IJartlanh (Obstruer
Page 8
March 28. 2012
End the War against Young Black Men
No justice in
Trayvon
Martin’s death
The shooter, George Zim m erm an,
a 2 8 -y ear-o ld H isp an ic, no ticed
T rayvon w alking through his gated
com m unity and called 911 to report
a suspicious person. Instead o f
follow ing the d isp atch er’s instruc
by M arc H. M orial
tions and ending his involve
B e in g a y o u n g
m ent there, Z im m erm an co n
black m an has been
tinued follow ing T rayvon. An
c alled the hardest jo b
a lte r c a tio n
en su ed
and
in A m erica.
T rayvon was shot.
Y oung black men
Zim m erm an claim ed self de
are m uch m ore likely
fense and has not been charged
than w hite m en to be
w ith a crim e. T ray v o n ’s p ar
jo b less, in ja il and labeled “suspi ents are both heartbroken and o u t
c io u s,” som etim es with deadly con raged. As B enjam in C rum p, the
sequences. Such was the case on fa m ily ’s law yer put it, “ If T rayvon
Feb. 26, w hen 17-year-old high w ould have been the triggerm an,
school student, T rayvon M artin, th ere w ould have b een n o th in g
w as shot and killed by a neig h b o r T rayvon M artin could have said to
hood-w atch vigilante in Sanford, keep police from arresting him D ay
Florida.
l.H o u r l.”
O f the m any unansw ered q u e s
tions in this case, tw o stand out.
First, T rayvon M artin, w ho had ju s t
stopped o ff at a con v en ien ce store,
was arm ed only with a bag o f Skittles
and a can o f ice tea. G e o rg e
Zim m erm an, w ho w eighed over 100
pounds m ore than the victim , w as
arm ed with a 9 m illim eter handgun.
E ven if there w as a physical alterca
tion betw een the tw o, w hy w as such
deadly force necessary?
Second, one o f the reasons the
police gave for not im m ediately a r
resting Z im m erm an w as that he had
a “squeaky clean ” record. A few
days later it w as discovered that
Z im m erm an had been arrested in
2005 for resisting arrest w ith battery
on a police officer. T rayvon M artin,
on the other hand, had no crim inal
record.
T h ese and o th er troubling facts
have led the C entral Florida U rban
L eague and others, to call on the
S ta te ’s A tto rn ey ’s O ffice and the
D epartm ent o f Justice to conduct
an independent investigation.
C entral F lorida U rban League
p resid en t and C E O , A llie B rasw ell
said, “ A private citizen taking law
enfo rcem en t into his ow n hands
can n o t be condoned. If it is found
that a crim e has been com m itted, the
sh o o ter m ust be p rosecuted to the
fu llest ex ten t o f the law .”
T his case is now generating n a
tional attention and w e w ill be fo l
low ing it closely. W e do not know
fo r sure w hy G eorge Z im m erm an
k illed T rayvon M artin. But we do
know , according to a 2011 C ollege
B oard report, that 45 percent o f
A fric a n A m e ric a n h ig h sc h o o l
graduates betw een the ages o f 15
and 24 w ill end up “ unem ployed,
incarcerated o r d ead .”
W e also know that the m urder o f
innocent black m en in the A m erican
South is nothing new . Fifty-seven
years ago, the w hite m urderers o f
14-year old Em m itt Till in the M issis
sippi D elta w ere acquitted o f the
crim e in a clear case o f racial injus
tice.
A s the fath er o f a 10-year old
A frican A m erican son, I jo in all A f
rican A m erican parents and A m eri
cans o f conscience everyw here in
calling for an end to the w ar against
young black m en and a thorough
in v e s tig a tio n o f th e d e a th o f
T rayvon M artin.
Marc H. M orial is president and
chief executive officer o f the N a
tional Urban League.
Suspicious Enough for a Death Sentence
Gunned down walking while black
by M arian W right
E delman
E very parent
r a is in g b la c k
sons know s the
dilem m a: decid
ing how soon to
h av e the talk.
C h o o s in g th e
w ords to explain to your beautiful
child that there are som e people
w ho w ill never like o r trust him ju st
because o f w ho he is, including
som e w ho should be there to pro
tect him , but will instead have the
p o w er to hurt him .
Training him how to walk, what to
say, and how to act so he w o n ’t
seem like a threat. T eaching him that
the burden o f deflating stereotypes
and reassuring other p e o p le ’s igno
rance w ill alw ays fall on him , and
w hile that isn ’t fair, in som e cases it
m ay be the only w ay to keep him
safe and alive.
B ut som etim es it isn ’t enough. It
w a sn ’t enough to protect 17-year-
oldT rayvon M artin. T ray v o n ’s E n
glish teacher said he w as “an A and
B student w ho m ajored in ch eerfu l
n e s s .”
T rayvon loved building m odels
and taking things apart, his favorite
subject w as m ath, and he dream ed
o f becom ing a pilot and an engineer.
Instead, he w as gunned dow n by a
self-appointed neighborhood w atch
captain vigilante w ho profiled him ,
follow ed him , and shot him in the
c h e st.
