Challenges to peace and justice in Malaysia

The people and most politicians of  Malaysia have inched away from obsession, but the Perkasa-religious pincer is so strong that even elected governments feel locked in, helpless. Peace between Muslims and Christains is blocked not by ground reality, but by ghosts in the mind. In the meantime, worry about the cost of a bribe. Celebrities live in a world which makes ours seem woefully dull by comparison. And so we look longingly at them and theirs, and fantasise about their fairy tale lives and worse, try to emulate their designer clothes, botox-enhanced looks and even their synthetic mannerisms. Actually, this is rather silly and, in moments of epiphany, when we do realize our folly, we just go ahead and blame the media for misleading the public! Well, that’s not exactly fair because the real celebrity spinmaster is our own mind, which tricks us into believing that celebs are demigods and goddesses and we must have this profound and insatiable need to idolise them.In fact, experts say that as long as there have been those who pull ahead of the crowd in fame or fortune, there has been a curious crowd wanting to follow. Psychologists who have academically studied the cult of celebrity, say that the very need to find an idol and follow him is programmed into our DNA. Wow, isn’t that enlightening?

Twenty-one years after the Rodney King verdict, Americans have proven again that in a court of law, perception matters more than proof. Perception is rooted in power, a power bestowed upon birth, reified through experience, and verified through discrimination masked as fairness and fact. A child  watched policemen beat a man nearly to death, and watched my country acquit them.was shocked that police would attack a man instead of defending him. was shocked that someone would record the attack on video and that this video would mean nothing. was shocked that people could watch things and not really see them was shocked because  was a child.  was shocked because as a white.

With many critics angry over Zimmerman’s acquittal, his freedom may be limited. He may also face civil lawsuits from Martin’s family.

“He’s going to be looking over his shoulder the rest of his life,” his brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr told CNN.

Obama called Martin’s death a tragedy for America but asked that everyone respect calls for calm reflection. It was a rare statement from the president on a case that doesn’t directly involve the federal government.

“I know this case has elicited strong passions,” Obama said. “And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher. But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken.”

More protests were planned Sunday night. Beyonce called at a concert for a moment of silence for Martin. Rapper Young Jeezy released a song in Martin’s memory.

Rand Powdrill, 41, said he came to the San Francisco march with about 400 others to “protest the execution of an innocent black teenager.”

“If our voices can’t be heard, then this is just going to keep going on,” he said.

Many, including Martin’s parents, said Zimmerman had racially profiled Martin. Zimmerman, whose mother was born in Peru, identifies as Hispanic.

Despite the racially charged nature of the case, race was barely mentioned at the trial.

Martin’s family has maintained the teen was not the aggressor, and prosecutors suggested Martin was scared because he was being followed by a stranger. Defense attorneys, however, said Martin knocked Zimmerman down and was slamming the older man’s head against the sidewalk when Zimmerman fired his gun.

Prosecutors portrayed Zimmerman as a vigilante who had grown frustrated by break-ins in his neighborhood committed primarily by young black men. Zimmerman assumed Martin was up to no good, prosecutors said.

The justice department opened an investigation into Martin’s death last year but stepped aside to allow the state prosecution to proceed.

In a statement Sunday, the Justice Department said the criminal section of its civil rights division, the FBI and the local US Attorney’s office are continuing to evaluate the evidence.

The department has a long history of using federal civil rights law in an effort to convict defendants who have previously been acquitted in related state cases.

But experience has shown it’s almost never easy getting convictions in such high-profile prosecutions.

Alan Vinegrad, a former US attorney, said federal prosecutors “would have to show not only that the attack was unjustified, but that Mr Zimmerman attacked Mr Martin because of his race and because he was using a public facility, the street.”

The court did not release the racial and ethnic makeup of the six-person jury, but the panel appeared to reporters to be made up of five white women and a sixth who may be Hispanic. The jurors did not talk to reporters after the verdict.

