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11:49 am
Wed February 19, 2014


Originally published on Wed February 19, 2014 2:09 pm



I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Now we're going to take some time to talk more about the trial of Michael Dunn. You might have heard this referred to as the loud music trial. Back in 2012, Michael Dunn fired several shots into an SUV carrying four black teenagers. Both groups were parked at a gas station in Jacksonville, Florida. The altercation apparently started after Dunn told the teens to turn down their music and they refused. Dunn killed one of the boys, Jordan Davis. On Saturday, a Florida jury found Dunn guilty on three counts of attempted second-degree murder.

But they were unable to reach a verdict on the first-degree murder charge. Now a number of people have written about this, and many have taken to social media to express their views. So we gathered just a small group of essayists who have been writing about this to hear what they had to say. Sherri Day is a member of the Tampa Bay Times editorial board. Mark Woods is a columnist for the Florida Times-Union and the paper's website And also with us is Travis Gosa. He is an assistant professor of Africana studies at Cornell University. And he wrote about this for, which is an online publication. Thank you all so much for joining us.

SHERRI DAY: Thank you for having me.

MARK WOODS: Thanks, appreciate it.

TRAVIS GOSA: Thank you for having me.

MARTIN: Now, Sherri Day, I'm going to start with you because you wrote about this on a very personal level as the parent of a daughter but also twin boys. Just briefly tell us what you said about this and how this struck you.





GOSA: Absolutely. For me, Michael Dunn represents a growing segment of angry white men who are angry, irritated and packed to the teeth with guns. This is not the loving angry white man of Archie Bunker's age or Al Bundy in the 1980s, the shoe man on "Married with Children." This really represents, for me, a case in which Michael Dunn sees himself as a victim of America - an oppressed minority. And so, for me, this morning's announcement that Dunn sees himself and compares himself to a rape victim underscores the idea there's a growing segment of the American public who is white, male and angry.


GOSA: In many ways, I think there's a trifecta of conditions that lead white men like Michael Dunn and George Zimmerman to feel angry. Part of it is a feeling that they've been left out of the American dream, that they're under siege by thugs, gangsters, immigrants. And in some ways, I think this is a backlash, not just against Barack Obama's nomination and reelection, but also a movement among white feminists like Sheryl Sandberg, who are now leaning in. And really, in ways, this can be seen as emasculating for many white men.


GOSA: In the Michael Dunn case, we have four very rich sources of evidence to show his anger. We have his description of the shooting during the trial, in which he describes being disrespected by these, quote-unquote, mouthy teenagers. We have his prison-house letters in which he writes to his grandmother and his then fiancee that it's time for good Americans to stand up against thug culture and gangsters who are dominating America. We also have recent-released jailhouse audiotapes that show that he envisions himself as a victim in the same ways that women who survived domestic abuse and rape survive and are victimized.


MARTIN: Mark Woods, you wrote an interesting piece about this where you reacted as a Floridian. Can you talk a little bit about that? I mean, you talked about the fact that, you know, that there's something - there was something about seeing the seven simple words used to legally describe it. You're talking about the case now, State of Florida vs. Michael David Dunn. Reflect a little bit more about that, why you felt, as a Floridian, that there was something you wanted to talk about.

WOODS: Yes, I mean, that kind of struck me after all, you know, the hours and thousands of words that we've written, just that simple title of this case and that if the state of Florida lost, I felt like the entire state lost, all of us in this state. If he somehow was able to use this and walk out of the courthouse a free man using self-defense, that it was bad for all of us.

MARTIN: And why is that? Is - that you think there's something about the state of Florida? You know, I do have to, you know, point out that this - the George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin confrontation. Many people remember that George Zimmerman is a man who's a sort of a self-appointed neighborhood watch volunteer, a white male of Hispanic heritage, who shot this unarmed teenager, which also became a huge national story also in Florida.

And also, recently, a case involving two white men in - where one man shot another man who was texting in the movie theater, and he took offense to that. And both individuals were white in this case. Do you feel that there's something about Florida, or is it something about the laws in Florida? What are you saying?

WOODS: Well, I've lived here 25 years in the state has always created its share of news, you know, from hanging chads to Elian Gonzalez and all kinds of wacky crimes that kind of made - Carl Hiaasen and Tim Dorsey have made a living off of as novelists. But I think in the past, it was often kind of absurd and quirky or glitzy like Miami Vice. And, you know, it was almost, you know, in a way, oddly endearing for the state.



