Op-ed: A 16-year-old asks, ‘What is a kid’s life worth?’
OPINION - Trayvon Martin was an ordinary 17-year-old boy, living an ordinary life. He was not a criminal. The only thing he did was leave the house where he was staying in Sanford, Fla., to go to the store...
Following a piece by Melissa Harris Perry, in which she talked about parenting black children after the George Zimmerman verdict, Jmar Reid, the 16-year-old son of theGrio’s managing editor, Joy-Ann Reid, wrote the piece below.
Trayvon Martin was an ordinary 17-year-old boy, living an ordinary life. He was not a criminal. The only thing he did was leave the house where he was staying in Sanford, Fla., to go to the store.
I’m a 16-year-old black boy. I live in New York now. But when I heard the news of Trayvon’s death I thought to myself, “Hey, I lived in Florida for such a long time and it seemed like a fair place to me.” With that thought in mind I had a really strong feeling that George Zimmerman would be convicted of second-degree murder. I was sure that Zimmerman was going to jail, especially when the manslaughter charge was introduced in the case.
I was watching TV and waiting for the verdict to be announced last Saturday. When I heard the words “not guilty,” my heart sank. I was sad not only for the fact that he was found not guilty, but for a possible domino effect that I fear might happen. If a man can follow a kid that he was told not to follow, kill him and then be not-guilty in the eyes of the law, just how worthless is a black man or kid’s life in this country, or this world?
Read the rest on the MHP Show blog.
