Trayvon Martin: What should black parents advise their kids? What are the lessons for all parents?
As federal investigators are sorting out what exactly happened to Trayvon Martin, the young African-American boy shot and killed while walking through a neighborhood, I am wondering what parents are telling their kids? I am wondering what conclusions they are drawing about the participants and what advise they are offering to their teens and kids?
I have read several interesting perspectives on the story that I wanted to share with you and get your reaction. Our own Gracie Bond Staples talked with African-American parents about the rearing African-American boys in particular.
From the AJC’s story:
“…According to a 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, homicide was the leading cause of death for black males age 12-19.”
“In the weeks since young Trayvon Martin was gunned down in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., those truths have weighed heavily on black parents.”
“(Marlyn) Tillman, a community activist and empty nester, lives in a middle-class, predominately white Snellville neighborhood.”
“Ruben Brown, 48, lives with his wife and 14-year-old son in Atlanta and, while not the suburbs, it is hardly the ‘hood. But like Tillman, he knows their middle-class status in no way equals safety when it comes to his son.”
“Although worries about the safety of adolescents are not the province of just black families or parents of boys, Tillman, Brown and other parents say raising black boys is perhaps the most stressful aspects of parenting because they know they’re dealing with a society that is fearful and hostile toward them, simply because of the color of their skin.”
“At 14, Brown said his son is at that critical age when he’s always worried about his safety because of profiling.”
“ ‘I don’t want to scare him or have him paint people with a broad brush, but, historically, we black males have been stigmatized as the purveyors of crime and wherever we are, we’re suspect,” Brown said.”
“Black parents who don’t make that fact clear, he and others said, do it at their and their male children’s own peril.”
“ ‘Any African-American parent not having that conversation is being irresponsible,’ Brown said. ‘I see this whole thing as an opportunity for us to speak frankly, openly and honestly about race relations.’ ”
“Morehouse College associate professor Bryant Marks agreed, saying parents need to be vigilant in raising their boys, make them aware of how they are perceived in this country and give them the skills they need to survive.”
“ ‘Have the conversation about the police, tell them what to do when they are on foot or in a car,’ he said. ‘That conversation needs to happen. It acknowledges the bias out there, but let them know that they can succeed in spite of all of that.’ “
“Regardless of a family’s class or education, the challenge of bringing young black males safely to adulthood must be tremendous, said Richard Cohen, president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.”
“ ‘On the one hand, should they tell children to run when they are faced with suspicious and possibly dangerous circumstances such as a car following them, or should they stand still for fear that their running will be interpreted as some sort of evidence of guilt,” he said. “It’s a horrible, horrible Catch 22 for any parent or child on the street.’ ”
Which leads me to the ABC News report about how Martin was on the phone with his girlfriend when he thought he was being followed. She told him to run. But he told her he would not run. I wondered if that was from something his parents had told him about the Civil Rights era? I wondered if it was a pride thing or was he told never to run so he didn’t look guilty?
“He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man,” Martin’s friend said. “I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run, but he said he was not going to run.”
Eventually, he would run, said the girl, thinking that he’d managed to escape. But suddenly the strange man was back, cornering Martin.
“Trayvon said, ‘What are you following me for,’ and the man said, ‘What are you doing here.’ Next thing I hear is somebody pushing, and somebody pushed Trayvon because the head set just fell. I called him again, and he didn’t answer the phone.”
The final story I found particularly compelling is from The Washington Post. It talks about how the Trayvon Martin case reminds people of the 1960s when civil rights workers would vanish in Southern towns. Here is an excerpt:
“It feels like the not-so-long-ago ’60s, back when getting federal authorities to move quickly was often difficult. But this is a different era, however tragically similar the outcome.”
“The Trayvon Martin story has multiple layers: a black victim, a Hispanic man who did the shooting in Sanford, Fla. In Washington, the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, Thomas E. Perez, is Hispanic. The attorney general of the United States, Eric H. Holder Jr., is a black man. The man who occupies the Oval Office, Barack Obama, is an African American. “
“And yet, even that arc of progress — while admired — hasn’t softened emotions and feelings.”
