unless their wardrobe threatens our safety...
or the color of their skin makes me feel uncomfortable...
or how about if they get a little too close to my happy home?
Trayvon Martin was a boy. He was a son. He was a child. This popular photo of Trayvon Martin captured years before the unjust taking of his life depicted the innocence found in a life stolen too soon. A Black boy in a hoodie had somehow become a symbol of danger in America. However, the photo of Trayvon was seen as this in the eyes of many. An appeal to humanity found in all people brought upon feelings ranging from rage, for the fact that Black life seems to be disposable within our culture, to despair, in grieving for a life that had ended before it had a chance to start. To stare into the eyes of a child, regardless of his or her ethnicity invokes some type of emotion in all people. The sole image of a lone boy forces the viewer to acknowledge that this was a person and now he is gone. He no longer exists because his life was stolen. He no longer opens the eyes that you are looking into over a computer screen. He is now buried six feet under because of a deeply rooted prejudice that continues to grow within the soil of America. He is not the convoluted image of a thug that the media has created. He has a name, family, and home that he can never return to. Trayvon was just a Black boy who's fate had been determined by the color of his skin and let's not forget the threatening hooded jacket. The same prejudice that killed Emmett Till has taken the life of Trayvon and will continue to take the lives of many more Trayvons.-Ashley McNeill
This post is amazing. Not only does it emphasize really strongly the pathos of Trayvon Martin's murder, I also feel like the post itself is an appeal to pathos. After reading it, I'm looking at the photo of Trayvon in a way that I haven't before- and really realizing that he was only a kid. The comparison to Emmett Till was also really powerful, because it makes you realize that, even decades later, in so many ways this country is still just as prejudiced as it once was. I also like how you mentioned the "threatening hooded jacket," because it really makes you realize how ridiculous that description is when people use it seriously. I think you're right, that unless social/racial prejudices in this country are significantly lowered, there will continue to be more Trayvons.
ReplyDelete-Natalia de Gravelles
Much like Natalia after reading this post I'm not sure I could ever look at the picture of Trayvon Martin in the same way. It really brings home the idea that he was just a kid. I think the line about Trayvon being buried 6 feet under b/c of prejudice was perfect honestly, I feel like that one lines really humanized the whole issue for me and again made me think of this whole thing like less of a news story and more of a tragedy that could've and should've been prevented. I also think the first few lines do a great job of summarizing how this country is when it comes to racial prejudices, we claim they don't exist but they very clearly do.
ReplyDeletenice page cant believe its been 3 years
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