Racism is still alive and thriving in our community.But it has taken on a new form in the form of stereotyping. Stereotyping is equally as dangerous as any other form of racism and has been taking form for a number of years. Stereotyping can lead to unjust conviction, unequal business opportunities and in the most drastic occasions it can lead do unjust killings. This can be seen as early as the case of Emmett Till. Emmett Till was a 14-year old black male who was supposedly spotted whistling at a white women. Could some people consider this disrespectful? I guess an argument could be made that it was, if your a slight prudish. But it certainly didn't give anybody the right to kill him or, as in Emmett's case, to brutally torture him. Emmett's case is a perfect example of the stereotyping of black males as threatening, and the disgusting circumstances that can result from these stereotypes.

These unjust shootings have not gone away with time, if anything they have become more evident. Last February the controversial shooting of Trayvon Martin gained national attention. Trayvon was killed simply because Zimmerman found his hoodie threatening and said that he "looked" to be high. He found his hoodie threatening? That statement in itself is the either epitome of stereotyping, or a statement revealing blatant stupidity. Whichever it was, it was not a just reason to have killed Trayvon. The case of shooting Trayvon is even more ridiculous because Zimmerman had called 911. The 911 dispatchers has told Zimmerman not to follow Trayvon, but Zimmerman did not listen. Instead he tried to be a cowboy and take matters into his own hands. I have no doubt that Zimmerman sincerely believed that Trayvon was armed and a impossible threat, but his belief was based in racism and stereotyping instead of reason. Even if Zimmerman did believe that Trayvon was dangerous he should of just stayed in his car and let the police handle it, he had no just or logical reason to take Trayvon's life.

A more confusing shooting would be the other recent one of Jordan Davis. Jordan Davis was shot and killed last November at a Florida Gas station. His shooter claims that he had asked Jordan and his friends to lower the music they were blasting in their car. When the kids did not do so he claims they threatened him with a shotgun. This is when he decided to fire 8 or 9 shots and the kids with a handgun he had kept in his car, then he drove away. Police who reported that no weapon was found on Jordan or any of his friends. Mr. Dunn is now on trial for Jordan's murder. 

So why did Mr. Dunn shoot at Jordan and his friends? To put it simply he felt threatened and that he needed to defend himself. But why did he feel so threatened? The police found no weapon on the teens, and if they had had a weapon why didn't they retaliate to Mr. Dunn's 9 shots? Had Mr. Dunn never experienced teens who enjoyed to blast their music, why didn't he just drive away from that gas station and go on with his day? The only real explanation is that Mr. Dunn felt threatened by them because they were black. And because they were black he thought he needed to shoot them before they shot him. Its very disturbing to think that if Jordan had been white he may still be alive today.