“ ‘It reminds you of Emmett Till,” said Bernadette Pruitt, an associate professor of history at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Tex., who has written about Southern racial history and can’t stop thinking of Trayvon Martin and his family. ‘This so-called post-racialism is a figment of our imagination. Race, unfortunately, is still the barometer by which everyone is measured.’ ”
So I am wondering if parents are feeling this echo from the past and explaining it in that framework? I am also wondering if they are using it as a teachable moment about history?
If you are an African-American parents what are you telling your boys (or girls)? What lessons should all parents be sharing with their kids from this?
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203 comments Add your comment
Anj
March 23rd, 2012
5:26 pm
What nastiness abounds!
Someone hand me the brain bleach.
Jay Black
March 23rd, 2012
5:27 pm
@Mrs. Hawkins, AMEN! Crabapplejoe probably knows nothing about history to make a statement like that. He probably believes Christopher Columbus discovered America.
crabapplejoe
March 23rd, 2012
5:29 pm
@Mrs. Hawkins who wrote: z’..now if you really knew history you would have know that the “moorish people’ who were black or dark skinned Africans who resided in North African, mainly Egypt, invaded Europe bringing with them, astrology,musical arts, science, and very many different subjects, for it was the Africans who civilized Europe..when the catholic church got a hold of it they burned down the black libraries and destroyed most of their books, and claimed it was invented by them..Plato anyone.. Please know your history”
Oh geeezzzz……not that Afro-centric bullsh!t again…..the sad thing is that you, and lots of other blacks, actually believe that nonsense……I’m trying to find a building in Sub-saharan Africa that looks like St. Paul’s Cathedral or Notre Dame or thousands of other architectural examples in Europe……help me out there. Go look at the list of Nobel Science winners……are they all “black Moors”……LMAO at the silliness within the black community……its like y’all are all teenagers…
Jay Black
March 23rd, 2012
5:52 pm
Crabapplejoe, You’re comparing apples and oranges. The Moors are from Saharan Africa, you know, where huge Pyramids were built as perfect equilateral triangles BEFORE any of your European “marvels”. They brought math and science to Europe with them and, as Mrs. Hawkins said, the Catholic church came along and wiped out anything that was opposed to them, copied the knowledge, and built your St. Pauls Cathedral and Notre Dame. You’ve proven the point by merely mentioning those Catholic buildings. And since the Nobel Prize was established in 1895, of course there would be no Moorish recipients since the Moors were around 600 years earlier.
crabapplejoe
March 23rd, 2012
6:44 pm
@Jay Black: The Egyptians weren’t black…..I hate to break the bad news to you buddy…..now go south of Saharan Africa and find me a civilization that did anything anywhere near comparable to what the Europeans created…..its just laughable that’s all…..comparing mud huts to St. Paul’s Cathedral and then trying to pretend that the people who lived in mud huts are responsible, somehow, for the great flourishing of civilization in Europe…….LMAO over and over again…..so the Moors DNA hasn’t been passed down to their descendents? Funny how the same DNA that built the great civilizations and societies in Europe seems to be around today winning Nobel prizes…..DNA is DNA and that is the wealth of nations. You could swap out the populations of Lagos and London and within a generation or two Lagos would look like London and vice versa……..the average IQ in sub-Saharan Africa hovers around room temperature…..you can’t build a functioning society around those numbers……and that gets proven again and again as that very same DNA is transferred to places like Haiti……
RJ
March 23rd, 2012
8:42 pm
@Homeschooler, you apparently are spending too much time on Six Flags Dr. It is also apparent that it doesn’t matter what I tell you. I doubt that you are unfamiliar with the history of our country. Furthermore, socioeconomics play a larger role regarding much of what you’ve stated than color. Again, that generaltional poverty that I spoke of. I could go into detail but I doubt that you’d want to know the facts. Frankly, you are more like George Zimmerman that you’d like to admit. This is why black males have to fear for their lives in America. This mode of thinking will keep this country divided.
