Unlike many of my peers, I keep a nice look out on alt-right websites. Unafraid of seeing the various "colorful" references to black folk and with the testicular fortitude to glide past other insults that lesser intellects would fold under. Due to this I get access to data that is overlooked by other outlets and persons with very well documented arguments. That said, like every group, many on the alt-right have their own issues with hubris and herd following. One case in particular is that of Trayvon Martin. Just about every person I've read on alt-right circles has accepted the "fact" that Zimmerman was acting in self defense as the "thug" Martin was stalking and then assaulting and trying to kill him. When evidence to the contrary, that is, the known facts of the case, are shown to completely contradict their line of thinking. Every alt-right person I have seen has either given me the "well the jury decided" statement or simply ignored the evidence. Today on TakiMag
Jim Goad showed just how blind those on the alt-right are to the facts of the Martin case simply because Trayvon is black. I'm going to intersperse his article with
my discussion of the Martin case.
Goad:
Last Tuesday night I was walking down a poorly lit Brooklyn street en route to meet a friend for dinner when suddenly I noticed a black male strolling alongside me.
The Ghost:
The trial showed that Trayvon was on his cell phone talking to his friend Rachel. We know that while on that phone call Trayvon indicated that Zimmerman was following him and that Zimmerman came across as creepy.
Both Goad and Martin were walking along the street, minding their own business when a suspicious person made themselves apparent to them.
Goad:
A block later, I tried crossing the street merely to shake him. He stayed glued to my side. After another whole block, I stopped, looked him straight in the eyes, and said, “What’s going on here? Why are you following me?”
The Ghost:
I have said to many people that if one EVER thinks one is being followed that one should NOT go to one's home. Why would you lead a potential killer to your place of residence? The police say that Trayvon was hiding behind a sign (and/ore bushes) when he finally confronted Zimmerman. In terms of self-defense Trayvon's hiding makes perfect sense...
Looking at it from Trayvon's perspective, as we should, he sees a person following him in a car. He tries to shake the person by hiding and that person leaves their car to follow him on foot. To Trayvon this is potentially life or death situation which has escalated from a person in a car to a person on foot. . He doesn't know Zimmerman. What reason does Trayvon have to believe that the stranger who is following him means him no harm? None!
We know from the testimony presented during trial that Trayvon ran away from Zimmerman. Hence the "these 'punks' always get away.." commentary. Similarly Jim Goad, feeling threatened by the black guy ghosting him tried to escape. You'll note that Goad and Trayvon thought the same thing and tried to do the same thing: Get away from the creepy guy who they felt threatened by. Difference? Martin is black.
We should also note that it was reported that Trayvon asked Zimmerman "why are you following me?" Goad does the same. We can see that Goad and Martin were thinking the same way in regards to the threat.
Goad:
He stopped along with me. His glazed eyes looked straight into mine. He didn’t say a word. He only nodded in the affirmative, even though I hadn’t asked him a yes-or-no question.
The Ghost:
Since we have no video or eyewitness at this point, I have to make assumptions. I think Trayvon probably said BOTH things. I think that Zimmerman flashed his gun while demanding of Trayvon to explain "what he was doing here". I cannot prove it but given his behavior after the trial, we can surely believe that Zimmerman is the type to have brandished his weapon.
As I said in my post, my commentary as to whether Zimmerman flashed his gun or otherwise made it visible is pure conjecture. The point being that I believe that whatever Zimmerman did when confronted by Martin, it did not make Martin feel any safer. Just like Goad's "ghost".
Goad:
I kept him in my visual periphery and breathed deeply as I remembered all the joint locks and leg sweeps I’d learned in martial-arts classes. At one point I reached inside my denim jacket to pantomime that I was concealing a gun, then I pulled my hand out quickly when I realized that if he actually was toting a pistol, I might have been signing my death warrant by reaching for a gun that wasn’t there.
Now I've read all kinds of commentary on Amren, Taki, Vdare, SBPDL, etc. that Martin's "mixed martial arts" head banging was proof that Martin was a thug hell bent on killing Zimmerman, just because he was white. Yet here we have Jim Goad, going over
martial arts moves that he could employ on the person he feels threatened by. Furthermore he actually started to act in a manner that suggested he had a weapon. How is Trayvon Martin who not only thought of defending his life from a threat but actually tried to, a thug and Jim Goad NOT A THUG for seriously considering the same actions??
Goad:
White male privilege in 2015 means that if I get into any altercation with someone who isn’t white or male, I am presumed guilty. It’s happened to me with women. And with anti-racist skinheads. And with a black dude who tried breaking into my car. In each case, I was not the instigator, only the one who fought back. But being unapologetically white and male worked against me in every case.
Sorry to burst your pity party Goad, but white male privilege in 2015 and 2014 means that you can act in self-interest against a threat and nobody will call you a thug. But a 16 year old kid being stalked by a man with a gun is simply because he is black. If Jim Goad doesn't like being assumed to be the instigator, then he can START by looking at his story and comparing it to Trayvon Martin. After that he can get around to advocating that the person walking down the street minding his or her own business, who is stalked by someone who presents themselves as a threat, that the person minding their business should be afforded the benefit of the doubt regardless of his race. I won't hold my breath on that though. Why? Because most of these alt-right types are so busy being mad about the stuff happening to them they cannot even see when an injustice is done to someone else who's
not one of them.
And for those who are reading and saying that Goad didn't try to kill his would be "soft mugger". That is true. It was a stroke of luck that Goad didn't have a gun. Imagine that he had pulled a gun and the "soft mugger" turned out to be a "hard mugger" and killed him...in self defense? The mugger's argument would have been that he was walking along the street when Goad pulled a gun and tried to shoot him. Dead Goad wouldn't be able to say otherwise. And there would be no witnesses to say otherwise.
What if Goad had decided to try those martial arts moves, lost and ended up dead? Same deal. "Soft mugger" would have said the same thing. He was walking down the street and this guy assaulted him. Dead Goad can say nothing to counter that. No witnesses to say otherwise. But we know Goad is the "good guy" because not only did he not make it physical (because by his own admission he was too scared to do so) but the"soft mugger" never escalated the situation. Goad lived to tell his story. Trayvon didn't. Lucky Goad.
