How the Death of Trayvon Martin Birthed Black History

His murder gave life to perhaps to most lively and sustained debate on racial profiling.

 —

For some, especially those who don’t vote, it may be hard to believe that a highly contested presidential campaign was underway at the same time a significant portion of the American population was protesting the murder of Mr. Trayvon Martin, a then 17 year-old who was confronted and later killed by Mr. George Zimmerman, a vigilante who willfully disobeyed police orders and stalked Mr. Martin, because he perceived the teen to be a suspicious person who was up to no good.

What drove Mr. Zimmerman to his conclusion wasn’t the ambiguous actions of Mr. Martin, but his hoodie, his skin color and the fact that he was strolling through a gated community where he was obviously the exception, not the rule.

The undeniable racial undertones that surrounded Mr. Martin’s death created perhaps the most lively and sustained debate on racial profiling in America’s history. In the 30 days following the shooting, the name “Trayvon” was mentioned more than two million times on Twitter.

And though the conversation was happening in real-time, so was the action. Across the country, communities were organizing vigils, protests, and town hall meetings.

In Philadelphia, my company, Techbook Online, co-organized a candle light vigil in Love Park which attracted nearly a thousand people. The Million Hoodies March, that took place prior to mine, garnered thousands of people full of rage and sadness.

Media outlets were trying to make sense out of why the killing of Trayvon Martin sparked such an outrage, considering black men die all the time by the hands of other black men. I was asked several times what the big deal was by Philadelphia journalists leading up to my event.

I couldn’t verbalize the cause for the uprising then, so all I said was that it was one of those moments in history… black history… that we will never forget.

Many fruitful initiatives and coalitions grew out of the grief and frustration that followed Mr. Martin’s death, including The Dream Defenders, a youth group which begun demanding changes in Florida laws which criminalize young black and brown people, and Techbook Online’s media diversification campaign, which aimed to partner with content creators and media organizations to improve media coverage and public perception of black men and boys.

Both social ventures, millennial-led, have now established a national footprint that enables once invisible issues and ideas to be clearly seen, heard and understood by policy makers, lobbyist and the general public.

Mr. Phillip Agnew, Founder, Dream Defenders, along with several young activists, met with President Barack Obama last year at the White House to talk about policy and progress.

As the Founder of Techbook Online, in addition to leading the news organization to becoming the largest and most active publisher associated with Project Open Voice – a national initiative to strengthen local content – I’ve been working with Black Youth Vote, a program of the National Coalition of Black Civic Participation, and in the Spring I will be participating in a special gathering of black men and boys on Capitol Hill.

Though the Stand Your Ground law that many believe was Mr. Zimmerman’s saving grace is still on the books, despite significant lobbying efforts from Mr. Martin’s parents and others, the organizations, leaders, movements, causes and events that sprouted up after Mr. Martin was murdered proves his death wasn’t in vain, and it surely gave birth to black history.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™