A Trayvon Martin World

When Raymond De Felitta and I were doing the Q&A's after screenings of "Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story" in New York, we were often asked about whether or not we think things have changed in Greenwood.

When Frank went down to Greenwood in 1965 he had to first consult with the FBI. He had trouble pulling together a crew who would be willing to go down there with him.  Greenwood wasn't the safest place for people who were perceived to be pro-integration.  When we took our crew down there in the summer of 2011, the townspeople and local officials couldn't have been more helpful.

I think it's easy, especially as a black woman with young black sons, to feel angry and frustrated about how much farther the world needs to go in terms of race relations.  The mere idea that someone would automatically feel threatened when they see a black boy in a hoodie walking down the street is sad and scary at the same time.

Nevertheless, I know that I must embrace and proclaim all the change that has taken place.  This week is the 20 year anniversary of the LA Riots sparked by the Rodney King verdict.  I will never forget watching that footage and feeling fear.  Fear that I or someone I loved would one day be in the wrong place at the wrong time and that the authorities, the ones sent to protect us, would harm us.

For years I feared the police.  After awhile that fear kind of ebbed away.  Then I moved to Arizona.  I have a friend, a black woman who has four kids and is married to a man who looks and dresses a lot like Tupac Shakir.  He works in the music industry and drives luxury cars.  More than once their family has been pulled over and forced to sit on the side of the road while cops search their car for drugs. Clearly, we still have a ways to go.

But, here's the ray of hope.  When Trayvon Martin was killed, it wasn't just Al Sharpton raising his voice and asking whether or not the crime could have had something to do with race.  Whites, Blacks, Mexicans and people from all walks of life thought the story sounded fishy.  As a nation, we were collectively bothered by the idea that the only thing suspicious about this young boy was his color and his hoodie.

To be clear, whether or not George Zimmerman failed to value Trayvon Martin's life because of the color of his skin is something that I don't have the answer to.  The investigation is ongoing and I will hold back my judgement until all that can be known is known.  However, I am delighted that the chorus of people claiming that something smelled foul was a multi-colored chorus.