Can we try to keep our internet memes to fun things like cats and bastardizations of Disney characters? Because the sad, avoidable homicide of an unarmed Miami Gardens teenager should really not be grounds for memedom.
And yet, apparently a new Tebowing-like craze called "Trayvoning" has emerged on the internet.
According to the Grio, a since deleted Facebook page described Trayvoning as such:
Trayvoning is when youNo, sorry. Not funny, guys. What's next? Caylee Anthonying? Nicole Browning? Holocausting?
1. get hoodie
2. get skittles
3. get arizona
4. wear hoodie
5. go to florida
6. get shot :) Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old African American male who was unarmed and got shot by a raciest [sic] mexican american.
And guess what race the majority of kids who have partaken in the trend belong to?
Reports Hypervocal:
Hurr durr, says the Internet, it's just a joke! Mocking this dead kid is funny, and totally removed from its racial context! Wait, no it's not. Because when provoked, the Facebook group members started spewing their own justifications: They're combating "racism against whites." "White people are becoming more and more oppressed."As a non-Hispanic, white person who lives in a city where the non-Hispanic white population is under 12 percent, I can tell you that no, white people are not becoming more and more oppressed, and no, "racism against whites" -- as in the societal oppression of white people -- does not exist on any large scale. Actually as a person with half a brain and a bit of common sense I could tell you that.
And in any sense, parodying the death of anyone, let alone an unarmed teen, is not a good way to make any point whatsoever. Unless the point you're trying to make is that you're a dick.
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