Over the past month, conversations about race have found it's way through tragedy back into our living rooms and Facebook pages. From a very young age in this country you are taught not to see color or mention it for that matter -- and that silence has proven deadly.
Color matters.
Continual conversations on race matter. Why? Because race and specifically racism are a part of our past as a nation and a part of our present. Unless we authentically begin to address and acknowledge it's covert and overt existence it will be a part of our future as well.
When we deny race we deny the very essence of ourselves and do those who experience racism daily if not hourly a disservice by playing the "color blind" card.
Many would like to believe that race doesn't matter. That we as a country have moved beyond disliking others because of the color of their skin and instead feel free to despise people for the content of their wallet. This is not the case. Trayvon Martin, the young black boy, hunted, and gunned down, was killed in his "gated community" not on the "streets". Regardless of his family's "class" which allowed them to take their kids snowboarding, fishing, and provided them with a home in a suburban gated area, their young black boy was still gunned down -- their economic status did not change George Zimmerman's or society's perception of a young black boy in a hoodie.
Currently, the media is trying to tell a new story. Not the one of an innocent boy killed, but instead of a "self appointed" hitman assaulted. They have begun to question the character of this young man.
When Natalie Halloway went missing -- did America ask why she left her group of friends? and if she was drinking?
We don't vilify the victim -- unless of course they're black and regardless of how painful this statement is it is the truth. If you can recite just one name of a young black child who has gone missing and there was a national outcry that ensued please tell me.
Change comes when you make it. Those who write the stories are the ones that tell our collective history. Don't let the media recreate Trayvon Martin's tragic case to exonerate the actions of an animal as "self defense". Keep writing, sharing, and tweeting the truth -- until we address racism and examine it's many manifestations we will never reach our potential as a country or as a people.