June 2012
1 post
April 2012
3 posts
I AM: A Young Black Man
In all the madness, anger, sadness, rage, and disenchantment that we all feel from the Trayvon Martin tragedy, I produced this piece as my contribution to the conversation. It’s only a minute long, but serves as my tribute to all of the young Black men who are so much more than what the world sometimes allows them to be:
http://lathompson.com/2012/04/i-am-a-young-black-man/
Thank you for...
While my story isn’t as harrowing as others’, I do believe it has negatively changed me as a person. My parents raised me to be a polite, upstanding young gentleman. I was taught to hold doors for people who are following behind me, open car doors for women, look people in the eye and say “Thank you.” I have, however, given up on committing one of these acts; I will not ask women, especially...
my "hoodie" picture needs no wardrobe change
My “hoodie” picture needs no wardrobe change. no new setting— a faculty office will do just fine, just as it was several years ago at FIU, when a security guard drew his gun on me as i left my office one evening. Was it the fact that i spoke to him in Spanish that saved me? Simply, and even softly: “Calmate. Soy Profesor.” But this/my story is the story of many of us....
March 2012
28 posts
Racism in Aisle 3
My husband could be Trayvon. He grew up in one of only five black families in a predominantly white town and was bullied, chastised and harassed throughout his school years. He was taught early on that he had to behave in a different manner from the white kids because he was subject to more scrutiny. Thankfully he learned those lessons well or a recent incident may have ended very differently.
We...
"Some black girl stole that nice car and is...
I was visiting home last year from New York City. I was in my hometown, a small town in the Midwest. I took my grandparent’s car out for a ride in the next town over. My grandmother was in the passenger seat. Along the road, in a neighborhood that is both residential and commercial, I got out of my car to take a picture of a funny sign for a gun store/barber shop. I walked up and down the sidewalk...
Faces of Black Men Archive →
too old, female and white to be trayvon, but stand...
My post is about an incident that happened in 1969 in Bensonhirst, Brooklyn, N.Y. Sadly not much has changed since then. I was participating in a rally at FDR High School along with classmates to ask that ethnic studies be taught in public schools. A mob of white racist neighborhood bullies came to the school to harrass the mostly black students who were demostrating with vicious dogs, chains and...
He Could Be Your Twin
It was a pretty normal day. I Left my off-campus house and took a walk to the comic book store, just a typical fall day in Pennsylvania nothing special. On my way home I noticed what appeared to be someone following me, figured it was just my imagination.
After I dropped the comics at my house I walked to the grocery store, I noticed a cop car I had seen a couple of times on my way to the comic...
my brother could be trayvon
it’s always been interesting being a “model” minority. knowing that i am “better off” in racial discrimination terms than many other people of color. funny though how september 11 changed that irrevocably. (see this story about a brown woman beaten to death in her own home because of an anti-muslim hate crime not too far from where my parents live in san diego,...
Simple pleasures
Enjoying a walk through a nice, suburban, pre-dominantly white neighborhood today with a hoody, tennis shoes, and disheveled black hair, I thought ‘wow, Trayvon didn’t get to do this safely’.
Taking a walk on a Day off of School
When I was a senior in High School, I ended up having a day off on a Thursday in May 2009. That day I decided to go for a walk in my neighborhood or close.
The neighborhood I lived in at that time was a predominantly white neighborhood in South Minneapolis. It was very close to the Minnehaha Creek and Lake Harriet. I ended up walking onto a neighborhood that was more upper middle class...
The Pain of Trayvon
Black men have been shot up my whole life - from the famous - such as Malcolm X - to Trayvon. All of those killings take a little bit of me with them (so a lot of me is gone), but this one seems to have invaded my entire soul. I am feeling a knot in my chest all day. I wake up in the middle of the night in emotional agony. I can’t eat. I had to leave a meeting at work because I...
Walking in the Mall
I remember as a 17 year old youth,growing up in Greensboro,North Carolina,there was a mall that was a common meeting place that my friends and I would frequent weekends. After getting off from work (yes I was employed) the 4 of us would go to the Carolina Circle Mall to play the arcade,eat some pizza,then try to talk to the pretty girls who were there.but there was this over-zealous mall security...
Welcome Home, Boy!
In the late 90’s I was one of two Black men on a 747 flying from Munich to Boston. I was casually dressed, with dreadlocks flying. The other Brother was attired in an expensive three-piece suit and carried a pricey briefcase. I imagined him to be a high-end lawyer or diplomat.
As I proceeded through US Customs, I was pulled aside and taken to a corner by two Caucasian customs...
2 sides
I was an officer in US Navy stationed in Long Beach Ca. One night while out cruising in Hollywood (this was in 1988) the traffic light turned yellow I was going to fast to stop and was close enough to pass thru on yellow . I was stopped by police said I ran a yellow light. I was ordered out the car and have me sobriety test , check my pupils had me recite the alphabet lean backwards I passed...
I could not be Trayvon Martin
I am so glad to see these stories. When I have asked about these sort of incidents my Black friends always seem to deny that this happens.
One night my ancient father’s nurse needed a ride home. I drove her in my father’s fancy Lexus. We crossed into the Black half of Washington DC and a police car drove up behind us and turned on that terrifying blinding light into the car. When...
My Epiphany in Oakland [I could have been Trayvon]
My name is Roger Porter, I’m from Oakland, CA and I definitely could have been Trayvon. Here is a story about something that happened when I was 17.
I’m 17 years old and it’s a Saturday night.
I’m driving my mother’s 1994 blue Honda Accord with two of my friends in the back seat. We’re about to get on the freeway to check out this party when we see two of our other friends riding in the...
Armed and Racist
The murder of Trayvon Martin makes me think back to when I was barely a teenager, growing up in Central Brooklyn, and the name of NYPD Officer Volpe was common to us long before he and a handful of other cops sodomized Abner Louima at a local precinct. He would round us up – children – and harass us routinely. I rarely questioned it then – just something cops do, I thought. And yet if sworn...
They said I had it all wrong!!
In the 1990’s, on occasion I used to drive to Providence, Rhode Island, from Boston to party (this may seem counterintuitive, perhaps, but it’s true!). Each and every time, when returning to Boston on I-95 in the middle of the night, I was stopped by the po-po. And each and every time, they searched my vehicle, padded me down, looked into my eyes, and then let me go. (They never...
I could be Trayvon
Like most black men, the Trayvon Martin case hit home and reminded us how precarious life is for African American men.
As a former resident of the South, I was regularly profiled by small town cops. In all the times, I was pulled over, I only got one ticket.
The Trayvon Martin case shows that being in the wrong neighborhood can be lethal for black men.
I could Be Trayvon
I am destroyed by this nightmare, and distraught that something like this could happen in 2012. My Heart goes out to Trayvon’s family. We are all Trayvon Martin.
Blacks and Hispanics we are Racially Profiled by...
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Brief Instructions on Submissions
While we encourage all people to read and learn from the perspectives on this blog, we are initially reserving submissions exclusively for the voices of boys and men of color who have experienced racial profiling and have felt moved by the injustice of Trayvon Martin’s senseless death.
Click on the “Submit” button to
1) post your personal “Trayvon Story” about being racially...