Mrs. Hawkins
March 23rd, 2012
10:19 pm
@crabapplejoe…Europeans love bragging that they invented things….Im sorry that you have a highschool education, and that you have been brainwashed to believe that Egyptians were fair skinned, like Hollywood portrayed them to be, Eilzabeth Taylor, perfect example…For someone who has actually traveled outside of the United States, as myself, African descendents are everywhere. Ancient Eyptians were dark skinned, in your eyes black, Also when the moors invaded Europe they came back to Egypt with thousands of European slaves, thats why alot of modern day Egyptians are more of a brown skin tone…why do you think there are so many whites in Africa, I bet your one room classroom didn’t teach you that.. Its ok..Its clear that you are a product of your environment…God bless you, I hope that you educate yourself more and more each day…But as for Jay Black thank you for proving my point,, when you have melanin you are truly gifted and blessed, but they want our children to feel cursed..Its actually normal to be..brownskinned or dark…its when you dont contain melanin your mutated..please research it..but back to the subject at hand,, no one is perfect…but GOD..so no matter what anybody says … we should all come together in like mind and pray for Trayvon’s family, Trayvon’s soul, and Zimmerman’s soul..cause God will have the final say so..and also pray for all the kids who have either been found dead and who are still missing..and if no one can agree to prayer and justice then your just sick and you opinion is not needed
Mrs. Hawkins
March 23rd, 2012
10:30 pm
Everyone be blessed and have a wonderful weekend! Justice for Trayvon Marttin, and for anyone who has lost a child to crime..
crabapplejoe
March 23rd, 2012
10:34 pm
@Mrs. Hawkins: You need to get down on your knees and thank the good Lord that your ancestors “cousins” sold them into slavery so you could be here in a Western culture enjoying all the benefits of what the white man has produced and invented over the years…..I don’t think you would fare too well in sub-Saharan Africa living in a mud hut listening to witch doctors. As for my education and international travel…..I have two post-secondary degrees…..and have traveled outside of Bankhead Highway….unlike yourself……LMFAO at the utter ignorance of blacks who embrace the whole Afro-Centric BS….which most scholors laugh at behind their backs…..Try calling a modern day high class Egyptian “black” and see what you get back….LOL
MsE
March 23rd, 2012
11:50 pm
@Mike645–true, true. You’re right. I stand corrected.
@RJ–I’m not Black, huh? Oh you really want to go there? Don’t be trifling….really doesn’t look good on anonymous blogs
ATL06
March 24th, 2012
10:11 am
Wow at this these posts. First off as a parent I am hurting for this family. I have a son and I cannot imagine what they are going through I would be beside myself. I would be hurt no what race the child was because he was still a child that hadn’t even began to live yet. He had so much to look forward to. Do I think Zimmerman was a racist? I have absolutely no idea I don’t know the guy but he did racially profile Trayvon Martin. The Sanford police messed up big time with this case they basically said that this young mans life was not important. Had Mr. Zimmerman shot and killed a white kid do you honestly think he would not have been arrested already? We can argue the black and white issue all day long there are bad people who are black and there are bad people who are white there are bad people in the world. It is what it is. As far as what @ Homeschooler has said about the foster care system I’m sorry to tell you but I have worked with the foster care system and as messed up as the black children that I have worked with were the white ones were by far the worst. I was floored by the amount of sexual, physical and mental abuse that was inflicted on those children it is truly disgusting. I am saddened by what has happened but I am so proud to see so many people of different races and nationalities come out in support of this young man.
