When I use 'you' in this rant, I'm not talking about ONLY you OP. I'm speaking to ALL people with light skin, who continue to think public statements like this are acceptable and that by somehow throwing your ignorance around, you will convince millions of darker skinned americans that the discrimination they have to face every single day is non-existent (it won't, by the way).
Not to get into a 'this oppression is bigger than that oppression' battle, but you can't possibly think that the (still totally absolutely unacceptable) oppression of asians and hispanics in the US has created anywhere near the amount of institutionalized racism and ingrained racial hatred that the enslavement of 10-15 million africans from the 1500s to the 1800s + the jim crow era forced segregation, lynchings etc. has caused.
For those that need a very abridged history lesson, The United States of America was created by white Europeans, on land that was stolen from Native Americans, largely on the backs of African slaves. People with THEIR OWN communities, beliefs, traditions. Who were stolen from their continent en mass and then systematically turned into the equivalent of animals. Beasts of burden that white people sent into the fields, 'bred' as they saw fit, threw the white people's slops to eat (why do you think that traditional 'black' food is made of things like pig offal), raped, traded like baseball cards, and were made to shed their names, their traditions, their religion and any aspect of 'human-ness' so that their white masters could continue to convince themselves that they were justified in doing what they were doing and continue to profit off their backs.
Then when enough white people in the 1800s were unable to convince themselves any longer that these darker skinned human beings were not actually animals and were in fact human beings, black people were reluctantly given 'freedom' - but not before the white people had a war which was largely started because a large amount of (mostly rich and powerful due to the fact that they were able to build their businesses off of free land and labor) white people didn't WANT to acknowledge that black people were humans and should no longer be treated as animals or exploited so that white people could make huge profits off their backs.
After the war was over and black people were reluctantly given some human rights, it took until the 1960s (that's only about 50 years ago now) before black people were able to obtain the legal right to even openly occupy the same space as white people in every day interactions.
Are you really that naive to think that in only 50 years, 400+ years of treating black people as inferior non-human beings would just disappear?
I will admit that the affects of institutionalized racism easy enough for someone who doesn't have to live with dark skin to totally disregard. If you don't have to deal with being denied jobs, housing, educational opportunities, etc. then you won't really think about it. It won't even really be on your radar. But to basically call black people liars (because when you say these things, that is what you are really doing - telling black people that their struggles don't exist, and they must be experiencing life wrong) when you have NO EARTHLY IDEA what they go through every day is just the height of arrogance. The ability to discount what millions of black americans say happens to them on a daily basis using the notion YOU YOURSELF don't experience or see it happen in your face is totally lacking empathy, and you are deliberately alienating an entire race of people because for some reason you feel the need to shame black people and tell them that they are whining and they should just shut up already.
YES racism is still all around and YES it's still just as big of an issue as it used to be. Sure black people aren't regularly being strung up from a tree in the park by your friendly neighborhood lynch mob anymore, but people with darker skin are still being denied jobs (all you have to do is say there was a 'better qualified' applicant), still being denied housing (all you have to do is say that someone else was approved first), still being denied education (all you have to do is live in an area where better, more qualified teachers don't want to live and work aka 'urban areas') and still being treated as unreliable, untrustworthy and even dangerous because we still have remnants in our society of over 400 years of propaganda that white people created in order to convince themselves and their descendants that it was totally ok to make their fortunes off the backs of human beings who were darker skinned than them. Let's not even explore the NEW form of slavery, blacks (largely young black males) being thrown into for-profit prisons at larger percentages than white, hispanic and asians, for longer terms than white, hispanic and asians, and many times for non-violent crimes so that people can profit from their incarceration at the expense of their entire futures.
Zimmerman might have some hispanic/black heritage, but I guarantee you that he's benefited heavily from his father's white male privilege during his entire life, and has the same ingrained feelings of fear and superiority that a large percentage of white male americans have for and over black people. You can scream 'he is hispaaaaaaaaaaaanic' all you want, but to black people (and probably to himself too) he is just another white guy. Note that the family heavily downplayed his hispanic heritage during the entire thing.
Now to your point of blacks killing blacks, why do you think that black people would have grown up and lived in this very same world in which everyone has been treating them 'less than' and then NOT internalized this attitude themselves? Why do women still allow each other to be treated as if they don't have control over their own bodies (see the current issues in our country regarding access to birth control and abortion). Why are women still paid less than men in many situations? If someone can feel disgusted by themselves for being overweight, why can black people not feel disgusted by their own black skin? These feelings are shaped by external influences. I wouldn't know that being fat was gross until someone (or many someones) told me that. Otherwise I'd think that I was just me and that's the way I was supposed to look.
Until blacks can learn to love themselves, they will continue to perpetuate black-on-black crimes. Loving themselves is really difficult, however, when they are getting shit slung at them by all other races of humans, being treated as less than worthy of things like food, housing and jobs ('welfare queens', 'ripping off food stamps', being 'on the dole', 'section 8 users', 'affirmative action hire'). No one blinks a fucking eye when a white person uses these assistance programs, but if a black person does they are automatically seen as 'stealing' from taxpayers. Hispanics are also talked down about for using these services, but at a MUCH lower frequency, at least among the people I know. So black people create safe havens where they don't feel quite as attacked, in the form of black social clubs, black fraternities, historically black universities. HBCUs were created because they were NEEDED, since black people were not allowed to be educated alongside white people. They continue today in order to remember their history and provide a safe haven for blacks that is apparently STILL NEEDED! And please lets not pretend like white people don't also perpetuate segregation, don't move into whiter neighborhoods and join whiter social groups and participate in activities that are largely seen as 'white'. Why would a black person want to join a majority white tennis club, where they will be stared at and treated strangely the entire time? Why would a black person go out of their way to put themselves into a majority white situation, so they can feel odd and out of place? I know I don't do that, why would you expect that they would? So they can experience the privilege of being around light skinned people, because obviously the experience will be soooooo beneficial for them. Why don't YOU try to go to a few largely black events, experience what that feels like, and come back and tell us how you gained so much from the experience and can't wait to do it again!
My rant's over, this shit has been building up in my brain for a week and I had to explode all over the place.
