A Million Hoodies for Trayvon Martin

Tonight there is a march in honor of Trayvon Martin in New York City in Union Square at 6pm.  Trayvon's parents will be there tonight.  We can't make it to the march, but our family is wearing our hoodies in solidarity with Trayvon's parents in honor of him.

Here's info about the event.  Whether or not you attend you can still wear a hoodie to honor him and upload your pictures to facebook, twitter and instagram with the hashtag #millionhoodies. 

 

Let's talk about race

Let's take some time to talk about race and racism.  It's been hard for me to see friends outraged about basketball and the Bachelor and almost no mentions of the young black man that was murdered for WWB or walking while black.  I imagine if I asked those people who Natalie Holloway or Caylee Anthony were they would know.  But many of them wouldn't be able to tell me who Trayvon Martin was.  Young black men matter.  

Young black men's lives are worth something.  We need to stand up and ask for justice for Trayvon, but we also need to speak honestly about racism here.  

Conversations about race might make people uncomfortable. Maybe they are afraid of what they will hear or that someone will think they are racist, but that's no excuse not to have them.  Young black men are profiled as criminals far too often.  

I remember the first time Ash told me that he'd had guns pointed at him by a group of 5 or 6 cops in the parking lot of a best buy as a young adult because "a black man around his height had committed a crime" somewhere that day.  I remember the first time someone yelled n-word lover at me.  I remember stories of him getting pulled over because there were 4 young black men in the car and they looked suspicious.  I remember the time the police told us they would give our address to the men who tried to fog-light us off the road while screaming racial slurs if we filed a police report.  I remember a college roommate that laughed while telling me her family had a black cat named the n-word while growing up.  I remember when I was pregnant with Noah and a relative said that I'd miscarry because black and white people weren't meant to have babies together.  

Racism is here.  We need to confront it head on and change things.  We live in a country where it's okay to question the President's birth place and religion because he is not white.  We live in a country where people have bumper stickers that say don't "Re-nig" in 2012 and they don't think that's racist.  

We need to talk about race.  We need to talk about disparities.  We need to stand up for our children.  I am going to stand up for mine.  

Let's start a conversation about race.  Pretending racism doesn't exist isn't working out too well for us.  So listen and see things for what they are not the way you want them to be.  Then work to make a change.  We can all look in the mirror and ask ourselves to be honest and fair.

Let's talk about racism.   First with ourselves and then with each other.

Justice for Trayvon Martin

Have you heard this name yet?  Trayvon was a young black man who was murdered on his way home from buying candy in a convenience store near his father's home.  The man who shot him was a white neighborhood watch man who told police it was self defense and has not been charged with murder. 

The 911 tapes were released by police and you can read an article explaining more via The Huffington Post.  

According to what I am seeing online and via the news Trayvon was murdered on February 26th.  The police ran a background check and did bloodwork to see if he had alcohol or drugs in his system but they didn't do any of this to the man who murdered him.

Young black men deserve justice.  Mothers should not have to warn their black sons it is not safe to walk to a store and get candy without the fear of being murdered because they are a young black man on the street.  

Please sign the change.org petition started by Trayvon's mother to get justice for Trayvon.  

From the change.org petition: Trayvon was our hero. At the age 9, Trayvon pulled his father from a burning kitchen, saving his life. He loved sports and horseback riding. At only 17 he had a bright future ahead of him with dreams of attending college and becoming an aviation mechanic. Now that’s all gone.

We cannot bring Trayvon back but we can help demand some sort of justice for his family and him.  We also need to have some real conversations about racism and why it is that we are enraged by food options but we don't demand all people be treated equally.  Racism is alive and well and we need to change that so we don't lose anymore innocent children that could have grown up to find the cure for cancer or be President or just a really good person putting joy into the world.