Ask any mother of a Black male about her thoughts about the Trayvon Martin case in Florida and she will tell you, it is a nightmare. As the story goes, the 17-year-old was walking back home after buying an iced tea for himself and Skittles for his little brother when he was stalked and gunned down by a self-appointed neighborhood guardian for no apparent reason. Then his shooter was barely questioned by police and walked away without a whiff of a formal investigation. A month later, he is walking around a free man while a mother's teenage child is in the ground.
My sweet little boy is just 5-years-old and the thought that someone could perceive him as a danger simply because of his color is maddening. To hear some people blame the deadly shooting on the hoodie Trayvon was wearing makes it even worse. It makes you want to pack up and leave. Wherever you are. To find a place with less racism or fewer guns or a more educated population. But when you can't do that - and you want to do SOMETHING - you do what many people have been doing this week on Facebook and on other social media platforms. You post a picture of yourself and even celebrities wearing hoodies, as Trayvon was when he was snatched away from this world. One of my favorite pictures posted is this one, showing boxing legend Muhammad Ali in a hoodie.
At the end of the day this isn't just a mother's nightmare, it's a national nightmare. Let me know your thoughts.
