Yesterday a request spread through social media like wildfire – blackout your profile pictures on each of your social media sites until a verdict is delivered in the George Zimmerman trial.
Many, like me, obliged with no questions asked. I would suppose that they, like me, understood that this was a show of solidarity in support of the Martin Family. Our efforts to blackout our profile pictures would show the world and the defense that we support Trayvon and we want justice for him, which can only come with a guilty verdict from the jury.
Then there were some who declined to participate, which is their right, because they didn’t believe a blackout would bring Trayvon back. Some even said that they would not participate in the blackout because there are many other injustices that we should be fighting for that don’t get the attention that this case has … and that we have only started to protest again because the trial is currently going on.
I cannot disagree with these things.
We should be fighting for justice in all aspects of our lives.
Right now racism is the national injustice we are fighting and this case gives it a face. It’s much easier to fight injustice with a face than an abstract concept. You can’t try an abstract concept in court to change policy.
Additionally, you can’t not fight for one injustice because there are other fights to fight. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t participate in the blackout.
The blackout is important to THIS civil rights protest. It’s something that is rooted in the history of civil rights protest.
