"Neighborhood Watch"

I went to the movies today to see The Hunger Games (which I will write about later, I promise). On my way into the theater, I happened to see a poster for a Ben Stiller vehicle called Neighborhood Watch. My blood boiled.

Neighborhood Watch.
Neighborhood watch.
Neighborhood -fucking- watch.

If you have seen/read/listened to any news lately (except maybe Fox Nooz, but they're scumbags anyway) you can't escape the reports of the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman the "upstanding citizen", the "neighborhood watch captain", the vigilante with a gun.

Sadly, I can't say that the shooting of an unarmed black teenager shocked me. Saddened and enraged, yes. But anyone who is genuinely surprised that African Americans are targets in our society is either an idiot or a bigot. Or possibly both.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, hate groups have been on the increase for the past decade, especially the "Patriot" movement:

Meanwhile, the SPLC counted 1,018 hate groups operating in the United States last year, up from 1,002 in 2010. That was the latest in a string of annual increases going all the way back to 2000, when there were 602 hate groups. The long-running rise seemed for most of that time to be a product of hate groups’ very successful exploitation of the issue of non-white immigration. Obama’s election and the crashing economy have played a key role in the last three years

To put it in really basic terms: overt racism is on the rise. Hell, you don't even have to go out of your way to find this kind of information. Just look at the shit that the Republican presidential hopefuls have spewed while on the campaign trail. (Did Rick Santorum have to stop himself from calling president of the United States a nigger? Of course he did-- he's smart enough to not actually say the full word, but he gots to let his base know that yes, he is a big, flaming racist, just like them!)

Really, everyone. Stop being so fucking surprised.

A short note to those who insist on doubting that Trayvon's death was racially motivated: you're not helping and fuck you. Your continual doubts do nothing save silence the real victims (I'll give you a hint: it ain't Zimmerman) and make justice all the more harder to pursue. If you don't want to face the harsh realities of America, then do us all a favor and shut the fuck up.