{"id":176421231,"date":"2013-06-30T02:27:13","date_gmt":"2013-06-30T07:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/?p=176421231"},"modified":"2013-06-30T02:27:13","modified_gmt":"2013-06-30T07:27:13","slug":"trayvon-martin-rachel-jeantel-whos-got-her-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/2013\/06\/30\/trayvon-martin-rachel-jeantel-whos-got-her-back\/","title":{"rendered":"TRAYVON MARTIN: Rachel Jeantel – Who’s Got Her Back?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Friday, June 28 2013<\/p>\n

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Social Media Shows Love
\nfor Rachel Jeantel<\/span><\/h1>\n
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by\u00a0Jamilah King<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Something unexpected happened this week in George Zimmerman\u2019s trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin. Rachel Jeantel, Martin\u2019s friend who took the witness stand this week, became the\u00a0center of mockery and criticism<\/span><\/a>\u00a0about her dark skin, her speech, and her weight. The gist of it is probably summed up best by Lolo Jones\u2019 idiotic and uninformed tweet Thursday night:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"LoLoNoNo.jpg\"<\/p>\n

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Crunk Feminist Collective paid tribute<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to Jeantel\u2019s \u201cunbought and unbossed\u201d posture on the stand by compiling a list of encouraging messages from supporters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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#LoveForRachel<\/h1>\n

Messages of hope for the woman who somehow became the center of George Zimmerman’s murder trial.<\/p>\n

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“Rachel Jeantel is not a joke. She is a 19 year-old woman who needs our support.” –\u00a0@ForHarriet<\/span><\/a>\u00a0#LoveForRachel<\/span><\/a>\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/aQLdWB7ftb<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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\"thisisjorge\"<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
Jorge Rivas<\/span><\/a>@thisisjorge<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Rachel Jeantel may not know how to read in cursive. But she speaks Creole, Spanish and English\u00a0#LoveForRachel<\/span><\/a>univisionnews.tumblr.com\/post\/540971552\u2026<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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\"BonAppletweet\"<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
Bonnie Applebeet<\/span><\/a>@BonAppletweet<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
I’m listening, Rachel!\u00a0#loveforrachel<\/span><\/a>\u00a0#justicefortrayvon<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"breakinglight11\"<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
Phoebe<\/span><\/a>@breakinglight11<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
You’re brave to testify for Trayvon.\u00a0#LoveForRachel<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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\"AlfieLenox\"<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
Arthur H. Fonzarelly<\/span><\/a>@AlfieLenox<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
America’s response to Rachel Jeantel’s testimony proves that cowardice and herd mentality are the status quo.\u00a0#loveforrachel<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

__________________________<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Rachael Jeantel, <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

Patron Saint Of <\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n

Black Girls With \u201cAttitude\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n
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BY\u00a0XOJANE<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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\"image\"<\/p>\n

Rachael Jeantel (via YouTube)<\/em>
\nThis week, Rachael Jeantel is my patron saint of Black girls. Usually I give that title to Kerry Washington for her Bronx-meets-Spence-meets-Hollywood swagger. Or Lolo Jones (who stupidly and confusingly did\u00a0this<\/a>\u00a0to Jeantel) for her athleticism, faith, and \u201cbeat the odds\u201d story trifecta. They represent so much to me, chiefly code-switching under pressure and blatant fabulousness. But I think Jeantel has earned the title this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

In these seven days so much has bubbled up from the swamp of America\u2019s race relations. In one corner, the SCOTUS essentially declares racism over by\u00a0striking down<\/a>\u00a0part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. They also handed out a Laodicean non-ruling on Affirmative Action. In the next, we have Paula Deen and her use of the N-word coupled with her alleged treating her employees like slaves while also imagining a blissful plantation wedding with Blacks serving in little white jackets\u2014in my imagination, she\u2019d unwittingly have recruited Nat Turner to serve the mini shrimp and grits canap\u00e9s. And finally, we have the George Zimmerman trial, where Jeantel was on the witness stand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeantel, who was on the other end of that call, was on the witness stand. Being the witness in a high profile case never looks easy, but in this instance seeing her hits close to home because the words being used against her are the very things I fear as a fellow Black girl.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just a fear; it\u2019s more of a paranoia that jumps out unannounced to make me hyperaware of just being me. It\u2019s the fear being accused of being surly, ghetto, angry, or having an attitude. Those words hurt and debase our experiences. They allow us to be written off as a neck rolling, finger popping, \u2019round-the-way caricature right next to the welfare queens, the Uncle Toms, and the mammies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing her on the stand reminds me of all time times I had to fight my way out an assumption.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like when I first moved to New York and left my keys in my\u00a0apartment\"\"<\/a>\u00a0after a day of Target shopping. So, there\u2019s me on my stoop surrounded by bags of pillows and sheets, wearing some getup from Urban and probably one of these Longchamp totes everyone carries. I\u2019m sure I looked suspicious. And I\u2019m being serious. I actually went out of my way not to ask people to let me in, fearing some unforeseen outcome started by a misunderstanding. I called my roomies and waited. But then I got tired and reached for the door when someone breezed through. But what happened next was not breezy.<\/span><\/p>\n