Trayvon Martin is dead and the man who killed him walks free. Americans are afraid there will be riots, like there were after the King verdict in 1992. But we should not fear riots. We should fear a society that puts people on trial the day they are born. And after they die.

-fueled racism

The Trayvon Martin trial was not supposed to happen. This is true in two respects. The Trayvon Martin trial only took place because public outrage prompted Florida police to arrest George Zimmerman, the man who killed him, over a month after Martin’s death. The Trayvon Martin trial took place because that same public went on to try Martin in his own murder, assessing his morality like it precluded his right to live. It was never a trial of George Zimmerman. It was always a trial of Trayvon Martin, always a character assassination of the dead.

One might assume that rising privation would increase public empathy toward minorities long denied a semblance of a fair shot. But instead, overt racism and racial barriers in America have increased since the recession. Denied by the Supreme Court, invalidated in the eyes of many by the election of a black president, racism erases the individual until the individual is dead, where he is then recast as the enemy.

Trayvon Martin was vilified for being “Trayvon Martin”. If he were considered a fully human being, a person of inherent worth, it would be the US on trial. For its denial of opportunity, for its ceaseless condemnation of the suffering, for its demonization of the people it abandons, for its shifting gaze from the burden of proof. The Trayvon Martin case only sanctioned what was once tacit and disavowed. A young black man can be murdered on perception. A young black man becomes the criminal so that the real criminal can go free.One might assume that rising privation would increase public empathy toward minorities long denied a semblance of a fair shot. But instead, overt racism and racial barriers in America have increased since the recession. Denied by the Supreme Court, invalidated in the eyes of many by the election of a black president, racism erases the individual until the individual is dead, where he is then recast as the enemy.Trayvon Martin was vilified for being “Trayvon Martin”. If he were considered a fully human being, a person of inherent worth, it would be the US on trial. For its denial of opportunity, for its ceaseless condemnation of the suffering, for its demonization of the people it abandons, for its shifting gaze from the burden of proof. The Trayvon Martin case only sanctioned what was once tacit and disavowed. A young black man can be murdered on perception. A young black man becomes the criminal so that the real criminal can go free.

Americans should not fear riots. They should fear a society that ranks the death of children. They should fear a society that shrugs, carries on, and lets them go.

In June, the Supreme Court invalidated part of the Voting Rights Act , stating that “our country has changed”, implying that discrimination against African-Americans was a thing of the past. In May, the city of Chicago shut down majority black public schools. In April, a black high school student, Kiera Wilmont, was prosecuted as an adult after her science project exploded. In February, The Onion called nine-year-old black actress Quvenzhane Wallis an extremely vulgar name. The US that proclaims racism a thing of the past abandons and vilifies black children.

Many Americans, of many races, will be outraged that George Zimmerman has gone free. They will advocate for tolerance and peace. This is a noble sentiment, but what the US needs is a cold, hard look at social structure. We need to examine and eliminate barriers to opportunity, some of which are racially biased in an overt way, but many of which are downplayed because they are considered ambiguous social issues – social issues, like decaying public schools, low-wage labor and unemployment, that affect African-Americans at disproportionate rates.

Trayvon Martin was murdered before we could see what kind of person he would become. But the truth is, he had a hard road ahead of him no matter what he did. He would have confronted an America of racial and class barriers that even the most ambitious young man cannot override without a good deal of luck.

In a US of diminished opportunities, luck is nothing to bank on. Neither is hope, or dreams, or the idea, espoused by President Obama, that for young black men, “there’s no longer any room for excuses”. Trayvon Martin shows that there is plenty of room for excuses. There is even more room for social and economic reform, for accountability, and for change.

Above all, there is room for responsibility. The death of Trayvon Martin is a US tragedy. He was part of a broken system we all experience, but that black Americans experience in ways white Americans cannot fathom. The children who grow up like Trayvon Martin, discriminated against and denied opportunity, are everyone’s responsibility. Providing them a fairer, safer future should be a public priority.

Americans should not fear riots. They should fear apathy. They should fear acquiescence. They should not fear each other. But it is understandable, now, that they do.