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Social Media Rollercoaster: Trayvon Martin

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Wrongfully Slain Teen Faces Injustice

By: Carlissa Robinson

The national tragedy of Trayvon Martin’s death has stricken everyone with grief, disbelief, and sorrow that stemmed into something more than just another story.

Many were devastated in the murdering of Trayvon Martin, although it took three weeks for the news and neighbor interviews to surface.

On that fateful night of February 26 in Sanford, Fl., Trayvon was walking from a convenience store (with a bag of skittles in his pocket, a can of tea, and a cellphone he was using at the time) just a few blocks away. Wearing a hoodie, George Zimmerman, member of the neighborhood watch patrol, had suspicions that Martin was up to no good. Zimmerman contacted the local police department and was told to stand down and let law enforcement handle the situation.

What protects Zimmerman until this day are the Stand Your Ground laws in the state of Florida. If one feels threatened then he has the obligation to defend himself, even if it means taking an innocent kid’s life. The people who claim self-defense under this law are innocent until proven guilty, but he is simply innocent according to the state of Florida. He was let free and is still at large (but more so in hiding).

Although Zimmerman is alleged to be studying criminal justice in hopes of joining law enforcement, it was against the rules of the neighborhood watch for him to conceal weapons of any kind. Zimmerman disregarded the police and thought it would be a heroic act to take down his first criminal. But the reality is, Trayvon was just a high school kid visiting family in that neighborhood.

You don’t have all the facts. You’re lost…You’re finding out things as you go along.” said Nicholas Lomax.

Social media in a way misconstrues many details of this story. The delayed news updates also allotted time for people to spread anything but the truth. One rumor stated that Martin was innocent while another says he left Zimmerman with a broken nose and a gash to the head, which lead to Zimmerman’s act of self-defense.

There have also been rumors that this was a quarrel among races, but Oliver, Zimmerman’s friend, and also a man of color, says that George was not racist. If Zimmerman was not racist, what could explain the 46 occasions in which he called police to alert them about teens walking through the gated community? In every report the teen was African American.

New details have surfaced that Martin was suspended from school for possession of marijuana and he was reportedly wearing a gold grill at the time of his death. What does this any of this mean in the case of an innocently slain teen? Media’s objective is to promote stories that make money and they cashed in Martin’s wrongful death and defaced his reputation for their propaganda.

Not all hope was lost in Martin’s death. It was not overlooked by the nation. Days after news spread a petition (demanding justice and the arrest of Zimmerman) from Martin’s parents circumvented social networking sites like Facebook, civilians started to rally, organize vigils in his memory, and both celebrities as well as working class citizens started a movement on Twitter known as the “Million Hoodie March.”

The “Million Hoodie March” is the way of the public commemorating Martin’s death by wearing a hoodie and marching in his memory. Cities like Los Angeles started this movement and social media sites like Twitter brought about more awareness to the community. Celebrities endorsed the march by wearing a hoodie and posting it as a Twitpic to exemplify that any random person walking down the street can be targeted just as Trayvon Martin was.  University of Memphis alumna Sarah Maurice said,

“It’s sad that it had to come to this…Why is it that a million people had to march to symbolize that this is wrong?”

America was outraged by The Sanford Police Department’s ruling and Florida’s Stand Your Ground Laws. U of M sophomore Stevie King says,

“It’s ridiculous how somebody could go out free after shooting an unarmed kid. That kind of vigilantism…is just like lynching.”

This movement expanded from social media to cities around the nation. On Monday, March 26, a candle light vigil was held here in the Bluff City at the National Civil Rights Museum in his memory.  Supporters wore hoodies, t-shirts embellished with the words “I AM TRAYVON MARTIN”, and held signs in commemoration.

“The world has to realize that we still have social inequality issues and we have to attack them head on, we can’t slip them under the rug.” said Maurice.

Although it seems like an issue that is often ignored, inequality still exists, and what vigils like this one did was bring forth what’s been lurking in the dark for centuries-racism. Some will argue that it is nonexistent while others address it and proclaim that while it may seem transparent it is still there.  IT THRIVES. IT BREATHES. IT MANIFESTS.

“A guy like me that would’ve taken the law into his own hands would be in jail right now” said Lomax.

What Trayvon Martin’s death did was bring more awareness to not only the nation but the globe. Social networking sites helped thrust his story full speed into the ears and eyes of human kind. There will no longer be a time when stories like this one go unheard. No longer will innocent children like Martin go on into dust without a voice. This is more than just another story, this is a movement.