Jay Black
March 24th, 2012
11:24 am
@Crabapplejoe, cmon now, have you even seen drawings of King Tut? He’s as black as the night sky! Nefertiti was also BLACK. For you to have two post secondary degrees, you sure sound ignorant and full of yourself considering you obviously know NOTHING of what you speak. Come on, mud huts?? Sub Saharan Africa is as civilized as Europe. Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Accra, Lagos. I’m starting to think you’re putting on a front about those degrees. Your Euro-centric view of “the world owes the white man everything” make you sound like a blatant Georgia racist. You would probably be one to shoot an unarmed hooded black teen yourself just for walking on the same sidewalk as you.
crabapplejoe
March 24th, 2012
12:14 pm
@Jay Black: Here’s the reality…..but you can keep believing in your Afro-centric fairy tales:
UNESCO convened the “Symposium on the Peopling of Ancient Egypt and the Deciphering of the Meroitic Script” in Cairo in 1974. At that forum the “Black Egyptian” theory was rejected by 90% of delegates,[129][130] and the symposium concluded that Ancient Egyptians were much the same as modern Egyptians. The arguments for all sides are recorded in the UNESCO publication General History of Africa,[129] with the “Origin of the Egyptians” chapter being written by Diop.
More recent comparisons between the DNA of both modern and ancient Egyptians would appear to support the UNESCO view that modern Egyptians are genetically much the same as the ancient population.[4]
In 1996, the Indianapolis Museum of Art published a collection of essays, which included contributions from leading experts in various fields including archaeology, art history, physical anthropology, African studies, Egyptology, Afrocentric studies, linguistics, and classical studies. While the contributors differed in some opinions, the consensus of the authors was that Ancient Egypt was a North African civilization (although ethnic type was not mentioned), based on Egypt’s geographic location on the African continent.[131]
BlackParent
March 24th, 2012
3:46 pm
All black parents should advise their kids to stop worshipping the rap and gangster culture and start acting like upstanding Americans. Also to stop killing other black people, since 90% of violence is black on black crime. Stop blaming dead Americans from the 1860’s and 1960’s and start looking at what they can do to improve their lots in life.
Walter Little, Jr.
March 25th, 2012
3:25 pm
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, stop defending the scumbucket who shot an unarmed 17 year-old! He – the shooter – had been told by the 911 operator DO NOT FOLLOW HIM and he chose to disobey a lawful order and killed someone. The boy was doing nothing wrong – up to and including defending himself – he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and some Clint Eastwood wannabe killed him. Sheesh!
black but not proud to be American
March 25th, 2012
7:13 pm
I tell my kids: This is America. No matter what they say or try to con the world into thinking, it’s only the land of the free and home of the brave if you’re a white man. They’ve lost their minds ever since Obama won the election and I’m surprised that that hasn’t resulted in an open season of lynchings on black people already.
The Rational Poet
March 26th, 2012
12:17 am
“I tell my kids: This is America. No matter what they say or try to con the world into thinking, it’s only the land of the free and home of the brave if you’re a white man. They’ve lost their minds ever since Obama won the election and I’m surprised that that hasn’t resulted in an open season of lynchings on black people already.”
I suspect this is a joke, but I fear a lot of African Americans feel this way. The big issue we are dealing with right now is that most White Americans see this as a post racial America, but African Americans are still obsessed with race. Since Black voters always vote in lock step for the Democrat Party they did not elect President Obama – White people did. Only when African Americans put their outdated beliefs away can this country ever move ahead.
black but not proud to be American
March 26th, 2012
1:07 am
@ Rational Poet: It’s no joke. Unlike First Lady Michelle Obama, I have yet to experience the day where I been able to say I was proud to say I was born in your country.
As for your statement, I say this: Only when European Americans put away their hate and the sense that their white skin affords them the right to command any non-white to show proof of belonging — Obama’s papers (of birth), for example — will this country move ahead. When that happens and the George Zimmermans become the exception and not the rule of what America stands for, I’ll proudly stand up and pledge allegiance to your country because then and only then will it be my country, too.
Until then, I spit on America and all (the lies) she stands for.
black but not proud to be American
March 26th, 2012
1:09 am
typo: should say “…experience the day where I’ve…”
The Rational Poet
March 26th, 2012
1:19 am
I hope one day you overcome your racism, but more importantly I hope you don’t pass it on to your children.
black but not proud to be American
March 26th, 2012
1:48 am
I’m not racist: I’ve have white friends; they’re just not American. They agree that racism exists in Europe but at least many European countries are actively looking to put equality in action or working toward it. White Americans, on the other hand, hate blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, etc. Everyone thinks Hitler was defeated in WWII. The reality, his legacy lives on right here in your country.
