Is America "Colorblind"? : The Trayvon Martin case, Six Degrees of Separation, and the significance of stereotypes in American society

In late 2008, America celebrated one of its most significant moments in its history as president Obama was sworn into presidency as the first African American president. People across the country joined hands and celebrated because they believed, for a moment, that the American people had finally overcome its racist past. Of course, the Civil-Rights movement and Martin Luther King had their moments but Obama’s rise to the white house was seen as a historic moment not only because he is the first African American president, but because his election was thought to mark the cultural acceptance of African Americans by the American people, not just another milestone of the enforced equality that was resentfully accepted by all racist Americans. It was the hope that “colorblindness,” the concept of a man being seen for his character rather than the color of his skin, had finally taken hold and would mark the beginning of a new era of American culture. However, despite the now decades of progress since the Civil-Rights movement, racism is still lingers in the dark corners of American society.

The recent murder case of Florida high-school student Trayvon Martin is a perfect example of the lack of colorblindness that many had hoped would have vanished in today’s advanced American culture. Late last February, Trayvon Martin, a Florida high-school student was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a Sanford neighborhood watchman, who followed Trayvon after calling 911 to report suspicious behavior. The case exploded in the American media when evidence began to pile up suggesting that Zimmerman killed Trayvon after racially profiling him. One of the strongest pieces of evidence supporting this claim is found in the 9-11 call that Zimmerman made before shooting Trayvon. Zimmerman can be heard in a recording of the call saying what is though to be “F**king coon” followed by “These assholes. They always get away,” While much of the evidence is still being collected and held for the trial, many believe that Zimmerman only saw Trayvon as a manifestation of his own racist views and never considered an alternative.

Similar to the Trayvon Martin case in some ways is the 1990 play Six Degrees of Separation, where, in a post Civil-Rights America many of the main characters' lack of colorblindness comes out in the form of stereotype informed opinions, despite a constant effort to display their acceptance of black culture. One example of the character’s proclivity to show off their cultural acceptance is found at the beginning of the play when three of the main characters, Flan, Ousia, and Geoffrey, talk jokingly about visiting South Africa to witness those victimized by apartheid. They joke about how they won’t settle for those who are “just mildly victimized by apartheid,” how they demand “shock,” and how they will find those who are the worst off and “build barricades and lean against them, singing,” (Guare 10). Their lighthearted attitude towards the subject shows the audience their true lack concern for such a serious topic as well as their disconnected and conceit idea of what it means to accept black culture. This acceptance really begins to show however when the audience is introduced to Paul, an black man who shows up at the residence or work place of all the different main characters after having been stabbed (by himself we later find out) and claiming to know the children of the main character from college and claiming to be the son of the notorious Sidney Poitier. The characters are so eager to demonstrate their ability of acceptance, that they all invite Paul into their homes and lives without a second thought. Flan, Ousia, Kitty, and Larkin are also abnormally eager to act as extras in the movie version of Cats when they themselves described it as, “an all time low in a lifetime of theater going,” (Guare 72).

Despite all this evidence suggesting that the main characters are simply helping out a man in need, regardless of his color, that idea begins to unravel when Paul’s plans begins to fall apart. When Paul is caught in Flan and Ousia’s home with a hustler, one of the first things Flan and Ousia begin to worry about are the possessions around their house. We as readers know that Paul, as a con man, may have had a motive to steal items from his marks but Flan and Ousia, at that point in time, have been given no reason to distrust Paul’s claim about his identity. While never explicitly stated, it becomes clear that Flan and Osuia believe that something was taken because Paul is black and their belief in the stereotype that black men are thieves. Later, something similar occurs when the audience is introduced to Dr. Fine. Paul meets Dr. Fine and works his way into the doctor’s life, as he does with many other characters, but is caught when Dr. Fine’s son claims to have never met Paul. When Dr. Fine returns home with a police officer, Paul is calm and collected and when asked to leave he says, “I have taken this much brandy but can pour the rest back into the bottle. And I’ve used electricity listening to the music, but I think you’ll find that nothing’s take from the house,” (66). Despite Paul’s composure, Dr. Fine is livid and shouts out “This fucking black kid crack addict came into my office lying…” (66). Once again another stereotype rises up in the heat of the moment, this time obviously relating to the stereotype of black people as both drug dealers and users. The characters in Six Degrees of Separation are not unlike Zimmerman in the fact that they both see their respective black counterparts for their color first and then for their character. While the characters in Six Degrees reserve their views for their own personal reasons, those views do come to light when pressured. On the other hand, the evidence and the hundreds of thousands of Americans who was Zimmerman convicted would have us believe that Zimmerman is not as conservative with his personal viewpoints.

The real tragedy of both the Trayvon Martin case and Paul from Six Degrees is that neither Zimmerman nor the other characters from Six Degrees were able to consider the potential of an alternate situation because of their inability to see past color until it was too late. What this means is that Zimmerman, for example, was not able to consider the possibility that Trayvon might have lived in the Sanford neighborhood and was not snooping around but was just returning home or that his hood was pulled up because it was raining was scared of Zimmerman, was was chasing him. going even further, characters such as Ousia in Six Degrees were not able to see that Paul was simply a mentally ill person who was trying to find acceptance in a world of discouragement, despite the claims from the character that Paul was “magical” and “fun”. What Paul gave to the characters of Six Degrees of Separation was an experience and they turned him away because of his color when they found out the truth of his identity, only to find out too late that it was the experience that was important. The same goes for George Zimmerman as (and I can’t say for sure because I wasn't there but,) I doubt that Zimmerman even considered the fact that Trayvon might have a family and friends who cared about him while chasing Trayvon down despite instructions from the police to walk away. This evidence therefore shows that colorblindness has taken a new meaning in American society. It is no longer the idea that one is blind to color and thus see a person for who they are, but rather it is the idea that if you still see color, you are blind.