To write about Trayvon Martin was not just about expressing sympathy to his family, but dealing with how America created the nigger. The nigger is America’s greatest asset and its biggest fear. The nigger represents the bottom, from slavery to incarceration, America’s most reliable source of exploited labor. The nigger generates profit that America feels no obligation to share. The nigger is reminded of its position at the bottom by being shuttered off in the worst neighborhoods with the least amount of resources, while being told to be grateful for America’s benevolence. And so long as the
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