Another Real Tragedy in the Trayvon Martin Story
By now everyone is familiar with the story of 17-year old Trayvon Martin. Visiting a family friend with his father, Trayvon fatefully walked to the corner store for an ice tea and skittles and never again would see his friends or family after a violent confrontation with self-appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman. This story, [...]
By Tom Rudd, Director of Education and Emerging Research, Kirwan Institute, Death is inevitable. In an ideal world, we would all die in our sleep in a peaceful state of bliss without pain or regret. In the real world, death comes at its own pace and in myriad ways. Most of us, especially the young, [...]
Continue reading …A month after his passing, Trayvon Martin’s untimely death at age 17 continues to saturate national headlines. By now the familiar details are familiar but remain haunting. Walking home from a convenience store in Sanford, FL on February 26th carrying a bag of Skittles and an iced tea, the Black teenager was followed, confronted, and [...]
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By Tristan Wilkerson, My youngest brother turned 19 yesterday. He is young, athletic, smart, respectful, charming, and a joy to be around – much like how those who knew Trayvon Martin would describe him. He loves basketball and is pretty darn good at it. But equally he enjoys the sciences of the mind which has led [...]
Continue reading …This goes beyond skin color or politics. This is about the joys of life, and the notion that all of us should have unfettered access to those joys as long as we are not harming anyone else. No, he wasn’t your son. It wasn’t your son that was murdered simply because he happened to be [...]
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I do not know Sybrina Fulton. Nor can I claim to understand the depth of her pain. Yet, we share a deep connection. A commonality experienced by those women who face the challenge of raising a Black male child in a nation that far too often views Black male bodies through a prism of fear. [...]
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By Emil Guillermo, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, After the Dharun Ravi verdict, suddenly I’m nostalgic for the days when a noose was a noose, a hood was a hood, and a hate crime was a hate crime. Was there ever a doubt in that grand old formula? Add one person of color. One protected [...]
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A recent study claims segregation has hit the lowest point in a century. Here’s why it’s premature to celebrate Early last week a bit of cheery news was reported by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank: black segregation has hit its lowest point in more than a century — declining in all 85 of the nation’s [...]
Continue reading …Innocent or Guilty: In the DNA Profile Gotcha Game It No Longer Matters
November 21, 2011 Comments Off
By Tammy Johnson, racial justice activist and writer living in Oakland, California, According to a recent report released by Generations Ahead, an aggressive expansion of DNA databases in states across the country now includes the collection of DNA from individuals merely arrested for a felony offense, before a trial determines their innocence or guilt.. When [...]
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I live in Philadelphia in Center City, ground zero for a series of attacks dubbed “flash mobs” by the media. Since 2009, small groups of black teens and young adults have committed 11 such attacks at random times and on random days of the week. In a fiery speech before Mount Carmel Baptist Church, [...]
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