My friendly neighbor jerked the door from my hand and asked what I was doing. I slid my shades up and cheerily introduced myself as the new neighbor from apartment 63 and I reached out my hand to shake hers, but she wouldn\u2019t take it. Fine, I thought, maybe that was na\u00efve of me. I then shared that I was locked out and was waiting on my roomies to come back. She snarled back that burglars plagued the building and that I don\u2019t have to get an attitude with her. I, shocked, squeaked out that I lived there and asked how I was \u201cgiving attitude\u201d by stating that? I don\u2019t think she liked that because then she, even more loudly, said that I needed to stop getting an attitude and that because I was getting an attitude, she wouldn\u2019t let me in.<\/span><\/p>\n

So there I was, a proposed burglar with an attitude on the verge of tears. A few minutes later an actually friendly neighbor let me inside and let me put my things in his apartment while I waited. I sat outside my door confused and retracing what I did wrong, wondering if I really needed an attitude check.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/span><\/p>\n

My attitude face.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


\nA year later, I found myself at a gig where despite my cheery \u201cgood mornings\u201d and \u201chow are yous,\u201d I heard rumblings of my being \u201cthe Black girl with the attitude.\u201d I must note, I was not only the only Black girl, but also the only person of color, so I knew they were talking about me. Oddly, the folks saying this weren\u2019t ever that nice to me, but in the moment I didn\u2019t care about that, I cared about making them like me; I cared about not being the Black girl with the attitude. My solution was to be so nice it hurt. I sent links to one about his favorite band, I took lunch with the other and asked thoughtful questions about their stories, and through it all I never stopped smiling.<\/span><\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t matter though, everything I did was thought of as aggressive. Eventually they stopped gossiping about my \u201cattitude\u201d and said it directly to me when they were informing me of my uppityness. What did I do? I smiled and brought in\u00a0candy\"\"<\/a>\u00a0for the candy dish, of course.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both times, I was so neutered by the accusation of having an attitude or being Black and angry, as my human ability to emote was taken as opportunity for someone to put me in my place.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in this moment, seeing Jeantel be herself while the\u00a0Internet\"\"<\/a>\u00a0is filling up with articles about her skin color, size, dialect and socio-economic background and while also dealing with a defense that questions her ability to speak English is showing me someone who\u2019s not folding. It\u2019s showing me someone who is strong, and not in a \u201cstrong Black woman\u201d frame, but in her ability to speak her truth from her hyper-examined perch \u2014 and I can only imagine what it\u2019s like there.<\/span><\/p>\n

And for that very reason, along with her laid bangs and tri-lingual tongue, I hereby name Rachel Jeantel as my new patron saint of Black girls.<\/span><\/p>\n

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>via:\u00a0http:\/\/www.clutchmagonline.com\/2013\/06\/rachael-jeantel-patron-saint-of-black-girls-with-attitude\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

__________________________<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\n

A Few Thoughts About <\/span><\/h1>\n

Being on the Witness Stand <\/span><\/h1>\n

and Rachel\u00a0Jaentel\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
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\"Rachel<\/p>\n

Rachel Jaentel<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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A few thoughts on\u00a0Trayvon Martin<\/strong>\u2018s friend\u00a0Rachel Jaentel.<\/strong>.. The minute that sister took the stand, jokes were flying around twitter about her looks and her weight\u2026 People were going in and saying nasty jokes about how Trayvon went out with\u00a0Precious<\/strong>\u00a0etc etc\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure the sista has heard such cruel jokes in real life more than a few times.. I can only imagine what sort defensive postures she\u2019s adopted over the years to rebuff such remarks.. maybe she\u2019s over aggressive, maybe she\u2019s shy and stays low-key, maybe she makes lots of jokes, maybe she drowns herself in drink and drugs..who knows?<\/span><\/p>\n

Hearing that she wanted to stay hidden and out of the public light had me thinking that was because she didn\u2019t want to get the public ridicule.. It\u2019s the type of mean-spirited ridicule that many had levied on Olympic champ Gabby Douglass when she was competing, one could only imagine what this sister, Rachel would\u2019ve been dealing with if she had made herself public long ago..<\/span><\/p>\n

On top of this, we still have someone who was a good friend to Trayvon who was the last to talk to him who lost him violently..To my knowledge, there weren\u2019t grief counselors who went to Trayvon\u2019s school and made sure his friends could process this sudden loss..<\/span><\/p>\n

Like so many of us who come from the community, we are expected to suck it up, not cry and see the violent passing of love ones as some sort of truth about how tough we are and how tough are respective hoods are.. We ain\u2019t supposed to need counseling, therapy or any sort of comforting to help get our mind right..<\/span><\/p>\n