WOODS: Well, I think there's no question when you talk about this specific case, that, you know, from the incident itself to the reaction to the trial, you know, race is a part of it. But I mean, I also do think there's something more than race going on here. I mean, as you mentioned, we have that - the texting in the movie theater, and we've had several road rage incidents that people shot. And often race is not an issue, and the common denominator is testosterone and guns and, sadly, Florida.

MARTIN: If you're just joining us, we're talking about reactions to the Michael Dunn verdict. We're speaking with three writers whose essays about this - or recent writings about this caught our eye. Just speaking now was Mark Woods of the Florida Times-Union. Also with us, Sherri Day of the Tampa Bay Times and Professor Travis Gosa of Cornell University, who wrote about this case for The Root. Sherri Day, I want to go back to your piece. You talk about this in a way that I think some others have, too, which is that we've seen this before. We've seen this before. Do you feel like this is kind of a, like, a bad play that we've all seen? What would you like to happen as a result of this? What would you want to see happen to kind of have everybody break out of the role they've somehow been assigned?

DAY: You know, what I'd like to see is an honest dialogue and some serious introspection from people. One of the things that - two things struck me. I got an email from a friend who read my piece and said, the advice you're giving your sons about realizing that youthful rebellion for you doesn't mean what it means for people of other races is the same kind of advice my parents gave me in 1955. Now that's scary. But what I think we need to do is to all check ourselves - everybody - not just black people, not just white people, people of all races, creeds and cultures.

And ask yourself, when you see a group of black men standing on the corner, what are you thinking? Are you thinking that they are thugs, whether they're wearing hoodies or whatever kind of clothes they're wearing? How do you perceive them? I think we have to start to ask ourselves and check ourselves in these situations to make sure that we're not bending to stereotypes, to make sure that we're forcing ourselves to see people as they are beyond sort of maybe what human nature, in some cases, whether it's been pushed along by what we see in the media, might cause us to want us to believe. Everybody deserves to be judged as an individual, and I think that's where it starts.

MARTIN: I can't help but notice, Sherri, just briefly that there are those who wrote in to respond to your piece who said, you're the racist here. How do you respond to that?



GOSA: Well, I think the first thing we need to deal with is the idea that this goes beyond any one isolated incident of violence, that we see a rising anger and frustration among many Americans. There's research emerging showing that, you know, 50 to 60 percent of white Americans see themselves as being the victims of reverse discrimination, becoming the oppressed minority.

And so that - I think as we move beyond the isolated cases, we have to begin looking at the issues of how that privilege that made people feel safe and secure as they left their house, how has this disintegrated in the last 10-15 years? How do we restore that sense of stability, not just on the streets, but in public discourse?



And he didn't leave his name or number, and I wanted to call back and say, I did put myself in that situation. I remember being 17 years old. You know, you've got your license. You're out with your friends. You crank up music, and I would've been listening to Van Halen or AC/DC, but, you know, we would've been driving around with the windows down, cranked up music. And if somebody had told us to turn it down, I probably would've because I've always shied away from conflict. It's not that I was a perfect kid, but I can see some of my friends reaching over and going, oh, yeah? You want it turned down? You know, cranking it up a little louder. So that's what I wanted to say to that person. I put myself in that situation. I put myself in the shoes of Jordan Davis.


DAY: I...

MARTIN: ...Silver lining to any of this? Sherri.

DAY: For me, you know, my children - my boys are 3 years old. They're 3-year-old twins. They don't know anything about racism, and they are blank canvases. I have a 6-year-old daughter. I was teaching her about Black History Month and Abraham Lincoln just last week. And she said, mommy, is there a White History Month? And just in that moment, I realized how blank she is. And as parents, we get the opportunity to help them write their stories. People are the sum total of every experience that they've had. And so we have a chance. The hope is in our children, that we would teach them to be better than we are.

MARTIN: Travis.


MARTIN: How? How?





MARTIN: Mark Woods is a columnist for the Florida Times-Union with us from his office. Sherri Day is a member of the Tampa Bay Times editorial board with us from the studios at the Times. Travis Gosa is an assistant professor of Africana studies at Cornell University, also with us from his campus. Thank you all so much for speaking with us.

DAY: Thank you so much for having me.

WOODS: Thank you.

GOSA: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.