African American Studies Commons^™

Racism In A Black White Binary: On The Reaction To Trayvon Martin’S Death, Peter Westmoreland

Center for the Study of Race & Race Relations: Lectures and Events

Some philosophers have contended that racism necessarily involves a binary structure. In the United States, the binary is coded in terms of Blacks and Whites and functions in part in this way: it describes violence as racist only if committed by whites against blacks and prescribes that all such violence is potentially racist. This concept operated during the immediate aftermath of Trayvon Martin’s death in both allegations of racism without strong evidence and assertions against George Zimmerman’s being white that were intended to protect him. While perhaps no racism was involved in Martin’s death, we do well to remember that …