Trayvon and Trump
The outrage bubbled up in me like a volcano. Hot like lava. At 10:30 pm I turned off the TV as early results showed him in the lead. Surely this will turn in the night and I will wake up to some hope the idea of America could be real. My eight-year-old grand daughter looked at me with worried eyes. “It’s going to be alright Le Le, these are just early results he’s not going to win.” Then she went home and I went to bed.
But joy didn’t come in the morning. The darkness grew in the night. He had actually won. I felt that same kick in the gut and knot of anxiety I felt when Zimmerman was exonerated for the cold blooded stalking and murder of Trayvon Martin. That feeling of outrage, anger, fear, helplessness, and terror surrounding the possibility of state sanctioned murder of my babies was back with a vengeance. Does anybody see this? Does anyone care?
I felt and feel a betrayal of the faith I have in humanity. How could 24M people vote for someone promising to commit violence against their brother, sister, wife, partner, daughter, son? How could a jury find a man law enforcement directed to stop following Trayvon; who ultimately killed Trayvon, innocent?
This anxiety is all too familiar. I’ve loss count of the number of black men killed in questionable and explicit killings. We’ve all seen the videos; and that was under the watch of a black President. What will happen now?
As my mind grappled with the gravity and terror of the situation I went to my research. What makes us do what we do? It feels as if our country is in the throes of one long amygdala hijack. Did all of those 24M people who voted for him do so with malice and hate? I am not naïve. I know some did. But all of them? That’s a mind boggling, disheartening thought.
The research says when we feel threatened the part of our brain that evolved first, our lizard or old brains activates, and our prefrontal cortex where reason, logic, executive decision making resides goes dark.
Describing his SCARF model David Rock quotes Gordon (2000) “much of our motivation driving social behavior is governed by an overarching organizing principle of minimizing threat and maximizing reward.”
Rock's model involves 5 domains of human social experience, status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness. The brain science proves when threatened people can explode into irrational behavior. Facts become an irrelevant construct.
People actually voted for someone who said about women, "You know, it doesn't really matter what [they] write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece of ass." Who implied that Gonzalo Curiel, the federal judge presiding over a class action against the for-profit Trump University, could not fairly hear the case because of his Mexican heritage. Who has been sued numerous times for discrimination against blacks for housing in his apartments and treatment in his casinos as employees. Who attacked Muslim Gold Star parents. Insinuating a mother too grief struck to speak didn’t speak because she was somehow not allowed to speak because she is Muslim. Just to mention a few of his quoted expressions and beliefs. The facts say recoil from such ignorance but 24M people voted for him.
Did a black President, changing economy, browning of America, the fear of losing something they had or not getting something they wanted thrust some of these people into this irrational allegiance with someone so despicable? Unfortunately, I believe the answer is yes. Fear and power make strange bedfellows.
This is a violent wake up call. Already I hear the rumblings of efforts to “normalize” what just happened. There is nothing “normal” about the exoneration of Trayvon’s killer or the election of Trump. Fear cannot stand as the driver of actions that strike terror and trauma and further marginalized those of us with an already long painful history of marginalization in America. We are called to return to our executive function and unlock the humanity of this nation.
