Voices
The reaction to the not-guilty
verdict from George Zimmerman’s jury was swift and strong.
Young people poured onto the
streets in peaceful protests in
Chicago, Los Angeles, New York
City, and Washington, D.C. By 3
a.m. more than 100,000 people
signed an online petition urging
the Justice Department to pursue civil rights violation charges
against George Zimmerman.
The outrage over the killing of
an unarmed Black teenager who
was doing nothing wrong must
continue until some semblance
of justice is achieved. People who
want to keep faith in American justice feel uncomfortable, upset and
disheartened. Where is the justice
if walking while Black is enough to
get you “stopped and frisked” in
New York City and fatally shot in
Florida with its senseless, violent
“Stand Your Ground” law that allows people to defend themselves
with deadly force anytime and anywhere they imagine they are or say
they feel threatened even if they
are the stalker?
Many decades of struggle and
progress to eliminate racial profiling, arbitrary arrests, unfair sentencing, imprisonment and criminalization of Black males at younger
MARIAN WRIGHT
EDELMAN
HUFFINGTON
07.21.13
and younger ages are being reversed
by determined special interests
like the gun lobby putting profits
before the most basic American
civil rights. The National Rifle Association and their allies, including
the American Legislative Exchange
Council (ALEC), determined efforts
to support and pass “Stand Your
Ground” and other destructive laws
to protect guns rather than children
perpetuates the epidemic of gun
Since 1963, 59,265
Black children and teens have
been killed by guns — more
than 17 times the recorded
lynchings of Black people
of all ages in America between
1882 and 1968.”
violence, especially for Black male
teenagers like Trayvon Martin.
Black children and teens were
17 times more likely to die from a
gun homicide than White children
and teens in 2010. Since 1963,
59,265 Black children and teens
have been killed by guns — more
than 17 times the recorded lynchings of Black people of all ages in
America between 1882 and 1968.
What made a Black male teen-