"Why are white people so mean"? This is the question the 8 year old grand daughter of a friend asked her as they left the movie theater after seeing the movie The Help. My friend was shocked at first, thinking maybe the movie was too mature for an 8 year old, but then she decided to turn it into one of those teachable moments. Over ice cream at Maggie Moo's she explained that not all white people were mean, she reminded her of her teachers, friends, neighbors, and other white people in her life who weren't mean to black folks. She told her not to judge people by the color of their skin but how they treated her (the content of their character), and to apply the golden rule, treat others as you wish to be treated. My friend said her granddaughter appeared to be satisfied by her answer, but she was sure the movie had an impact that would influence her future prospective, because even an 8 years old knows the difference between good and mean.
Just as my friend explained to her grand daughter that the actions of some aren't the actions of all, the nation needs to know that not all black people are criminals just because of the color of the skin.
Trayvon Martin was killed because he was black. George Zimmerman, the Sanford Police Department and the 0% African American jury, assumed he "was up to no good", not because he was "up to no good", but because he was a black male, was walking home from the store, with candy and a drink, talking on the phone, at 7:00 PM, wearing a hoodie. It's too bad their grandmothers didn't teach them that not all black people are bad.
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And they turned down black jurors for Zimmerman! Prosecutors allowed it!
"Juries formed from all-white jury pools in Florida convicted black defendants 16 percent more often than white defendants, a gap that was nearly eliminated when at least one member of the jury pool was black, according to a Duke University-led study....
When the jury pool included at least one black person, the conviction rates were nearly identical: 71 percent for black defendants, 73 percent for whites....
When blacks were in the jury pool, they were slightly more likely to be seated on a jury than whites. The eligible jury population in these counties was less than 5 percent black."
More:
http://today.duke.edu/2012/04/jurystudy
And they say it's not about race.
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