And seeing one of them’suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, (Acts 7:24)
Surely, Trayvon’s never thought a run to the store for candy and a drink would be his last act.
The facts surrounding this case make it less and less likely that any of us can remain silent. Silence is not an option.
Shamika Sanders, of The Urban Daily wrote an excellent piece and lined up the facts as follows:
Trayvon Martin, 17, was gunned down walking home from the store after purchasing Skittles and Iced-Tea by a self-appointed neighborhood watchman who deemed him as suspicious. George Zimmerman, called the police on 47 different occasions before encountering an unarmed Trayvon, African American, who at the was wearing a hoodie at the time of his death. Zimmerman’s 911 call was released to the public, where you can hear him being told to not “pursue” Martin.
Despite the election of our nation’s first African-American president, African Americans remain by far the most frequent victims of hate crimes. Of the 7,624 hate crime incidents reported nationwide in 2007, the most recent year for which data is available, 34 percent (2,659) were perpetrated against African Americans, a number and percentage of incidents that has changed little over the past 10 years. According to the FBI’s HCSA report, more than twice as many hate crimes were reported against African Americans as against any other group. Isn’t that sad! As people who claim God as Father, we still murder , maim and harm our our brothers and sisters.
Lynching, burning crosses, showing up at synagogues armed, murdering a man by chaining him to a truck and dragging him down a road for three miles, mass Christian executions in Africa in the name of “extinguishing Christianity” are rampant in our age. The more insidious evil, is this propensity to explain it away. We shrug it off as just “happenstance” or coincidence. There is no happenstance when someone dies in the street, because they are judged to be the wrong faith, or shade.
In the spirit of defending dignity our sister site The Urban Daily has launched a call to action. They have suggested sending in your empty Skittle bags. Make your Skittles count! Visit our sister site and get instructions here.
Speak Out Now!
Here’s How You Can Express Your Outrage Over Trayvon Martin was originally published on elev8.com
