Million Hoodie March
Trayvon Martin was just a kid, 17 years old, who was heading down the street to buy some skittles. He was shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who claimed Martin looked "suspicious" because he was a black kid wearing a hoodie. Zimmerman claimed self defense after the shooting, even though he was armed and Martin was not, and was thus not arrested and no investigation called for until a petition forced the matter.
Racism is not dead. This case is just one example, in which a POC is considered suspicious because he's wearing the wrong clothes (or simply for being of a different race), and Martin is certainly not the first or last.
Perhaps its a wrong comparison, but Zimmerman's victim blaming (calling Martin suspicious and attacking him for wearing a hoodie) reminds me of all the people who blame women for wearing slutty clothes after they are raped. In no way does what a person wears justify violence toward that person.
And the sad part is that everyday, young black men experience violence against them simply because they are black (this powerful video of a spoken word poem on the subject really brings it home).
Today, there is a million hoodie march going on. I wish I had known about this ahead of time, because I would have worn a hoodie and done my best to participate. I would like to believe, and I hope, that people will see this case, and will become aware of and make changes to their presumptions about people and the world. I'm an optimist by nature, and I desperately want to believe that people can change for the better and that we can make the world a better place.
Edited to add: This is Change.org's petition calling for the state of Florida to prosecute George Zimmerman, who murdered 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in cold blood. This petition was created by Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton (Trayvon’s parents), and it needs 100,000 more signatures. Please sign.