3 1/2 Minutes and Ten Bullets Reflection

I know we watched the documentary a while ago, but after talking extensively about race this semester, it is very clear that what happened to Jordan Davis was based on the racist judgments of Michael Dunn. Dunn heard rap music, or “thug music” as he called it, coming from a car with a couple of African American teenagers and automatically assumed that they were a threat. A red flag went off in his head because throughout the history of America, that’s how white people have been trained to react to such situations. Had it been a car full of Caucasian kids listening to the same music, I do not believe that Michael Dunn would have had the same reaction. I also think that power has a lot to do with the death of Jordan Davis. As we discussed in class, one group oppresses another group because it gives them more power. Michael Dunn, a white male, felt entitled to peace and quiet at that gas station because he was innately better than them because of his race. When they didn’t listen to him and didn’t turn down the music, he felt that he had to assert his dominance because he was losing his power. After all, if the people you’re supposed to have power over don’t do what they’re told, you don’t really have any power over them at all. This was made very clear when he said “you’re not going to talk to me like that” before pulling out his gun. This also connects to white privilege, while Michael Dunn was in prison making calls to his wife he didn’t seem to be talking it very seriously. He didn’t foresee the consequences of his actions, and didn’t seem to show a lot of remorse for what he did. At the end of the day, he was a white male in jail for killing an African American kid and in these situations, the jury usually sides with the white male. He was under the impression that he was going to get out of jail and go home to his wife, because this was just some sort of misunderstanding that he wanted to be cleared up. However this was more than a misunderstanding, a young man lost his life and Michael Dunn deserves to pay for it.