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USA Today/ ­- News, Sáb, 14 de Abril de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Civil Rights)
Trayvon's father says he warned son on
stereotypes
Years before the killing of Trayvon Martin grabbed the
nation's attention, the teen's father warned him that his
race could make him a target of violence. The advice
Tracy Martin gave his black son, that people veiled by
racism and prejudices might see him as suspicious or
violent, is a common and continuous warning in many
black families, parents and experts say. In the
aftermath of Trayvon's death, more families are having
"the talk," teaching sons to be aware of their race,
avoid confrontations with authority figures, and to
remain calm in situations even if their rights are
violated. "I've always let him know we as African
Americans get stereotyped," Tracy Martin, Trayvon's
father told USA TODAY three weeks after his son's
death. "I told him that society is cruel." Trayvon, 17,
was shot and killed on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., as he
was returning to a gated community after buying candy
at a nearby store. The gunman, George Zimmerman,
whose father is white and mother is Hispanic, now
faces a charge of second­-degree murder. Trayvon was
"profiled" by Zimmerman, who "falsely assumed
(Trayvon) was going to commit a crime" as the teen
was trying to get back to the home of his father's
girlfriend, according to public filings by Florida special
prosecutor Angela Corey.
The documents portray Zimmerman as the aggressor
throughout the incident, remarking to police at one
point that people like Trayvon were "punks" causing
trouble in his neighborhood. Family photo Trayvon
Martin was shot and killed in February. After spotting
Trayvon, Zimmerman called 911, got out of his vehicle,
and followed the teen. Zimmerman then "disregarded
the police dispatcher" and chased Trayvon as he was
trying to return home, the records say. Trayvon's family
and their supporters maintain that Zimmerman
deemed Trayvon "suspicious" because the teen was
black and wearing a hoodie.
George Zimmerman: Zimmerman could face life in
prison if convicted. He maintains he shot the youth in
self­-defense after he was attacked. The killing sparked
dozens of rallies across the country, largely fueled by
the belief of many that the case is the tip of the iceberg
of a glaring problem of racial injustice in the USA.
Reggie Bridges, a father of two young black boys,
sees the Trayvon Martin case as an example of the
type of racial profiling he has warned his sons about
for years.
"You stand out from the norm," Bridges, of Silver
Spring, Md., said he often tells his children. "I try to
heighten their awareness of what's going on in the
world." Bridges, 44, an insurance agent, often stresses
dressing nicely and speaking articulately to dissuade
potential perceptions that his boys are thugs or
gangsters, he said. Similar lessons have been passed
down since just after the Civil War to ward off danger
in an America that has for centuries perceived black
men as threats, said Mark Anthony Neal, an African
and African­-American studies professor at Duke
University.
"This kind of parenting goes back to the black codes,"
he said. "It's no different to the talk black parents had
with black children, particularly black boys, prior to the
civil rights movement, where the threat of real racial
violence and lynching was always present. â¦
Ultimately, what you are trying to do is keep them
alive." Discussing racism with a child while not instilling
fear or paranoia can be a delicate task. Those
delivering the message â parents, extended family
members, mentors or other older figures in
communities â must be careful to also affirm
blackness, experts say.
"Watch out should be accompanied with you're
beautiful and here's why," said Howard Stevenson, a
psychology and education professor at the University
of Pennsylvania. It's not enough to tell stories about
Emmett Till or Rodney King to youngsters, said
Stevenson, who has studied the racial awareness of
children of color for several years. Kids must deal with
their racial stress by understanding their feelings and
practicing positive responses to potential racist
situations, he said. Dionne Bensonsmith, 40, of
Claremont, Calif., started talking to her first son, Jonah,
now 8, about race when he was 5 and 6. The
youngster had already started saying "all police aren't
your friends" and pointing out that officers stopped a
lot of black people in their small Iowa city, she said. "I
had the talk of how police target people around race,"
said Bensonsmith, a professor at Scripps College. "I
said if that ever happens to you, you have to remain
respectful, you have to remain very calm."
She and many parents see "the talk" as evolving
lessons on racial consciousness that will cover more
topics as children grow. But there are challenges to
teaching kids to live within racial injustices. "It's really
heartbreaking," said Bensonsmith, who also has
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