TRAYVON: SUPER-HERO??

Spread the Word!

 

Can He “Save” Our Young Males in the Inner Cities?

 

Yesterday would have been Trayvon Martin’s 18^th birthday, were he alive.  His mother, in a television interview with Al Sharpton, described Trayvon as a “normal teenager”.  He is and always will be my hero.  I think his example can save a lot of young, non-white, inner-city youth who are running around with gangs, armed with hand-guns, in search of their “man-hood”!  These are times that cry out for something that will reach these youth and, perhaps, turn them away from their current path.  The number of innocent black and brown babies that can be saved from stray bullets could be drastically reduced.  One of my nephews was gunned down, at the age of six, on his way home from school in Inglewood, CA, more than 20 years ago.  The LAPD didn’t even bother to search for his killer(s).

Why is he my hero?  Unlike the white super-heros we’re force-fed, from Jesus to Santa Claus, Trayvon did not have super-human physical powers.  He DID have the power, courage, and inner-strength to go, un-armed, one-on-one, with an adult male who stalked him, and shot him in the heart.  From the bruises on the killer, Trayvon showed remarkable strength to save his life.  Inner city youth, with guns, in gangs, are COWARDS compared to Trayvon!  Their behavior is designed to take the lives of others; not to save their own lives.

His parents mentioned in the interview yesterday Foundations, and Funds that exist to keep his case alive and to make our justice system work.  I propose that the Foundation expand its mission to find the talent and expertise to provide Trayvon’s image to inner-city males at a very early age, with the message that his way of living is a stronger, more powerful way to live than the path available today for most youth in their circumstances.

I was 16; exactly  two years older,  on the day Emmitt Till was murdered in 1955.  That case shaped my life and the life of every black teen of that day.  In those days, switch-blades were the weapons we had to avoid.  White Klansmen were the visible and ever-present threat.  The armed threats young non-white males face today are much more deadly and more widespread.  They will have to find the kind of inner-strength Trayvon displayed to survive.  Unlike other children, white super-heros will not provide that sense of safety for these kids.  Nobody with super-powers has ever come to “save” us.  We’ve had to use our wits to save ourselves – even from the police!