H is killer, G eorge Z im m erm an,
saw the teenager on the street and
called the police to report he looked
“ like h e ’s up to no g o o d .” A t the
tim e T rayvon was w alking hom e
from the nearby 7-11 carrying a bottle
o f A rizo n a iced tea and a bag o f
S kittles fo r his younger stepbrother,
leaving m any people to guess that
the m ain thing he w as doing that
m ade him look “no good” w as w ear
ing a hooded sw eatshirt in the rain
and w alking w hile black. G eorge
Z im m erm an ’s decisions m ade that
suspicious enough to be a death
sen te n c e.
N o w th e re is w id e sp re a d o u t
ra g e o v e r th e sen se less k illin g o f
a y o u n g b la c k m an w h o w as d o in g
n o th in g w ro n g and th e fact th at
th e m an w h o k ille d h im h as no t
b e en a rre ste d . P eo p le are try in g
to m ak e sen se o f the se rie s o f gun
'rt!' ^Jortlanb (0bsrrl»rr
Established 1970
USPS 959-680 ___________________________________
47 47 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211
Charles H. Washington
EDiroR.M ichael L e ig h to n
D is t r ib u t io n M an a g e r : M a rk W a sh in g to n
C r e a tiv e D ir e c t o r : P a u l N e u fe ld t
la w s th a t a l l o w e d G e o r g e
Z im m e rm a n to act as h e d id , s ta rt
ing w ith the F lo rid a law s th a t a l
lo w ed so m eo n e lik e Z im m e rm a n ,
w h o h ad p re v io u sly b e en c h a rg e d
fo r re s istin g a rre st w ith v io le n c e
an d b a tte ry on a p o lic e o ffic e r, to
g et a p e rm it to c a rry a c o n c e a le d
w e ap o n in th e first p la ce .
M any m ore questions are being
raised about F lo rid a’s “ Stand Y our
G ro u n d ” law , w hich also has been
described as the “ shoot first, ask
questions later” law , and gives the
benefit o f the doubt to Z im m erm an
and others claim ing “ self-d efen se”
by allow ing people w ho say they
are in im m inent d an g er to defend
them selves. Som e states lim it this
defense to p eo p le’s ow n hom es,
but others, like Florida, allow it any
where.
A s Josh H orw itz, executive d i
recto r o f the C oalition to Stop G un
V iolence, says, this law “has turned
c o m m o n la w — a n d c o m m o n
sense— on its head by enabling vigi
lantes to provoke conflicts, resolve
them w ith deadly force, and avoid
ev er having to set foot in a c o u rt
room .”
T he fear in T ray v o n ’s death is
that this is exactly w hat has h ap
pen ed so far: that the story told by
w itn e s s e s , p h o n e re c o rd s , an d
Z im m erm an ’s violent past and ear
lier com plaints during his n eig h b o r
hood patrols show s an overzealous
a rm e d a g g re ss o r w h o fo llo w e d
T ray v o n even after police told him
to stop, chased T rayvon dow n w hen
the frightened boy tried to w alk aw ay
from the stranger follow ing him , and
then shot the unarm ed, 100-pounds-
lig h ter teen ag er w hile neighbors
said they heard a child crying for
help.
The
p ro sp e ct
now
th a t
Z im m erm an m ight n ev er set foot in
a co u rtro o m fo r the shooting has
cau sed w idespread frustration and
fury.
Ju st as sadly, T ra y v o n ’s death
w as not unique. In 2008 and 2009,
2,582 B lack children and teens were
killed by gunfire. B lack children and
teens w ere only 15 percent o f the
child population, but 45 percent o f
the 5 ,7 4 0 child and teen gun deaths
in those tw o years. B lack m ales 15 to
19 y ears-old w ere eight tim es as
likely as w hite m ales to be gun h o
m icide victim s.
T h e outcry o v er T ray v o n ’s death
is absolutely right and ju st. W e need
the sam e sense o f outrage o v er e v
ery one o f these child deaths. A bove
all, w e need a nation w here these
sen seless d eath s no lo n g er h a p
pen. B ut w e w o n ’t g et it until w e
have com m o n -sen se gun law s that
protect children instead o f guns and
d o n ’t a llo w p eo p le like G eo rg e
Zim m erm an to take the law into their
ow n hands.
W e w o n ’t get it until w e have a
culture that sees ev ery child as a
ch ild o f G od and sacred, instead o f
seeing som e as expendable statis
tics, and others as threats and “no
g o o d ” because o f the co lo r o f their
skin o r because they chose to w alk
hom e w earing a hood in the rain.
A nd w e w o n ’t get it until enough o f
u s — p a re n ts a n d g ra n d p a re n ts ,
stand up and tell o u r political lead
ers that the N ational R ifle A ssocia
tion should not be in charge o f our
neighborhoods, streets, gun law s,
and values.
In T ra y v o n ’s case, his fath er
T racy speaks fo r w hat his fam ily
needs: “T he fam ily is calling for
ju stice. W e d o n ’t w ant our so n ’s
death to be in vain.” I hope that
enough voices w ill ensure that it is
not.
Marian Wright Edelman is presi
dent o f the Children's Defense Fund.
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