be able to view this clip on your phone. This is a technical difficulty that reaches beyond my elementary technological capabilities. Please go to the online version of my blog to watch. It's worth it.)

"He was just another impersonation, another abomination, because only my kind can be the Dark Knight Vigilantes - why do you think we kill off all your activists and missionaries?"

To those subscribing to the racist ideology that killed him – Zimmermanism-- Trayvons pose a threat. White fathers fearing the depth of their daughters’ fascination with forbidden fruit, White parents choosing flight when they see their children’s schools “diversifying,” and White conservatives who – behind closed bedroom doors -- always mention Obama’s race in their disapproving rants, are all Zimmermanist thinkers. This wasn’t a White man killing a Black boy. He was, as Kenny called him, a White knight, eliminating the Black threat.

"The color of his skin had my nerves, itching"

Zimmermanism blurs the line between rational -- albeit inherently racist -- protectiveness, and blind hate. Trayvons -- a threat to the Zimmermanist way of life -- must be eliminated. With this, the actions of Zimmermanist neighborhood watchmen become lethal. If it really were just about protection, the sight of “suspicious-looking” Trayvons wouldn’t make Zimmermanists itch. Intruders should scare neighborhood watchmen, not repulse them. In using “itching,” Kenny heightens our senses, making us more keenly aware of what Zimmermanists feel. For us, to “itch” most basically means to possess a compulsion to scratch. With this, Kenny’s words paint images of Zimmermanists with the urge to eradicate their neighborhoods of the Trayvon itch. Additionally, itching is the sensation we feel after finding a bug crawling up our shins; we start to itch all over –our scalps tingling, the stubby hairs on our legs buzzing with electricity- “itch” is associated with a sense of crazed, frantic paranoia.

"As we exchanged, mocking words, and knocking fists, I closed in, I couldn’t win, so I … I responded with self-defense"

Hearing this, I felt Kenny was drawing a profound parallel. He aligned Zimmerman drawing his gun, after realizing he was physically outmatched by Trayvon, with the collective White man's political use of excessive force: systematically oppressing Black people after finding physical attacks to be an ineffective deterrent. Furthermore, Kenny asserts that this institutionalized racism has been justified as self-defense. 

Whenever fists are knocking, a loser inevitably emerges. Once the loser in a fight realizes he is outmatched, he may start to play dirty. Maybe he’ll use a firearm. Maybe he’ll kick his component while he’s down. Maybe he’ll call for some back up, making the fight unfair. 

This is the literal side of the parallel Kenny draws. However, the more insidious side of this scenario materializes when the battle is actually not physical at all.

It is more often the case that Zimmermanists employ politics -- and not direct, physical violence -- in the elimination of the Trayvon threat. In Chicago, Zimmermanists have historically contained the threat to specific sections (“hoods”) of the city. The threat is quarantined: separated from White school districts, unharmful to White children. This quarantine is a last-ditch effort, resulting from the repeated Zimmermanist underestimation of Trayvons. The day they realize our mental and spiritual strength outmatches racist hate, Zimmermanists begin fumbling for their political firearms. Historically, these firearms have been manifested in the instances of massive resistance to passed desegregation and affirmative action laws, White flight that leads to lowered (Black) property values, and we could see Zimmermanist nails pinning the “Whites Only” signs in place above public eateries, bathrooms, and water fountains.

Today, bullet shell casings emblazoned with an indignant “Z” lay at the feet of Jordan Davis’s body.

As abhorrent as this history is, we live in the age of Twitter activism -- an era in which real world tragedies are viewed through a reality TV lens. Consequently, "Zimmerman Spotted" occupies the same tabloid headline space allotted for "Kim K. files for divorce after 72 Days."  Apparently, both are celebrities to Keep Up with.