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PS 4
TRAYVON
“ It is going to be a difficult case for the feds ,” said Lave . “ But that being said , prosecutors are supposed to be interested in justice . And even a loss in federal court would send a powerful message that this kind of conduct is not OK .”
The automatic , almost reflexive and unexamined links that some Americans make between young black men , crime and danger are fed and reinforced almost every day in most movies , commercials , music and even on some news networks , said Rashad Robinson , executive director of Color of Change , a nonprofit social justice organization . Color of Change plans to mobilize people outraged by the Zimmerman verdict to push for federal charges and a sea change in media depictions of young black men , Robinson said .
“ People may be inclined to dismiss this , but we need look no further than young , black men like Trayvon Martin and Oscar Grant and Jordan Davis to understand the power of media to shape these negative perceptions , and that those ideas can have grave consequences .”
Since Trayvon ’ s death last year , conditions at the shooting scene have changed , and some witnesses and people with valid information may have become harder to find or moved away . And the town ’ s mostly conservative white residents are said to largely support Zimmerman . But civil rights investigations are frequently challenging .
A special Department of Justice division created to investigate unsolved or unresolved race-related cases involving crimes that occurred decades ago has extra resources for its work . This cold-case unit has identified 112 cases with 125 victims , according to the division ’ s most recent report to Congress . It has since closed 89 cases and prosecuted just three .
The numbers are discouraging , and under previous conservative administrations civil rights prosecutions of even current cases became rare , said Christina Swarns , the NAACP Legal Defense Fund ’ s interim litigation director and director of the criminal justice project . But , this is 2013 , a time when faith in the criminal justice system and its pursuit of justice should be affirmed , Swarns said . So , the NAACP Legal Defense Fund has also joined the call for a federal investigation .
“ If the states are unwilling or unable to provide justice , the federal government has to step in ,” Swarns said . “ It just can ’ t be that black children can be killed because of their race , there ’ s no answer and we all go home .”
Janell Ross is a reporter in New York working on a book about race , economic inequality and the recession , due out next year .
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Failure Is Not An Option