I was reading, or re-reading, about the Trayvon Martin killing, which most people reading this will probably remember. Martin, a Black teenager, was walking through a gated community which had had several recent burglaries. He was actually going to visit his uncle, who lived there. A Neighborhood Watch person, George Zimmerman (a Hispanic, if you look at his photograph, but, of course always identied as a WHITE WHITE WHITE Hispanic by our helpful and totally-unbiased mass media -- which also edited a 999 call by Zimmerman to make his case look worse than it really was -- Details here -- anyway, Zimmerman challenged him, Martin took offense and attacked Zimmerman, Zimmerman shot and killed him. Details here , for those interested. Anyway, here's my idea for how to prevent such tragedies in the future. Surely this would be a good idea: every young person should be taught in school, around the age of 12, how to deal with (1) being stopped by the police (there is a wonderful Chris Rock video on this), and (2) how to deal with Neighborhood Watch/shopkeepers/private citizens who seem to be accusing you of something of which you are innocent. Let them see a few videos of policemen doing what they believe is a routine traffic stop and being shot at or even killed. Let school assemblies see the latest 'Officer Down' photographs, as an ongoing thing. Let them see videos of shopkeepers being robbed and even killed. The idea is that if they ever get challenged by a policeman or someone else, they can picture what may be going on in the mind of the 'other'. Then have a policeman -- of the same ethnicity as the majority of students, or even send a mixed-race team -- come and speak to them and tell them the facts of life, why they might look suspicious to a wary homeowner or Neighborhood Watch person or shopkeeper or policeman. Tell them to put themselves in the shoes of such a person. Tell them it's not a male pride thing, it's not (necessarily) a race thing. Frame the strong male response as keeping your cool. Then have some actual rehearsal. Let each of them be a 'driver' or a 'shopper' or a 'stroller'. Let someone else play the policeman, the shopkeeper, the Neighborhood Watch person, the homeowner. Let the latter be somewhat rude and peremptory. "What are you doing here?" Maybe parents could volunteer to play the rude questioner, although some method of getting these kids to have some empathy for a possibly-elderly, nervous, but gun-owning adult would be good. Surely there are psychologists who could craft this. This might save some young lives, and it wouldn't cost a huge amount. The main cost would be in the time of the visiting policemen, but that is really an investment, to save them time later when some kid has gotten shot. It's something both liberals and conservatives could get behind, so it runs counter to the spirit of the times, but I think it's worth a thought.
