Ever since the 8-day old verdict in the George Zimmerman's case, there has been some fear among African-Americans that they might be the next victim of another non-black amateur security guy who pretends to be "standing his ground".
(example at http://www.salon.com/2013/07/14/how_power_works_in_america/)
That's not much different from those European-Americans who spend a lot of time being afraid of "the black thug", "the Mexican illegal" or "the Muslim terrorist"?
(example at http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2007/06/hypocracy-of-anti-immigration-fascists.html)
The politically incorrect reality is that in the over-whelming majority of crimes, the predator and the victim are of the same race.
In other words, an African-American is more likely to be a victim of a black-on-black crime than to be a victim of some white/Jew/Latino amateur security guy.
And a European-American is more likely to be a victim of a white-on-white crime than to be a victim of some "black thug", "Mexican illegal" or "Muslim terrorist".
But for some reason, it's harder to fear someone who look like your brother or cousin than it is to fear someone who looks different from you.
It's easier to be afraid when you look different from the crowd, than to be afraid of a crowd of folks who look like you, even when some in the crowd are obnoxious jerks.
This isn't just a "black thing" or a "white thing".
Here in Hawaii, there is a fear of the Micronesian, the most recent group of immigrants.
They're not any more violent than other racial groups here, but any incident that involves them leads to tons of racist commentary online that doesn't happen much if the incident involves Asians or Native Hawaiians.
Even articles about public housing complexes (ie Kuhio Park Terrace, Mayor Wrights, Palolo Valley Homes, etc.) recieve tons of racist commentary about Micronesians, even though the problems of those public housing complexes (ie. damaged facilities, crime, public drunkenness) were going on WAY BEFORE the Micronesians started to move in.
Even when the Micronesia Mart was being built, I was hearing racist comments about it on the bus or in online forums. Well, the store just opened and I went inside. The staff was very nice and helpful. The store was clean and organized. They don't deserve the hateful racist abuse that I've been hearing.
In fact, most of the Micronesians I know (from the schools, workplaces, stores, etc) are very nice people. Sure, there's a few knuckleheads among them, but the same is true about other racial groups as well.
But too many in Hawaii view them as "The Other", too many in Hawaii only want the racial mixture that was there when they were born.
Even my uncle, who used to complain about racism and injustices against his favorite groups (ie Native Hawaiians, African-Americans) is now complaining about Micronesians moving to his neighborhood. Well, uncle, keep this crap up and I will put your name on my blog posts and expose you to the light! (this is the same uncle I mentioned before that complains about facebook even though he never tried it, and keeps complaining about things getting worse when they're not! He wants to party like it's 1979 all over again! It's probably change in general that he fears more than any racial group, but he's still wrong!)
But even before the Micronesian immigration, there was a different fear of "The Other" in Hawaii. There used to be a fear of the Filipinos and Samoans just a few decades ago. They were stereotyped as thuggish people who will only be living in poverty. But now many of them have middle-class jobs and live in the suburbs.
And before that, there was a fear of the "Japanese takeover"! It turned out later that the Japanese-Americans are can be just as American as all those descendants of European immigrants
We need to stop fearing "The Other"! We need to learn to accept diversity! We need to accept the fact there will be new racial and cultural groups moving to your neighborhood! We need to put things in perspective!
AS Rodney King once said, "can't we all just get along?"