As for my kids: I tell them it’s wrong to prejudge others but when it comes to Americans (particularly the southern-accented ones) assume the whites have nothing but hate at their core. In one sense, I can understand how the George Zimmermans of America come to be. Yours is a country that was begat out of hate, feeds on it and celebrates it.
My kids will be protected; they have dual citizenship, since my wife carries a EU passport. When they become 11 years of age we’ve decided that that will be the time we move to Europe so as to keep the sting of America’s hate of all people who are brown-skinned at bay.
The Rational Poet
March 26th, 2012
1:59 am
Come on your posts are really jokes – right? I mean aren’t you just trying to start an argument with someone? Surely no one can be as ignorant and racist as you are pretending to be.
a_mom
March 26th, 2012
4:14 am
On the subject of whites being racist, I just wanted to say that homeschooler@8:25am made some very good points about racism vs. prejudice; i.e. racism is believing your race is superior and prejudice is feeling a certain way based on your experiences. If a taxi driver doesn’t want to pick up a young black man late at night is he racist? Or has he heard of too many other taxi drivers who were robbed by young black men?
Jesse Washington, a black AP journalist, just wrote a piece on teaching his son The Black Male Code. He mentioned at the end of his story how his wife saw him walking down their street once in a black sweat suit with the hood up and wondered, “what’s that guy doing in our neighborhood?”. So was she racist, too? I was glad to see he was honest enough to admit that lots of people, even other blacks, are leary of young black men – they commit a disproportionate number of violent crimes.
I’m white, have some very good black friends, live in a nice neighborhood with all types (whites, blacks, hispanic, asian). I’m proud of my ancestors, but don’t feel superior because of them. However, I would never want to drive into parts of SW Atlanta at night. Would you? If not, does that make you racist to assume you might be at risk to do so?
blackparent
March 26th, 2012
8:30 am
@black but not proud
Guess what. The thing you are teaching your kids? That’s what keeps racism alive. Your racist attitude and filling their heads with the same garbage will cause them to behave with negative attitudes towards every white person they meet. The thousands of families like yours that act the same way will lead them to a life of entitlement and crime, forcing good white people to ask “why is it always the blacks?”
Way to continue to perpetuate the race war and to keep it generational. You have no one to blame but yourselves. Your racist attitudes create a prejudice that is not entirely unwarranted.
black but not proud to be American
March 26th, 2012
12:08 pm
black parent: If you read carefully, I said American whites, not all white people. In my experience, white Americans are the most hateful, so I tell my kids we don’t mix with them. Foreigners are more enlightened so I’m comfortable with my kids being around them.
blackparent
March 26th, 2012
1:02 pm
So please move. Maybe if enough of you that feel this way get out of this country, we can finally get past your racist leanings and the responses to them.
Soccer Milf
March 26th, 2012
2:12 pm
If you are not proud of America….please move.
Amazing how some of the info regarding this story is slowly being leaked out. I am not saying Zimmerman is probably not guilty of excessive force and maybe murder, but this story is told by the media like Zimmerman was a hunter stalking an innocent fawn. This kid had a hand in this confrontation.
Soccer Milf
March 26th, 2012
2:16 pm
I have not followed this case too closely, but from what i have read this is an example of overzealous gun nut versus keepin it real trouble maker.
No excusing the shooting but this kind of thing happens everyday in America between all races and creeds. Why is this some sort of call to 1960 civil rights?
Soccer Milf
March 26th, 2012
2:17 pm
So the kid was visiting his dad???? So the dad was not a permanent fixture in his day to day life? That is what I mean by…WHERE IS THE DAD???
In tact families is a pretty good take away from most of Americas news articles today.
Soccer Milf
March 26th, 2012
3:06 pm
So now a 13 year old witness claims to have seen and heard Zimmerman being beaten by a guy 6 inches taller before the gunshots……wow!
Lets look at what we do knwo about this cae…..Zimmerman disobeyed the 911 operators orders to stand down and not follow and Martin was shot and killed. Thats about it.
