Trayvon Martin

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• SOURCE: Harvard Gazette
  3-7-17
  

  The killing of Trayvon Martin prompted Harvard historian Caroline Light to investigate the loaded history of self-defense

  She says history shows it’s all about the right of a white man to protect himself.

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• SOURCE: The American Prospect
  12-8-14
  

  #Blacklivesmatter Till They Don't: Slavery's Lasting Legacy

  by Daina Ramey Berry and Jennifer L. Morgan

  The historical value of black life and the casual killing of Eric Garner.

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• 2-24-14
  

  Remember Way Back When White Men Killed Black Men to "Defend" White Women? (Hint: We're Talking About 2013)

  by Crystal R. Sanders

  The justifications of the killers of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis draw upon the dark, bloody history of the fear of black men and white women.

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• SOURCE: OSU Origins
  November 2013
  

  Justice Denied: The Killing of Trayvon Martin in Historical Perspective

  by Hasan Kwame Jeffries

  Why did African Americans and white Americans view the Trayvon Martin killing so differently?

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• Trayvon Martin and Edward Snowden

  by Vicente L. Rafael

  Could we say that within the particular imperial and racial nexus we find ourselves in, that Snowden, despite his obvious differences from Trayvon, might also share his fate?

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• Black People Have a Duty to Bear Witness to Racial Violence

  by Kidada E. Williams

  As the people who have testified about this recent violence in court, on television, or on social media make clear, African Americans take racial violence personally, and with good reason.

• SOURCE: BBC News
  7-22-13
  

  Beyonce compares Trayvon Martin to Emmett Till

  Beyonce has urged supporters of Trayvon Martin to be inspired by the protests that followed the death of another black teenager, Emmett Till. She is only one of a number of Americans who have drawn a parallel between the two cases - though others point out there are major differences. So who was Till?After attending an event in New York in memory of teenager Martin, who was shot dead in Florida, the pop singer wrote a message on her website."We have made so much progress and cannot allow hatred and racism to divide us," she wrote. "When we all join together, people of all races, we have the power to change the world we live in. We must fight for Trayvon the same way the generation before us fought for Emmett Till."In the summer of 1955, the 14-year-old Till was far from home when his life ended in a most violent way, apparently for whistling at a white woman....

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• How George Zimmerman is Different from '80s Subway Vigilante Bernhard Goetz

  by Jim Sleeper

  The day I stopped a mugging.

• SOURCE: The Root
  7-18-13
  

  Peniel E. Joseph: Trayvon, Race and American Democracy

  Peniel E. Joseph is founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy and a professor of history at Tufts University. He is also the Caperton Fellow for the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University. He is the author of Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America and Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama. His biography of Stokely Carmichael will be published next year by Basic Books. He can be reached online at penielejoseph.com. Follow him on Twitter.

• SOURCE: UPI
  7-17-13
  

  Professor Anthea Butler calls God a 'white racist' in blog about Zimmerman trial

  The not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman case has me thinking a lot about a book I first encountered in seminary, Is God a White Racist?, by the Rev. Dr. Bill Jones. As a budding seminary student, it took me by surprise. Now, as a wiser, older professor looking at the needless death of Trayvon Martin, I have to say: I get it.God ain’t good all of the time. In fact, sometimes, God is not for us. As a black woman in a nation that has taken too many pains to remind me that I am not a white man, and am not capable of taking care of my reproductive rights, or my voting rights, I know that this American god ain’t my god. As a matter of fact, I think he’s a white racist god with a problem. More importantly, he is carrying a gun and stalking young black men.

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• If Only Trayvon Had Freedom Papers

  by Stephanie Jones-Rogers

  Trayvon Martin needed a slave pass.

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• Trayvon Martin the Latest Victim of America's Fear of Black Men

  by Elaine F. Parsons

  Today, as under Reconstruction, the idea that fear justifies violence is as dangerous one.

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• Sanford, Fla., Threatened to Lynch Jackie Robinson

  by Peter Dreier

  Neither of the Robinsons would ever forget their Florida ordeal.

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• Women Played Critical Role in George Zimmerman Decision

  by Brenda E. Stevenson

  It has only been in the last fifty years or so that women have gained such significant presence as lawyers, prosecutors, and jurists. It will become increasingly important, therefore, that we understand the kinds of histories and socializations of females in our society that they bring into the courtroom, that weighs in when they consider the evidence, victims and defendants before them.

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• HNN Hot Topics: Trayvon Martin

  Trayvon Martin in an undated photo. Credit: Wiki Commons.News and Commentary