The events surrounding the Trayvon Martin murder, trial and acquittal bring to public and private discourse the violent, brutal murders of Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Dr. King, while bringing back to memory the racially provoked murders of Black American and Black immigrant men such as Amadou Diallo, Oscar Grant and more recently, Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric Garner in New York. The name of Trayvon Martin has become trope in the 21 century, which crystallizes US racial politics regarding Blackness, specifically the Black male: a metaphoric symbol of this history of America's regard for Black bodies, as well as a metonym, a name that has become a contemporary substitute for terrorist attacks targeting Black bodies. The works included here imply that Trayvon Martin, as trope, reverberates in the most conscientious of 'US'; and, this epic tragedy is one that has plagued 'US' since Africans and people of African descent first arrived to the Americas. The essays range from the profoundly personal to the thoroughly investigated, and conclude with the statement from President Barack H. Obama in the epilogue. The Trayvon Martin in US is essential reading for anyone who is involved in race relations or teaches the topic.

Autorentext

Emmanuel Harris II, PhD, is Professor of Spanish and Africana Studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. He has published in Spanish and English in various books, academic journals, and edited volumes both nationally and internationally. He is the award-winning English translator of the Afro-Peruvian novel Malambo by Lucía Charún-Illescas.
Antonio D. Tillis, PhD, is Professor of Hispanic Studies and Dean of the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs at the College of Charleston. He has authored Manuel Zapata Olivella and the «Darkening of Latin American Literature, Caribbean-African Upon Awakening: Poetry by Blas Jiménez, Critical Perspectives on Afro-Latin American Literature, and (Re) Considering Blackness in Contemporary Afro-Brazilian Contexts. He is editor of PALARA and series editor of Black Diasporic Worlds.

Inhalt

Contents: William L. Johnson III: A Message for Our Sons and Daughters: Remembering Trayvon - Rodney D. Smith: I Cried: My Personal Sentiments About Trayvon Martin's Death and the George Zimmerman Trial - Theodore W. Burgh: Why Did Zimmerman Get Out of His Car? - Quito J. Swan: If We Must Die: Trayvon Martin and the Black Piñata - Yvette Modestin: The Pain Felt by Every Afro-Descendant - Cristina Cabral: Personal Reflections on Race and Blackness From an Academic Afro-Latin Woman - María Zalduondo: Mater Dolorosa: The Bléssed Virgin Wore a Hoodie - Timothy J. Lensmire: A Letter to My Son - Emmanuel Harris II: A Message to My Daughter: Of Trayvon Martin and Young Black Men - Angela Y. Douglas: Questions Arise: The Political, Legal, and Social Implications of the Trayvon Martin Tragedy - Brian Lozenski/Jonel Daphnis: Trayvon, Medicine, and Education in the US: Moving Away From Individualized Analyses of Race - Michelle C. Stevens: Historical PTSD - In the Midst of a Tragedy - Louis L. Woods II: Killing for Inclusion: Racial Violence and Assimilation Into the Whiteness Gang - Dennis B. Rogers: Reflections on the Diversity of Thought in Black America on the Trayvon Martin Case - Deborah A. Brunson: «How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?» Reflections Upon Responses of Trayvon Martin's Parents to the George Zimmerman Trial - Todd Steven Burroughs: Disposable Images of Our HipHoprisy: Trayvon Martin Stares at Emmett Till - Glen Anthony Harris: How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Reflections on the Trayvon Martin Case and the American Idea - Antonio D. Tillis: The Black Male Defiled: Whose Fault Is It? Critical Historical Analysis on Black Male Subjecthood.