The lynching of Trayvon Martin

We’ve heard the 911 calls. We seen the 13 year old witness. We’ve read the letter from the alleged killer’s father. We listened to the anger of the family’s attorney. We’ve felt the pain of Trayvon’s mother. For heaven’s sake, for 24 hours he was a deceased John Doe at the hospital because even the police couldn’t believe that maybe he LIVES in the community.

There are still some facts to figure out. There are still some questions to be answered. But, let’s be clear. Let’s be very, very clear. Before the neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, started following him against the better judgement of the 911 dispatcher. Before any altercation. Before any self-defense claim. Before Travyon’s cries for help were heard on the 911 tapes. Before the bullet hit him dead in the chest. Before all of this. He was suspicious. He was suspicious. suspicious. And you know, like I know, it wasn’t because of the hoodie or the jeans or the sneakers. Cause I had on that same outfit yesterday and no one called 911 saying I was just wandering around their neighborhood. It was because of one thing and one thing only. Trayvon is black.

- Michael Skolnick, GlobalGrind via A Radical Profeminist

Almost a month after his murder, Trayvon's killer has not been arrested. What is so peculiarly dreadful about the murder of Trayvon Martin is that it echoes the same anti-black structuring of the US that has characterized this nation's history since the times of the "founding fathers," antebellum south, the Elvis loving and 'peace' minded 60's, the upheaval brought by the beating of  Rodney King, to the present day and yet much of the language representing the supposed alliance with the Trayvon Martin's family sparingly acknowledges the historical disregard and unwarranted violence towards black life in the U.S. Trayvon Martin's murder was a lynching, a lynching of a 17 year old child.