“Our son is your son,” said Trayvon’s mother, Sabrina Fulton, to a large crowd gathered in Union Square in NYC to support her family in the quest to bring about justice for her son.
The New York Daily News is reporting on a large gathering in New York City’s Union Square tonight to rally for the arrest of George Zimmerman, the Sanford, Florida neighborhood watch captain who fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, three weeks ago.
And now hoodie-themed protests are showing up everywhere, from the streets of New York—to Sanford, Florida (scheduled for Thursday, organized by Rev. Al Sharpton)—to Facebook and Twitter. People care about this boy and want to see Zimmerman held responsible for this boy’s death.
It’s awesome to see people rallying against racism, but what I really want to know is what we can do in the future to prevent these crimes. I want to know how each of us is going to change. I want to know what we will do to address the messages we’ve been absorbing in our lives about young black men.
We may all identify with Trayvon Martin, or with his mother or father, to some degree.
But we are doing ourselves and the world a disservice if we don’t all identify the “George Zimmerman” inside ourselves as well. We need to address the voice that may live in our heads that tells us that black men are dangerous. We need to address the parts of us that are afraid of minority men. We need to take a serious look at how our society marginalizes and alienates young black men—be it through the education system that is failing our boys, or through the media, or through the criminal justice system which discriminates based upon race when sentencing crimes.
Let’s all don our hoodies to remember a young life lost.
And let’s all open our minds and find a way to prevent this from happening again.
Here are just a few of the Tweets showing up on Twitter as part of the #MillionHoodieMarch:
For more on the death of Trayvon Walker and racism, read Walking While Black, Shoot First Ask Later, and 911 Call: Screams For Help, Gunshots, Is This Justice
And yes, that’s Jackie Summers, Dr Emery Petchauer, and me in the hoodie pics!
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Hello Joanna, The following comment was originally posted on fellow GMPer Damon “The Champ” Young’s post on Trayvon Martin over at his blog, Very Smart Brothas by yours truly; I think it raises some very important questions that we simply must grapple with: “It sickens me motherf*cker how far we done fell.” -Bunk Moreland, The Wire Good morning champ, everyone, Although several others have mentioned it let me put a fine point on the spear: The only reason why the trayvon storys getting national attention and white house scrutiny is because of the racial angle. And we all know it.… Read more »
Obsidian — you’re so incredibly right. Lisa, Jackie and I have been talking to a few other men about what we can do to mobilize to not just get ZImmerman off the streets, but to make REAL change. To look at what’s happening in the world and why we simply just don’t value the lives of young black men enough to stop the violence. We care about Trayvon for a myriad of reasons, but mostly because it makes us feel better to believe we’re doing something by spreading the word about him. We feel absolved of white guilt (I’m speaking… Read more »
I think all of us at GMP are in agreement that we want to help. What can we do? I’m in the process of putting together various groups for conference calls and action planning. Please let me know if I can be of help.
Hi Joanna, I think the problems that face Black folks at this point are largely – not solely, but largely – internal at this point, and require a kind of rewiring from the neck up, if you will. My comment made earlier today, again on the Trayvon issue, speaks to this point: “Do you know who the most dangerous man in America is, Lamar? A Nigga with a library card.” -Brother Muzone, The Wire Good morning champ, everyone, As ive pointed out to, i believe it was panama last week, it is my view that social media, such as it… Read more »
I was just thinking, I don’t know anybody who was gunned down.
Then I thought, that’s white privilege right there.
It would be nice if the community would suddenly wake up and shake off the despair. But, this despair has been hundreds of years (literally) in the making and fresh ingredients are being grown each and every day to further cultivate that despair. Many black boys are born knowing nothing but despair, and the only way they learn to deal with it is to rebel against the system that caused it. Hence, the sagging pants, etc. Despair does not beget the qualities and characteristics needed to make significant improvement. Despair fuels nothing constructive that would enable the community heal itself;… Read more »
The march(es) will likely get George Zimmerman arrested but that’s about it. History tells the truth. The chances of black boys and men no longer getting shot in the street every day with little or no investigation, sad to say, are very close to zero. It won’t matter how many million hoodie marches there are because the hoodie is not the problem. Racism and stereotypes aren’t even the core problem; they’re just symptoms and outcomes. Anybody know the names of the 512 black boys and men that were killed since Treyvon Martin was? Based on historic patterns, there will be… Read more »
Changing out own behavior is great, but more than likely youre preaching to the choir. Go a step further and hold your local law enforcement possible. Make phone calls and find out what’s going on. It’s unthinkable that Zimmerman isn’t behind bars. If the races had been reversed he’d probably be locked up till the investigation was over.
This is great!
However, I saw someone on CNN commenting that no one feels threatened by a white male in a hoodie, even if their face is obscured, and I have to disagree. If I see a young man in a hoodie I have a visceral fear response, regardless of the race.
Over here its tracksuits, and predominantly white males. I don’t have any fear response to black people to speak of. Just shows how environmental this stuff is.
Where do you live?
I’m in Canada, and if there is news about a cop shooting a suspect, the suspect is invariably Aboriginal. But I’ve been anxious when in a strange place with young white men, even though I’m male and white.
Ireland. Our cops don’t carry guns, although I think they have them in a locked case in their patrol cars for if theres a shootout. Regs are still very tight though, they have to account for each round in their report.
I want to clarify my comments: I should explain that by nature I am an anxious person, and I live in the inner city. I have never been mugged, but I know people who have been. Having heard the 911 tape, however, it’s clear that ZImmerman had no reason to feel threatened.
My point is that you cannot control how people feel, just how they react. Getting rid of the guns would stop a lot of this.
I think this is an interesting counterpoint to the articles about the racist bumper sticker as being evidence that america is racist. The fact that thousands of people accross your country are willing to take to the streets against this kind of stuff must mean something about the way things are and are going.
I think these marches prove there are people who are not racist.
But the system is racist. The country is broken. Innocent men and boys are marginalized and targeted.
The fact of this march offers hope, but until the system is fixed, this nation is still racist.