An article in the Detroit Free Press cleared up some great facts about the Trayvon Martin case that I had not heard. Anything from the weight and height of both involved to why Trayvon was there and where the shot entered his body were stated. I spoke with African-American student Dominique Howard about it, and he had some interesting thoughts on the entire situation.
His take was that there is no need to make this case about race. He said that he is not interested in the case as a member of the black community, basically citing that it is just another murder of someone he doesn't know.
" It is a thing of the past, people are killed and issues are not resolved. It is not the first time it has happened nor will it be the last," Howard said.
My take-away from talking with him is that it is possible that the media creates more issues with race than they resolve. To Dom, the fact that it was a white man killing a black man did not trigger an angry reaction any more than if it were a different situation. His position was that the media blow things out of proportion and have a big part of these racial issues.
I agree with him in the respect that the use of mass media to get news out fast and sometimes without details causes misinformation for those not close to the situation. For example, someone here in Minnesota who heard a tweet from a reporter saying a black teenager was killed by white man will immediately look at it suspiciously.
Because we live in a world where immediate and quick are valued, no one takes the time to let the facts come out or read into all of the scenarios. This leads to a misinformed public and non-issues turn into widespread debate.
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