Opinion
Study: Who Cares about Trayvon Martin?
The shooting death of 17-year-
old Trayvon Martin by a neighbor-
hood watch captain in Sanford,
Fla. has dominated national news
lately, with African-Americans
more than twice as likely as
Whites to follow the story very
closely, according to a study by
the Pew Research Center for the
People and the Press.
The study, conducted March 22-
25, found that 70 percent of
African-Americans followed the
story very closely, compared to 30
percent of Whites. Women were
more likely to closely follow
events surrounding Martin’s death
than men, 40 percent to 29 per-
cent. There was also a political
divide, with 50 percent of Democ-
rats saying they followed the story
very closely, compared to 31 per-
cent of Republicans and 26 per-
cent of independents.
Older respondents followed the
story more closely than younger
people. The study found that 40
percent of those 65 and older fol-
lowed the story very closely,
trailed by the 50-64 age group (37
percent), 30-49 (33 percent) and
18-29 (26 percent).
When pollsters approached the
issue another way by asking
respondents to rank their top sto-
ries, there was also a sharp racial
divide. Fifty-two percent of
Blacks ranked the Trayvon Martin
story as their top pick, followed by
the presidential elections at 13
percent. Whites were almost even-
ly divided, with 20 percent rank-
ing the death of Trayvon Martin as
No.1, edging out the presidential
election at 19 percent. Among
T HE C URRY
R EPORT
George E.
Curry
Whites, the economy was a close
third at 17 percent. The economy
was a distant third among African-
Americans, with only a 7 percent
ranking.
The wide gulf between the
views of Whites and Blacks on
race is nothing new. The two com-
munities hold distinctly different
views toward law enforcement
officials. While Whites tend the
view cops as protective allies,
many African-Americans, espe-
cially males, live in fear of being
mistreated by police officers.
A 2009 study by the Pew
Research Center found that 38
percent of Whites expressed a
great deal of confidence in local
police treating Blacks and Whites
equally. However, only 14 percent
of African-Americans shared that
view. At the other end of the spec-
trum, 34 percent of Blacks
expressed very little confidence in
police treating Blacks and Whites
equally, a view shared by 9 per-
cent of Whites.
Interestingly, the national news
media did not provide wide-
spread coverage of the Feb.
26 Trayvon Martin shooting
until a month later. In the
meantime, the Black Press
and social media kept the
story alive. Release of the
911 tapes and the public out-
cry that followed forced
national media organizations
to take notice.
A 2010 Pew study found
that African-Americans are highly
critical of news coverage of their
community.
“Nearly six-in-ten (58 percent)
said that coverage of blacks was
too negative. Just half as many (29
percent) said the coverage was
negative.” In addition, 51 percent
of Blacks said race relations
received too little media coverage
while only 24 percent of Whites
agreed with that opinion.
Undergirding all of those statis-
tics are different perceptions about
the existence of racial discrimina-
tion.
For example, 43 percent of
Blacks said there is a lot of dis-
crimination against African-
Americans, compared with 13
percent of Whites. In the survey,
Whites were more likely to say
Latinos were discriminated
against more than Blacks (21 per-
cent vs. 13 percent).
Eighty-one percent of African-
Americans said “our country
needs to continue making changes
to give Blacks equal rights with
Whites.” Only 36 percent of
While Whites tend the view cops as
protective allies, many African-
Americans, especially males, live in
fear of being mistreated by police
officers
either fair (28 percent) or too pos-
itive (1 percent),” the report said.
“By contrast, nearly half (48 per-
cent) of whites said that coverage
of blacks was generally fair. Just
31 percent of whites thought that
news coverage of blacks was too
Whites agreed. A majority of
Whites – 54 percent – said “our
country has made the changes it
needed to give blacks equal rights
with whites.”
Many pointed to the election of
President Barack Obama as a
watershed moment for race rela-
tions in the U.S.
A Gallup Poll conducted the day
after Obama was elected president
in November 2008 showed that 70
percent of Americans believed
race relations would improve as a
result of his victory. Today, how-
ever, 48 percent of African-Amer-
icans and 31 percent of Whites
believe race relations have
improved under the president.
In addition, the glow from
Obama’s election has faded over
the past three years.
In 2009, 71 percent of Blacks
thought the election of Obama was
one of the most important
advances for African-Americans
in the past 100 years; today that
percentage has declined to 65 per-
cent, a drop of 6 percent. Among
Whites, there was nearly a 20 per-
cent decline, falling from 56 per-
cent in 2009 to 37 percent today.
Although there should be uni-
versal outrage against a 28-year-
old man shooting to death an
unarmed 17-year-old, interest in
the case, like so many other things
in America, is heavily influenced
by race.
