More than a month after George Zimmerman’s acquittal, Trayvon Martin’s mother and the family’s attorney spoke in midtown Phoenix as part of a national campaign to repeal Stand Your Ground laws.
Sybrina Fulton, Martin’s mother, and attorney Benjamin Crump participated in a series of panel discussions at Steele Indian School Park on Saturday.
Fulton and Crump joined members of the legal, entertainment and education sectors to discuss racial profiling and other issues, including disproportionate incarceration and illiteracy, that affect minorities. The other panelists included U.S. Supreme Court attorney Charlene Tarver, rapper Roger “Rampage” McNair and ASU journalism senior Ja’han Jones.
About 300 people attended the community discussions, including two family members of Oscar Grant III, who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in 2009 in a situation similar to Martin’s death.
Fulton said traveling around the country to speak about her son had helped her heal and made something positive come from her family’s situation.
“There is some anger inside me, there is some hurt inside, there is some disappointment inside,” Fulton said. “But what we chose to do is we chose to take that anger and disappointment and channel it to something positive. … It’s easy to be hateful about certain things, but I refuse to let it fester within me.”
Jones said he realized the day George Zimmerman was acquitted that there was a pattern of powerlessness in the black community. He said he felt degraded and powerless every day and said the trend that the African-American male is constantly subjected to such powerlessness is his greatest plight.
“The acquittal of George Zimmerman brings into question America’s value of black life, and so I spent the last few months trying to reconcile the value my mom assigns to me and the value America assigns to me because there is a formidable gap between worthless and priceless,” Jones said.
He compared the situation of blacks in America to a Shakespearean tragedy, where someone continuously pursues a lover who wants nothing to do with them.
“I wanted so badly to put my hands on America and just show America that I could really make you feel me right now,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of anger, a lot of distress, but I told myself that I love you, America, and like a foolish lover I’ll keep coming back to you and coming back to you again, almost certain that I’ll be jilted again.”
Noting an example of crime committed by a black youth that was brought up during the Zimmerman trial, Crump said the actions of one person should not define the entire race.
“It’s almost as if one person is now going to let you indict the entire race, the entire group,” Crump said. “And that doesn’t happen when it’s not little black and brown boys. When a little white boy does a crazy thing like a mass shooting or something, we don’t then indict every little white boy.”
Crump said the situation boils down to defining the powers and responsibilities of private citizens vs. law enforcement. He said the government needs to determine whether racial profiling is legal.
“S,o the question really becomes to the Justice Department and the federal government: Can private citizens — neighborhood-watch people with badges and guns — profile and pursue our children and confront them?” Crump said. “If the police can’t do it, are we going to let private citizens do it?”
Several of the panelists noted the similarities between Arizona’s controversial Senate Bill 1070 and Stand Your Ground laws and their presence in the Zimmerman case.
“I’m very proud that we’re here in Arizona,” Crump said. “It is real profound when you think about what has happened with stop and frisk (in New York City) and now SB 1070.”
Fulton encouraged the audience members to vote for elected officials who would pass laws favorable to minority groups. She urged audience members to take action now to end the discrimination blacks and other minority races experience.
“Don’t wait for something to happen to your child, for something to happen to your grandchild, to your nephew, cousin, godson,” Fulton said. “Don’t wait for something to happen in order for you to react to certain things. This is the time now.”
Contact the reporter at kimberly.koerth@asu.edu
