Trayvon Martin: A Victim of America’s Acceptance of ‘Gangsta’ Culture?

Trayvon Martin lived a tragic life and died an unfortunate death. Of all the thousands of murders of young black men every year, the media seized on one case of a “white Hispanic” shooting a young black man, even after the former was allegedly assaulted, in order to make the point that America is still racist. Blacks are thus presumably in need of the left’s brand of “social justice” to liberate them.

News media have known from the beginning that the best way to “freeze, personalize and polarize” any case is through the emotionally manipulative use of pictures. The photos of a younger Trayvon Martin were cherry-picked by the mainstream media to show that he was an innocent victim unable to defend himself against an older aggressor.

The picture of Trayvon Martin as a drug-addled ‘gangsta wannabe’ was spread by ‘right-wing media’ to show that he had to be guilty of picking on the upstanding citizen George Zimmerman. It is quite possible that both young men were in the wrong, one way or another. And it is also possible that neither of them was “racist.”

Trayvon Martin can best be seen as a victim of gangsta culture; the same culture that leftist producers promote as “hip hop art.”  Gangsta rap glorifies violence and drug use, denigrates women and puts the “men” who dispose of them on a pedestal. Some gangsta rappers’ lyrics even inflame racial tensions.

Composite of pictures taken from Martin’s cell-phone.

Despite all of this, one of the originators of ‘gangsta rap’ in America is white producer Rick Rubin, who was called by the Village Voice “Satan’s Record Producer.” Rubin was instrumental in launching gangsta rap at Def Jam records and he also promoted such satanic speed metal groups as Slayer. Rubin has a long and mixed career, having worked with many different artists and producers, including rap mogul Russell Simmons.

The hip-hop producer Simmons recently said that “Whether George Zimmerman is found innocent or guilty by the jury, I am firm believer that all of us live by karmic law, and he will ultimately be punished for the death of Trayvon, no matter what.”

It should not be lost on people that the same liberals who promote “hip hop artists” at awards ceremonies (Obama also has a “Lil Wayne” on his iPod) are also supposed to be ardent feminists. That’s because the agenda is not the agenda: promoting divide-and-conquer politics in order to solidify power is.

And admittedly, the left is wildly successful. Most people are unable to see the contradictions in the left’s agenda, let alone notice that radicals take up victim groups’ causes as a means to their cynical ends. The left’s simultaneous cry of a conservative “war on women” and “tolerance” for jihadists is another case-in-point. And if anyone wants to see the ugly side of a leftist, tell him about a prominent minority who has departed from the radical reservation.

The left’s “tolerance” for misogyny , glorification of drug usage, violent lyrics, and reverse racism in gangsta rap simply gives the game away. And what better victim of this “tolerance” for gangsta rap’s culture perversion than Trayvon Martin? This is not to say that Martin was not culpable for his actions; but as a minor, he was at a particularly vulnerable age for getting one’s life on track.

So let’s look at a few facts, and not necessarily jump to conclusions. Trayvon Martin had drug usage and guns on his cell phone, even though the defense was not allowed to show this evidence in court. He also had a picture of a pinkish-purple liquid on his cell-phone, potentially connected to the gangsta culture drink “purple lean” or “purple drank”;  on the night of his shooting, he was buying the Skittles and Arizona Watermelon fruit juice that can be used to make this drink.

The toxicology report also showed he had used marijuana the night of the shooting and had prescription Temazepam (a hypnotic that is traced to violence) – a form of Benzodiazepine or “Benzo.” Prescription Adderall, another drug that is liable to abuse, was also found in his system. A follower of his Facebook page alleged Martin admitted codeine abuse. This would jibe with his “purple lean” consumption.

Regardless, it is indisputable that Martin was high on drugs the night he assaulted Zimmerman.  George Zimmerman had made a 9/11 call, and cannot demonstrably be said to have called him a racial slur. He was told to stop following Martin; and since Zimmerman did not, this may show questionable judgment. Zimmerman did not, however, break the law by continuing to follow Martin.

An often-overlooked aspect of the case is Martin’s possible link to burglary. In October 2011, Martin was caught on surveillance tape vandalizing a school — scrawling the acronym”WTF” on a door. A Miami-Dade ‘school police’  investigated Trayvon Martin for the incident and found in his backpack a screwdriver and 12 pieces of women’s jewelry, which Trayvon said was given to him by an unnamed “friend.” The paraphernalia was nonetheless seized and held in storage. A Miami Herald article stated that the seized property was held in storage, and was not reported to the actual local police to pad crime stats.

None of this means that Trayvon Martin deserved to die that night. But the sum total of evidence adds weight to Zimmerman’s claim that he found Trayvon Martin’s behavior to be suspicious, and he was not necessarily “profiling” him. As many white Americans might testify to in a moment of honesty, blacks don’t really scare anyone, but “gangstas” do.

An FBI investigation produced no evidence that Zimmerman was motivated by racism. In fact, due to the presumptions of society, Zimmerman has had to prove that he is not racist. Since he is an Hispanic (actually, of Peruvian descent) who voted for Obama and mentored black children, the argument that he is racist against blacks doesn’t wash.

Nonetheless, President Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder will join forces with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to continue pursuing a civil rights investigation into the Trayvon Martin case. Meanwhile, they will likely do nothing about the New Black Panther Party’s hateful language and veiled death threats against Zimmerman (like “wanted: dead or alive), or the numerous death threats against “Mexicans” [sic] for the supposed injustice.

One question members of society should ask themselves: does the promotion of “gangsta culture” have any bearing on the thousands of blacks killed every year? If so, maybe gangsta rap should stop being billed by leftists as an “art form” and a laudable mode of “self-expression.”

What is the left’s vision of racial “progress” in American society? Is it the perpetual fostering of past resentments and a continual rubbing raw of the wounds of racial wrongs?

It might be submitted that racial “progress” will be achieved in accordance with Martin Luther King’s dream speech:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’ … I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

America is eagerly awaiting the racial progress promised by the ‘post-racial’ President Barack Obama. In his statement on the verdict delivered to the nation, a glimpse of that leadership became apparent. But much more remains to be done.

Note: Some of this commentary was reproduced from my article “Trayvon Martin: A Life and Tragic Death in Pictures.”