One year later, Trayvon Martin still strikes a chord on shock and long repressed anger in our community. While many see the tragedy as another example of our long and painful racial history in this country, one person is asking that we remove race from the equation.
In a recent interview with Michelle Martin, Trayvon Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton talked about the case and the conversation about race that is has sparked.
I still feel that we should not make this about black and white. I still feel that we should take this and look at it as face value. We should see that this was an unarmed teenager and we should see that this was an adult that chased after this kid. And just to put things in proper perspective, because anybody who has a kid, whether it's a girl or boy, you don't want some stranger following your child...
And that's the message I want people to understand, is that I don't want them to see this as a black kid. I want them to see this as a teenager. A teenager was walking, minding his own business, was not doing anything wrong...
Looking back, after a year of marches, heated debate and months of waiting for a highly anticipated trial, Fulton's request seems hard to imagine for many in the Black community. To help get some perspective, we turned to our Twitter family for their input. Below we've rounded up a number of their responses.
Tell us what you think in the comments. Is it possible to talk about Trayvon Martin and not talk about race? Does doing so reduce the impact of this tragedy? Is what Sybrina Fulton asking for impossible?