S. Anthony says... (Trayvon Martin, we all have skin in this)

I understand this story. I could have been a Trayvon Martin years ago. Many young men of color have and could have been Trayvon. This is one of many young lives lost at the hands of a coward, a bigot, a misinformed member of society. When I heard the other 911 tape that included Trayvon’s cries for help that abruptly ended with the gunshot, I remember a young me in the same situation. I had committed the crime of dating a woman who lived in a neighborhood that I shouldn’t have been in. Apparently those 10 square blocks weren’t part of America. I wish that I was told that beforehand.

I was also followed and held at gunpoint by some bigoted loser. I didn’t scream for help, but I did scream inside. I thought of my lady waiting for me to come back from the store, I thought of how she’d blame herself for my death because she had sent me. I thought of the devastation that my loss would cause my family. I thought of the irony of this situation. I had avoided crime, drugs, gangs and all of the other pitfalls…and I was going to die over Chinese food. Hearing his screams brought back those memories, broke my heart and burned my soul. An INNOCENT CHILD died.

I was able to get out of my situation using charm and humor. 45 seconds after being held at gunpoint, I had the man smiling and laughing. Yeah, tough crowd. But in all seriousness, George Zimmerman is not the only one to blame. We all have a little skin in this game. Why? Look at the images of black men that you see. Are they considered human…as human as YOU are? No. It’s easy to kill someone who is less human than you are. Do you know the damage YOU did to us all Mr Zimmerman?

Think of Trayvon’s plight, then change his name to your child’s name.
As a society we should do that. We should as a group demand better of our police, the media and ourselves. We ALL have skin in this game. We must NEVER forget that…we don’t want to lose any more Trayvons.