And the end of the day, Trayvon Martin is dead because he was a Black youth who wore a “hoodie.”  There is no more that can be said.

Not since the brutal death of 14-year-old Chicago native Emmett Till in Mississippi nearly 60 years, has Black America stood up in such outrage spawned by the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida on February 26.

The case of Emmett Till, who was senselessly beaten and hanged by an irate White man and his cousin for allegedly whistling at a White woman in the Deep South while on vacation, was a vanguard to the civil rights movement of the ‘60s.

Today, African-Americans across this nation are just as indignant at the killing of Trayvon Martin at the hands of a 28-year-old, self appointed neighborhood watch captain who patrolled a gated community in which Trayvon’s father lived.

Trayvon’s “crime,” according to alleged shooter George Zimmerman, was for “looking suspicious and for wearing a “hoodie.”  Zimmerman has claimed self-defense in this case.  So far he has not been charged with a crime and it doesn’t look like he will.

It seems that in Florida that is a “stand your ground law.”  In its simplest terms it means that an individual has a right to protect his or herself when confronted by another human being.

It is because of this law that Zimmerman remains free and Trayvon is being prepared for burial.

Since this incident, all many of folks have raised up their voices in outrage.

Vigils and protests continue to crop up across the nation as this case sparks controversy in many quarters.

The governor of Florida has called for an independent investigation. The U.S. Justice Department vows that it will look into the case. And the police chief of Sanford, Florida has temporarily resigned in the wake of his handling of the matter.

And the end of the day, Trayvon Martin is dead because he was a Black youth who wore a “hoodie.”  There is no more that can be said.