So we have a 19-year-old girl, who is overweight, dark-skinned who is supposed to \u2018have her mind right\u2019 because those who were going in on her supposedly could\u2019ve and would\u2019ve if they were on the stand\u2026 Some the harshest judgement directed at Rachel were from so-called professional, academic types, the sophisticated folks who saw Rachel as more of an embarrassment vs someone who was good friend to Trayvon..She even had folks like\u00a0Lolo Jones,<\/strong>\u00a0the Olympic athlete who herself was ridiculed, weighing in and adding to the viciousness. She compared Rachel to the character Medea and has made no move to apologize even as she herself as recently as a week ago is still upset and battling with those in the media who said nasty things about her..<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of thinking of Trayvon and respecting the fact that this was his friend as overweight and as dark as she is, many were projecting their own insecurities and bias on him and her.. Again this all before she started to speak..<\/span><\/p>\n

Now lets talk about being on the witness stand..Many who talked crazy and judged crazy have themselves never ever been on a witness stand.. Many have not been a reluctant witness.. I recall being on the stand several years ago for the defense and being questioned for two hours before the cross-examination started.. I was not spoken too or prepared by the lawyers as to what to expect.. I\u2019m a public person, I think I\u2019m fairly articulate.. I have education and I speak as journalist for living, so being before a crowd and answer questions off the cuff is second nature to me..<\/span><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re on the stand and the job of the lawyer cross-examining you is to discredit you, its one thing to know it in theory and intellectually, it\u2019s a whole other ball game when it\u2019s happening, especially if you never gone through it..I recall when on the stand, the prosecutor asked me a couple of questions and then out of left field he pulled up an article I had written and read a sentence which on its own made me sound crazy and foolish..<\/span><\/p>\n

He set me up my asking if I wrote the article? I said yes, then he asked me if these were my words.. and read the quote.. I said yes and tried to explain and was immediately cut off.. In a harsher more stern tone of voice that made me feel like I was 6 years old, he repeated the question are these your word? Yes or No..<\/span><\/p>\n

I tried to explain and was instructed by the judge to answer yeh or nay.. I answered slowly almost like Rachel.. \u2018Yes I wrote those words\u2019.. My mind-set was anger and wanting to let everyone know in the courtroom there was a larger context to what I was saying..<\/span><\/p>\n

The prosecutor upon hearing my \u2018Ye\u2019s answer said to the court \u201cthis is the type of individual we are expected to believe, someone who thinks like this who will pen these words in an article\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Next the prosecutor pulled up my MySpace page and read my status update.. All this caught me off guard.. I wasn\u2019t on trial I was a witness for the defense.. and he read my status which was \u2018NYPD are dipshits\u2019. Again i was asked yes or no is this whats on my page..<\/span><\/p>\n

I tried to explain, and was cut off which had me even more heated.. Then the prosecutor said something to the effect that my juvenile ramblings were not very becoming of someone of my stature and profession.. Officers of the law gave their life on 9-11 and are more professional than you..<\/span><\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t asked a question, but I responded, very slow and deliberate with major attitude just like Rachel.. \u2018I wrote that because the officers who you claim are professional shot Sean Bell 50 times and not one of those so-called professional officers apologized..\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The prosecutor without missing a beat said something to the effect that my ramblings had sullied my profession and he was glad I wasn\u2019t covering a story he was involved in\u2026.then he dismissed me.. I started to answer back.. and was stopped by the judge..<\/span><\/p>\n

With all that I know about media and public speaking experience, degrees etc..and the 20 + years in age I have over 19-year-old Rachel Jaentel, I let my emotions get the better of me.. especially when my words were twisted and ridiculed.. I was only on the stand for cross-examination for 20 minutes, not 5 hours like Rachel.. I wasn\u2019t on TV and there weren\u2019t newspapers around digging into my past or making fun of my looks..Nor was I traumatized because of losing a friend..<\/span><\/p>\n

I was angry that they took my words out of context and was mad that they saw my MySpace status update and ran with that to try and discredit everything I said earlier during being questioned by the defense..<\/span><\/p>\n

I share all this to remind folks, what seems easy and no big deal isn\u2019t always the case.. All I had that day was my truth and I left feeling like I was the one on trial.. I\u2019m sure Rachel felt that and whole lot more.. The closest thing I can think of that might make this experience a bit more relatable is when you get pulled over and have to deal with rude arrogant cop who treats like you like crap.. Some are able to bite their tongue and endure the humiliation, others lose patience and wind up arrested or even dead.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think Rachael told the painful truth..and was made to feel like she was on trial in that court and still on trial in the court of public opinion.. Even the daughter of the defense lawyer was taking instagram pictures calling this sister stupid.. Rachel is seen as everything under the sun, but a good friend of Trayvon Martin who she lost to unwarranted violence..<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s some food for thought\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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-Davey D-<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
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>via:\u00a0http:\/\/hiphopandpolitics.wordpress.com\/2013\/06\/29\/a-few-thoughts-about-being-on-the-witness-stand-and-rachel-jaentel\/<\/a><\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Friday, June 28 2013   Social Media Shows Love for Rachel Jeantel by\u00a0Jamilah King Something unexpected happened this week in George Zimmerman\u2019s trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin. Rachel Jeantel, Martin\u2019s friend who took the witness stand this week, became the\u00a0center of mockery and criticism\u00a0about her dark skin, her speech, and her weight. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[6],"tags":[4,12,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176421231"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176421231"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176421231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176421268,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176421231\/revisions\/176421268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176421231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176421231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176421231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}