To many people in the outside world, the killing of Trayvon Martin seems to be stretching the fabric of American society to the breaking point. For France’s Le Monde, U.S. correspondent Corine Lesnes writes with surprise of how the events of the past month could have occurred three years after the election of America’s first Black president.
For Le Monde, Corine Lesnes writes in part:
Thousands of young people throughout the country have demonstrated with hooded sweatshirts like the one worn by the victim. More than 2 million people have signed his parents’ petition demanding “Justice for Trayvon Martin.”
On March 21, the young man’s mother filed papers to patent the slogan – soon to be a brand: “I am Trayvon.” On March 28, Illinois Representative and ex-Black Panther Bobby Rush entered the well of Congress dressed in a sweatshirt – hood up – which led to his expulsion.
Trayvon Martin has awakened consciences. In “post-racial” America, more than three years after the election of a Black president, a man could slaughter a youth wearing a sweatshirt because he looked “suspicious” – and he could do so without being pursued by police.
The drama has rekindled old images. Just like it was in Emmett Till’s day, in some places it is dangerous to be a Black adolescent.
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