Amazing how we have all passed judgement on this case with little or no other facts.
The Rational Poet
March 26th, 2012
3:33 pm
Yes, “Black but not proud” needs to pack up and move back to whatever decrepit bankrupt Euro-Trash country he is from. If the ideas expressed here are real someone like that has nothing to add to the debate or society as a whole.
Soccer Milf
March 26th, 2012
3:37 pm
It just amazes me how we want this guy hung up….lynched if I may be so bold….and we want due process for OJ and Mike Vick.
This story is just another attempt by the media to move the racial agenda forward to detract from trom Americas rapid deline to Europe.
black but not proud to be American
March 26th, 2012
3:56 pm
Soccer Milf, I guess you haven’t been clued in: 50+ percent of your married countrymen and women end up getting divorced. And as for me moving back, I was born here, I just don’t have the blind love and loyalty to a country that has done so much harm not just to black people in this country but countless other black and brown and yellow people around the world.
Poet: I’ll take Euro-Trash — as you call them (name-calling, how American) — over rednecks and narrow-minded,intolerant, hillbilly Bubba’s like you.
Soccer Milf
March 26th, 2012
4:45 pm
Uhhh….you just proved my point….if marriages are ending in divorce at such a rapid rate why are we not looking to solve this. Marriage today is based on the image and feelings of love and not the vows and commitments that real love is about.
As for Europe…I have been to multiple locations for weeks at a time in Europe and I can tell you they are not enlightened nor better. They just think they are. Its a sterile and unfriendly place. People relyu on the gov tlke helpless babies.
CPA
March 26th, 2012
4:56 pm
@Soccer Milf – I won’t get too caught up in whether he is innocent or guilty. I do however think that he should have been arrested. If not murder, he should have been charged with manslaughter – and innocence or guilt should be proven in the court. The parents started talking to the media only after the police closed the case 2 weeks ago citing “self defense.” Instead of testing Zimmerman for drugs and alcohol, the police tested only the dead 17 year old. The parents felt contacting the media was the only way they could get justice. There are just as many eye witnesses against Zimmerman as there are for him.
Soccer Milf
March 26th, 2012
5:02 pm
Again….all I know for a fact is that Zimmerman disobeyed the 911 person and someone is dead. Should Zimmerman be arrested based on those facts? If there is indeed a chance he was defending themselves why put yourselves up for a lawsuit by jumping to an arrest. We blast the Atlanta PD for arresting Ray Lewis withhout total facvts and we cruzify this PD for doing the exact opposite.
I mena honestly how absurd to say we should have charged him with at least manslaughter without knowing what that PD knows or knew.
Soccer Milf
March 26th, 2012
5:04 pm
Was scott peterson arrested wen the cops “thought” he did it or when they knew they had a case. Where is Zimmerman going to go? Your going to arrest a guy when a 13 year old witness says he was on the ground being hit? I am not saying Zimmerman should or should not be arrested cause I dont know and neiter do you. This whole story is a media sensationalism story t create a divide and throw us off the track that the economy blows, housing blows and undermeplyment and emplyment blows.
Meanwhile the prez is in Korea telling the ussians to just wait for him to get reelected before we surrender all nuclear programs on and honor agreements with putin. Okkkkaayyyy….
Soccer Milf
March 26th, 2012
5:15 pm
Let me get this straight….our prez spoke against this without all the facts being sorted and the media and black population piled on….ala Duke lacrosse….and now we have athe black panther party putting out a bounty on this guys and who is arresting them? Who is speaking out against them doing Klan style justice?
CPA
March 26th, 2012
5:45 pm
Soccer Milf – I’m black and I never sided with OJ, Michael Vick, Scott Peterson or anyone else that did wrong. My husband and I teach my children the same, regardless of race. Manslaughter still could apply to this case. Zimmerman pursued him. The 17 year old probably thought he had to defend himself from someone following him. None of that matters, because Zimmerman pursued him. As I stated before, there are other witnesses that says Zimmerman shot him in cold blood. Hopefully, all of these people can get together and a jury will decide.