George E. Curry, former editor-
in-chief of Emerge magazine, is
editor-in-chief of the National
Newspaper Publishers Associa-
tion News Service (NNPA) and
editorial director of Heart & Soul
magazine
Trayvon Martin Stress Test – We Failed
“Can’t we just get along?
Those famous words from
Rodney King still apply to
America today. It is 2012
and race based hate haunts
us daily. There is always
something sensational to
remind us that we have yet
to overcome this evil. The
latest big indication that it
still lives is the incident from San-
ford, Fla. A child of God, a son
and brother of only 17 years in age
was struck in the chest by a bullet.
The bullet did not come from a
gang member, robber or thug. It
came from a “volunteer neighbor-
hood watchman” – whatever that
is.
Like the Watergate Incident
which took down a U.S. president,
it wasn’t the initial act that causes
us to scream. It was the cover up.
What the authorities of Sanford
did or did not do subsequent to the
shooting is deplorable and leans
towards racism.
First, they showed no regard for
the family of Trayvon. Here is a
corpse of a teenager with his cell
phone in his pocket. They made no
attempt to locate his family which
could have been done in minutes
via the cell phone. It wasn’t until
his father called police that they
informed the family. Secondly,
they took the shooter’s word on
what happened. Whenever a
policeman shoots an individual his
C HAMBER
W ATCH
Harry C.
Alford
weapon is taken for testing; he is
given a blood alcohol and drug
test and then he is assigned to desk
duty until a thorough investigation
is completed. Sanford police took
his weapon but did nothing else.
In fact, they performed a drug test
on Trayvon for some reason.
There are a lot of things that
don’t add up. Why was this watch-
man following Trayvon who was
walking directly home from a con-
venience store? The watchman’s
Trayvon’s girlfriend who he called
claiming a person was following
him. They need to do a run on the
The bullet did not come from a gang
member, robber or thug. It came
from a ‘volunteer neighborhood
watchman’ – whatever that is
shooter’s weapon to see if it has
been used in other shootings. Why
haven’t they begun a grand jury
investigation? Why isn’t there an
autopsy done on Trayvon? That
might show the entry of the bullet
and if he was shot lying on the
ground as opposed to attacking the
watchman.
This is a pure tragedy but there
Like the Watergate Incident which took
down a U.S. president, it wasn’t the
initial act that causes us to scream. It
was the cover up.
911 call sounds like someone
drunk but yet they never test him.
He weighs more than 100 pounds
over Trayvon’s weight but yet he
says Trayvon was beating him up.
The police ignore the claims of
Emmett Till, Rodney King and
now Trayvon Martin are just a few
reminders that if you are a parent
is more to it than the great loss
suffered by the Martin family. It is
the reminder that Black young
men are at risk whenever they
intermingle in the same environ-
ment as policemen or guards.
of a Black male, you have much to
fear.
I have four Black daughters. Not
one day ever occurred that I feared
for their safety from police. I also
have two sons, the babies, and
there have been many times that
my wife and I would seriously
worry about their future and safe-
ty. The fear was justified. One of
my sons was beaten by DC police-
men and falsely charged. It took
$20,000+ to get the false charges
thrown out. The other son was
given a false citation and harassed
by a University of Maryland
policeman which we also had to
get thrown out. Their best friend
escorted a white female student
back to her dorm after a campus
nightclub closed. The Prince
Georges, MD police department
declared this to be disturbing the
peace (interracial walking after
hours). For this they stayed in a
jail cell from Friday night to Mon-
day afternoon. His family had to
also pay big bucks to get it thrown
out. Just about every Black family
I know with a son has similar hor-
ror stories.
My wife and I are lucky. Our
sons are grown now and have sur-
vived with their lives and no
trumped up criminal record. There
are too many of us who cannot say
that. It is an American shame and,
somehow, we have got to end this
institutional illness. Perhaps we
can develop a protocol for all cor-
rectional administrators to adhere
to. A check list that can be used as
a requirement for all policemen,
guards etc. That will promote fair
and impartial treatment for all
regardless of race and/or ethnicity.
The time to end stereotypes and
prejudgment is long overdue. Per-
haps we should no longer hope for
it but sincerely demand it. Some-
thing stinks in Sanford, FL and we
must expunge it from our society.
May God bless the Martin family
and may justice prevail in San-
ford, FL. All individuals who have
failed should pay for their trans-
gressions. May this become an
example of what happens whenev-
er fair and impartial treatment is
not applied to each and every citi-
zen.
Mr. Alford is the Co-Founder,
President/CEO of the National
Black Chamber of Commerce.
April 4, 2012 The Seattle Skanner Page 5