California teacher's Trayvon Martin yearbook tribute stirs controversy

theGRIO REPORT - Spencer Smith, a California teacher, has generated a controversy in his community after he chose to do a tribute to Trayvon Martin in the school's yearbook.

carrieheals

May 23, 2014

A California teacher who chose to do a tribute to Trayvon Martin in the school’s yearbook has generated a controversy in his community.

Spencer Smith, a history teacher at Heritage High School in Brentwood, wore a hooded sweatshirt and held a bag of Skittles in his portrait, according to KTVU.

Reactions to the photo have been mixed.

“I am kind of sad about it, that it has to go be put in the yearbook,” one parent Maria Tan told KTVU.

“I think it’s ok that he did it, just not in the yearbook,” sophomore student Sydney Veuve said. “I think he can do it at his house or on his Facebook. But not in the yearbook.”

The school’s Black Student Union President Alfreda Charway said, “I think it’s a good idea because he’s expressing himself. Because that’s the whole point of yearbook pictures, you’re supposed to express yourself.”

Florida teen Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.

Zimmerman was acquitted of murder charges last summer by a Florida court.

Let us know what you think of the yearbook tribute in the comments below.

Follow Carrie Healey on Twitter @CarrieHeals.