Last Friday

So last Friday I was sitting in the library waiting for my son to get out of school.  I was chatting with another parent--my son is best friends with her daughter, so we spend a lot of time together, and I really like the whole family.  We rarely discuss politics or other serious matters, but on this day, for some reason, she brings up the Trayvon Martin murder (which, unbeknownst to her, I've been following obsessively).  Serious conversation ensues.

 I won't bore you with the whole conversation, but at one point it gets brought up that Zimmerman was paranoid in part because of recent thefts in his neighborhood.  Whereupon my friend goes off on a tirade against thieves.  She really hates thieves, hates the idea of them, wishes we could "string them all up" (which is a really, really unfortunate turn of phrase that I let go by because a) she used the phrase unthinkingly and b) there was no stopping her anti-thievery rant).  She was lighthearted in tone as she said all this, but it wasn't a joke--she meant every word. 

I've been thinking about that conversation all weekend.  Not to get too Marxist on you, but I'm struck by the centrality of the concept of theft in our capitalistic society.  We often place other crimes within the framework of theft--rape as the theft of virginity or innocence, murder as theft of life or of the future--theft from both the victim and the victim's family.

Zimmerman's actions, according to the 911 call he made, springs from this hatred of theft--"they always get away with it."  Government welfare is disparaged because it is seen as theft--undeserving people taking money that doesn't belong to them, taking it from hard-working people.

The concept of theft requires us to make moral judgements.  Heist shows can be moral because, like Robin Hood, the thieves steal from the undeserving and give to the deserving (yes, I've been watching Leverage recently, why do you ask?) 

So here's my point: one of the most insidious traits of modern racism is how it has mapped itself onto this central feature of a late-capitalistic society--out hatred of thieves.  In different ways (and I don't want to elide those differences, though they aren't my point) both the native black and the immigrant experience in America is one of being accused of theft. 

George Zimmerman didn't set out to kill a young black man--he set out to catch a thief.  I'm sure Zimmerman would say that he hates thieves, regardless of color.  Of course, the bigger question is why, when Zimmerman looked at Trayvon Martin, did he see a thief?