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not entirely true
Nikole Hannah Jones, who knows a helluva lot more about the legacy of racism in the country than either of us, has talked about this notion that "racism (or racist) acts only exist inside the head of the potentially racist in question"
She frames it as an act of racism and talks about how - within the structure of racism in the country - it becomes a racist act. There's a focus on the act, rather than the individual - and I think your post is a good illustration as to why.
If you think that this act can never be known to be racist, because we can never know if these individuals are racist, then how do we have a conversation about racism in the country? We can't. It becomes psychoanalysis and really not efficient nor illustrative to discuss race.
Instead, the argument is that if the situation and its conclusion are reliably predictable or expected according to racist institutions in play, then the act is fairly discussed and analyzed as a racist act. Now, this doesn't have any legal binding, mind you. It's primarily for understanding and talking about how racism operates in this country on a daily basis.
So, while this might be a bit presumptive, I'd say that if we applied that to this case, what would we see that is the product of the legacy of racist practices and policies in the context of the country/area.
Black guy running through a white neighborhood being seen as a 'criminal'? Definitely qualifies.
Two white guys feeling as if the life of a visible minority worth less than a nonviolent/nonthreatening offense? Yes.
The treatment by the law apparatus, investigator, etc treating this as a less than case or demonstrating some preferential treatment by the white killers? Yes.
History of law enforcement and harassment of the black guy by - in this case - one of his murderers? Yes.
The post-event treatment and publicity of the 'trespassing' accusations with video that might not even be the guy (the 'they all look alike') as mitigating the 'deservedness'? Yes.
The reflection of this event in the experiences of a *lot* of blacks, much more broadly, in neighborhoods similarly profiled? Yes.
The desensitized, synecdoche-esque treatment of his physical body? Absolutely.
The 'forgiveness' of the other white people caught on camera at the same property in question? Yes.
And so on.
There are a ton of flags here. And I think discussing it as a racist act is absolutely reasonable. It fits so many well-established criteria of racist acts and practices and attitudes - like, a lot - that discussing as a racist event is absolutely merited.
This isn't about 'convicting' the two individuals as 'racist' as much as it needs to become a vehicle by which society improves.
Because if we stop the discussion every time 'what's in his head?' comes up, we'll never discuss it. And that's definitely what some people would rather, but it's not at all constructive. And it would let a *lot* of guilty people and acts go free.
But, more importantly, to do so would show people of color that we don't care about them or their discrimination or the indignities and suspicion they live with day by day. We show all sorts of compassion for the 'mentality' or 'psyche' of these individuals who commit the acts, but we end up ignoring the 'mentality' and 'psyche' of people who experience it directly or communally - and that's not even close to fair. It results in alienation of the people to whom we should be paying the *most* attention in the wake of something like this.
How much are we talking about these two individuals?
How much are we talking about the victim? His family? The mistreatment and subjugation of blacks, esp by whites in areas they are told 'you don't belong'? How much are we discussing the legacy of racism that leads to situations like this?
Not a whole lot.
Because people, too often, want to talk about whether or not two white dudes are racist - to do that, I think we're missing a much more important point.
Thanks for posting this. I think this laid things out very eloquently