CPA
March 26th, 2012
5:53 pm
I read about the Bounty thing issued by the Black Panther party. That is wrong – plain and simple. I believe the president should be neutral. I did not get involved with the Duke fiasco either. The only reason anyone has had to get involved with this case was because the police department closed the case 2 weeks ago. That’s why Al Sharpton is involved, that’s why the nba is involved, that’s why the media is involved, that’s why all of these different marches are going on. It is a huge mess.
crabapplejoe
March 26th, 2012
9:47 pm
@Black but not Proud: Thank you for teaching your kids segregation and I look forward to you and your family moving to “enlightened” Europe……expect to be surprised at what you find. Meanwhile….back on the Traymon case…..turns out he’s a thug who was on a ten day school suspension for drugs….not a five day suspension for “tardiness” as the family led us to believe. The “gated community” turns out to be an apartment complex with mulitple recent burglaries. The “white” shooter turns out to be Hispanic….or as the media now portrays him “White Hispanic”. The “child victim” shown in numerous photos from when he was 10-12 years old turns out to be a 6′3 seventeen year old with tatts and gold teeth. The physical evidence and eye-witness testimony all point to the fact that Traymon attacked the Hispanic guy….yet, Al “remember Tawana Brawley” Sharpton and our great leader continue to fuel the flames of racial/politcal theatre
Travons Mom
March 26th, 2012
10:38 pm
Hi y’all. I have trade marked my sons name so that he will not die in vain. For 9 dollars get you travon t shirts and DVDs. Axe how to donate to the travon fund as well. Stay blessed playas
Mrs. Hawkins
March 26th, 2012
11:05 pm
Really? This is getting insane
Mrs. Hawkins
March 26th, 2012
11:08 pm
Who cares about suspension, or whatever,, the little boy is gone…Elvis was a druggie, but people praise him like a God!Lets be for real, murder is murder, no matter what some one did, nobody deserves death, no one….
A person SMART enough to know......
March 26th, 2012
11:14 pm
If you think the Travon case is bad check this out. http://worth-reading-blog.blogspot.com/2010/08/knoxville-horror-channon-christian.html
Scotty
March 26th, 2012
11:58 pm
Was he going to get candy or smokin weed in the bushes?
Warrior Woman
March 27th, 2012
9:26 am
How about parents telling their kids not to rush to judgement without all the facts?
I being an American
March 27th, 2012
12:52 pm
Crabapple: I’m sure you know that “Hispanic” is not a race. One is negroid, caucasoid or mongoloid. So Zimmerman, by that definition, is caucasoid. Of course, in your in-breed mind, facts and science probably don’t matter. Europeans aren’t perfect, but they’re not as hateful – or evil – as you Americans.
Torpedo
March 27th, 2012
2:12 pm
BLACK PARENTS, DON’T U DON’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING…THIS IS NOT A BLACK AND WHITE THING, ITS A THING OF AN IDIOT PERSON WITH 2 OUNCES OF AUTHORITY WANTING TO BE THE NEXT HERO OF THE WORLD. NOTHING ELSE!!!! I DON’T THINK HE GAVE A RATS TAIL ABOUT THE SKIN OF WHO WAS BEHIND THOSE CLOTHES. SHOULD HE BE PROSECUTED, ABSOLUTELY, THE 911 DISPATCHER TOLD HIM TO STAND PAT. HE ( THE SHOOTER) IS AN IDIOT!!! I UNDERSTAND THE BLACK AND WHITE THING MAKES MORE NEWS BUT I AM SICK OF THIS BEING FLIPPED TO A CIVIL RIGHTS CRAP!!!
Torpedo
March 27th, 2012
2:18 pm
“I being an American” …”Europeans aren’t perfect, but they’re not as hateful – or evil – as you Americans”…..
Europe, much like the U.S HAS its challenges when it comes to race…..As early as last year,they had to stop a professional soccer match over thousands of fans screaming racially offensive things towards and African player. Just reminding you in case you haven’t been to Europe recently, they have the same challenges we do here.