I don't have cable so I couldn't see the virtual sparring that went on between Piers Morgan and Toure on Friday night. But I have been watching the video and have read an article about it from someone who watched it for themself. After having viewed and read about this article I have to say that I am on #TeamToure. If you are not familiar with Toure, he is a music and pop culture journalist who works for NBC as well as Fuse. Toure took Piers Morgan to task on Friday for not asking pressing enough questions of George Zimmerman's brother, Robert, in an interview on his show. Toure felt that the questions given to the brother were not in depth enough to shed any new light to the situation but only to try to give Zimmerman's family a leg up in media coverage due to the outpouring of support in the court of public opinion for the Martin family.
One point stuck out more than any other and that's what I was most intrigued by. Toure pointed out that Piers is too fresh to the United States to fully and properly understand the racial divide that still exists here today. Piers argued that being from Britain and only having been in the country for 6 or 7 years was not a deterrent to understanding why the Trayvon Martin case is important to America. On the other hand Toure said that Piers was not acquainted with all the implications that are involved in this case and that he is an outsider to the issue of race in America. From there the argument got heated and Piers resorted to sophomoric tactics of questioning Toure's journalistic integrity when in actuality he was smarting from the fact that he had been exposed for not being familiar enough on the topic of race to actually be a trusted voice in the analyzing of this particular event. To me this does not mean that Piers' opinion about the matter doesn't mean anything but that he may not fully understand why people, specifically black people, are so upset about this case. Before the Trayvon Martin killing there were many events that happened that got black people brewing with unrest and anger. There have been cases where black men have been beaten, tortured, shot, and wrongly convicted on little or no evidence that they were a threat over the course of the last decade and even before. The outpouring of support generally did not reach this level and even if people were outraged and ready for political action the interest waned and there was little if any resolution. But I think what's different about Trayvon Martin is that he was a teenager, unarmed, and did not provoke, as far as we know, any of the events that led to his tragic shooting. Also we have a small window into the events of that night through 911 tapes and video footage of George Zimmerman after the shooting. In the 911 tapes there is a racial slur used on the phone, the 911 operator tells Mr. Zimmerman not to follow Trayvon and then there are yells for help which have been attributed to Trayvon before the audible gun shot that took his life. The fact that the event happened over a month ago and George Zimmerman is still out of prison is an outrage. Also the Stand Your Ground Law which Zimmerman's defense is trying to use in order to say that he was acting in self defense has made people even more upset because there is little to no evidence that Zimmerman was attacked by Trayvon and by his own admission he followed Trayvon because he thought he was up to no good and didn't want him to get away.
The situation is a nightmare for the families involved and for our nation as a whole. The fact that a young teenage, black male was gunned down for nothing other than trying to find out who was following him is an eye opening reminder that America has not healed its racial wounds. Many people began saying after President Obama won the election in 2008 that issues of race were over because a black man held the highest office in the land. However, that is not true. If anything the election of Obama and this recent death of Trayvon have proved that Americans are still very racially divided. Many people questioned Obama's birth in the United States because of his name and you might wonder if it also had to do with his skin color. There was the issue with Obama's former pastor who had said some things that were racist against white people and had to be addressed by Senator Obama at the time. Right after President Obama took office there was a cartoon that seemingly depicted him as a monkey in addition to he and his wife being portrayed as terrorists on the cover of The New Yorker. Fast forward 3 odd years later and Trayvon has once again opened up the dialogue for talks about whether race is still relevant in our society. And one of the most circulated critiques came from Geraldo Rivera who said on national television that black and Latino youths who wear hoodies are asking to get shot because they are associating themselves with gangs and criminals. So if there were any doubt in any one's mind about whether or not race is still a prevalent issue today that question should have been answered in the last month.
So back to Toure and Piers. I totally agree with Toure that Piers is too new to the nation to understand what all is going on here with the protesting of Trayvon's death and Zimmerman's freedom. Piers does not share a common heritage with us in the sense that many Americans have parents or grandparents who lived through segregation, were involved in the Civil Rights Movement and have benefited from gains made in the Civil Rights Movement only to see that the victory is slowly slipping away. I think that many people feel like Trayvon's death is a modern version of a lynching. Toure equated the feelings he felt about the Trayvon case to the photo of Emmett Till's disfigured body in his casket. And the difference is that during the murder of Emmett Till the black community was just waking up to the realization of the power of its unified voice, now the black community is repossessing that voice by keeping an unrelenting vigil for Trayvon. Piers cannot understand that because he has not lived it. And I challenge Toure to ask Piers if he would even know about the struggles that are being faced by minorities in his own country let alone ours. Piers became overly defensive at Toure's accusation that he simply did not get it when it comes to the sensitivity of race in this country but I think his defensiveness came because he knew deep down that Toure was right.
