I love this photo of Trayvon Martin and his dad Tracy. It depicts the love and adoration shared by a father and son. Recently, Tracy Martin was recalling the chain of events leading to his son's murder to a news reporter. He said that Trayvon died just yards from his back door. I could hear the agony in the father's voice as he spoke about the tragedy. Each time that I hear the 911 recording and clearly audible screams of "help me" in the background, I think my heart breaks a little more. At seventeen, Trayvon was still a child. The fear and anguish in his voice directly contradicts the "self-defense" claims by the shooter George Zimmerman. Now, about those screams. Although they are painful to hear, they have reached beyond racial, gender, socio-economic, and political borders. They have reached the ears of parents, family members, neighbors, friends, schoolmates, and others. Those screams are resounding around the world today and there is a grassroots movement of change in the atmosphere. A revolution is underway. Not one of me versus you or us versus them. It is a revolution that yells, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" Too often we congregate in our circles and talk about issues without actively pursuing change.  But Trayvon's screams have opened up an international platform that allows anyone and everyone to have a voice. He is everyone's son, black, white, Hispanic, or Asian. Right now, George Zimmerman's attorney is out disputing the  racism charge and pushing the self-defense theory. He has to. If this was a racially-motivated shooting as I suspect that it was, then it certainly falls within the "hate-crime" category which means Zimmerman can be prosecuted on those grounds and therefore,  uncovered by Florida's controversial "Stand Your Ground Law." As hard as it is to listen to that child plead for his life, I will let his screams be the guiding force for more teaching, mentoring, and reaching out to youth all over this country.



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