I really and truly hope that people monitoring the Trayvon case, watching CNN, and voicing their own opinions by wearing hoodies or signing the petition for Trayvon will really examine themselves to determine how they can be a catalyst for social change. We have been in the struggle for a long time and it is nowhere near over but it can get better than where are right now.
Piers Morgan
Toure
Toure Apology
Piers Morgan Tonight
The Daily Beast Article
Huffington Post Article
Petition for the Prosecution of George Zimmerman
One point stuck out more than any other and that's what I was most intrigued by. Toure pointed out that Piers is too fresh to the United States to fully and properly understand the racial divide that still exists here today. Piers argued that being from Britain and only having been in the country for 6 or 7 years was not a deterrent to understanding why the Trayvon Martin case is important to America. On the other hand Toure said that Piers was not acquainted with all the implications that are involved in this case and that he is an outsider to the issue of race in America. From there the argument got heated and Piers resorted to sophomoric tactics of questioning Toure's journalistic integrity when in actuality he was smarting from the fact that he had been exposed for not being familiar enough on the topic of race to actually be a trusted voice in the analyzing of this particular event. To me this does not mean that Piers' opinion about the matter doesn't mean anything but that he may not fully understand why people, specifically black people, are so upset about this case. Before the Trayvon Martin killing there were many events that happened that got black people brewing with unrest and anger. There have been cases where black men have been beaten, tortured, shot, and wrongly convicted on little or no evidence that they were a threat over the course of the last decade and even before. The outpouring of support generally did not reach this level and even if people were outraged and ready for political action the interest waned and there was little if any resolution. But I think what's different about Trayvon Martin is that he was a teenager, unarmed, and did not provoke, as far as we know, any of the events that led to his tragic shooting. Also we have a small window into the events of that night through 911 tapes and video footage of George Zimmerman after the shooting. In the 911 tapes there is a racial slur used on the phone, the 911 operator tells Mr. Zimmerman not to follow Trayvon and then there are yells for help which have been attributed to Trayvon before the audible gun shot that took his life. The fact that the event happened over a month ago and George Zimmerman is still out of prison is an outrage. Also the Stand Your Ground Law which Zimmerman's defense is trying to use in order to say that he was acting in self defense has made people even more upset because there is little to no evidence that Zimmerman was attacked by Trayvon and by his own admission he followed Trayvon because he thought he was up to no good and didn't want him to get away.
The situation is a nightmare for the families involved and for our nation as a whole. The fact that a young teenage, black male was gunned down for nothing other than trying to find out who was following him is an eye opening reminder that America has not healed its racial wounds. Many people began saying after President Obama won the election in 2008 that issues of race were over because a black man held the highest office in the land. However, that is not true. If anything the election of Obama and this recent death of Trayvon have proved that Americans are still very racially divided. Many people questioned Obama's birth in the United States because of his name and you might wonder if it also had to do with his skin color. There was the issue with Obama's former pastor who had said some things that were racist against white people and had to be addressed by Senator Obama at the time. Right after President Obama took office there was a cartoon that seemingly depicted him as a monkey in addition to he and his wife being portrayed as terrorists on the cover of The New Yorker. Fast forward 3 odd years later and Trayvon has once again opened up the dialogue for talks about whether race is still relevant in our society. And one of the most circulated critiques came from Geraldo Rivera who said on national television that black and Latino youths who wear hoodies are asking to get shot because they are associating themselves with gangs and criminals. So if there were any doubt in any one's mind about whether or not race is still a prevalent issue today that question should have been answered in the last month.
So back to Toure and Piers. I totally agree with Toure that Piers is too new to the nation to understand what all is going on here with the protesting of Trayvon's death and Zimmerman's freedom. Piers does not share a common heritage with us in the sense that many Americans have parents or grandparents who lived through segregation, were involved in the Civil Rights Movement and have benefited from gains made in the Civil Rights Movement only to see that the victory is slowly slipping away. I think that many people feel like Trayvon's death is a modern version of a lynching. Toure equated the feelings he felt about the Trayvon case to the photo of Emmett Till's disfigured body in his casket. And the difference is that during the murder of Emmett Till the black community was just waking up to the realization of the power of its unified voice, now the black community is repossessing that voice by keeping an unrelenting vigil for Trayvon. Piers cannot understand that because he has not lived it. And I challenge Toure to ask Piers if he would even know about the struggles that are being faced by minorities in his own country let alone ours. Piers became overly defensive at Toure's accusation that he simply did not get it when it comes to the sensitivity of race in this country but I think his defensiveness came because he knew deep down that Toure was right.
I really and truly hope that people monitoring the Trayvon case, watching CNN, and voicing their own opinions by wearing hoodies or signing the petition for Trayvon will really examine themselves to determine how they can be a catalyst for social change. We have been in the struggle for a long time and it is nowhere near over but it can get better than where are right now.
Piers Morgan
Toure
Toure Apology
Piers Morgan Tonight
The Daily Beast Article
Huffington Post Article
Petition for the Prosecution of George Zimmerman
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