Table of Contents
Introduction: Killing Trayvons: The Editors 1
I The Killing
Cartwheel on the blacktop (Trayvon Martin 2.0) (poem) Alexis Pauline Gumbs 23
Document Extract: Sanford Police Department Report of Investigation, undated 26
You Really Think the Killer of Trayvon Martin Will Ever Do Time? Alexander Cockburn 27
Document: Narrative Report, Sanford Police File, 2/26/12 George Zimmerman 31
Document Extract: Medical Examiner's Report, Volusia and Seminole Counties, 3/15/12 37
The Lingering Memory of Dead Boys Tayari Jones 49
A Short, Racist History of Sanford, Florida Sean Yoes 51
A Senseless Shooting in a Soulless Place Alan Farago 55
Document: Truth Verification Report, Sanford Police File, 2/27/12 57
Trayvon, Redux (poem) Rita Dove 63
Extract: 'If I Had a Son…': President Barack Obama 67
What I Have to Teach My Son Etan Thomas 69
Extract: In Memory of Trayvon Martin and Bo Morrison Matthew Rothschild 73
Sighs of Fire: Zimmerman as a Domestic Drone Vijay Prashad 77
II Lay of the Land
A Memory: On Queens Boulevard, the Night Sean Bell's Killers Got Off JoAnn Wypijewski 85
Extract: 1 Black Person Killed Every 28 Hours Adam Hudson 91
Face to Face With the NYPD: What They Look Like to a Guinean-American Ibrahim Diallo 93
A Very Short History of Driving While Black: Scenes From the Highway Profiling Patrol Jeffrey St. Clair 97
Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin and the Protection of Police Murder Thandisizwe Chimurenga 103
Terrorist (poem) David 'Judah 1' Oliver 109
The Cancer of Police Violence Mike King 117
For a National Alliance for Racial Justice and Human Rights Ajamu Baraka 121
Gun Laws and Race in America Robert Chase Yohuru Williams 125
The New Vigilantes Chris Kromm 129
Fatal Encounters D. Brian Burghart 133
The Ground We Stand On: On Inaugurations, Anniversaries and the Deaths of Trayvon Martin Pier Gabrielle Foreman 145
III Diversions
Marijuana's 'Dark Side': Drugs, Race and the Criminalization of Trayvon Martin Alexander Tepperman 155
The Trick Bag of the Perfect Victim Jill Nelson 165
Who's Afraid of Black Men's Eyes? John Eskow 169
Document: FBI Forensic Audio Analysis, 4/2/12 171
The Deadly Legacy of Vigilantism Jamilah King 175
Russell Simmons Tells Black People Not to Start a Race War Over Trayvon Martin Yvette Carnell 179
The White Right to Riot Chuck Modiano 181
'So, I Ask You, What if Trayvon Martin Were Asian?' Scot Nakagawa 185
'Do You Care When Blacks Kill Other Blacks?' Thandisizwe Chimurenga 189
The Race-Baiting of America Patricia Williams 193
IV The Trial
A Trial Is Never About the Truth Bruce Jackson 199
Document Extract: Sanford Police Department Capias Request, 3/13/12 203
Extract: Trial Testimony Sybrina Fulton 213
'Thank You, Rachel Jeantel' Mychal Denzel Smith 221
Extract: Defense Closing Argument: Florida v. George Zimmerman, July 12, 2013 Mark O'Mara 223
The Critical Role of Women in the Zimmerman Decision Brenda E. Stevenson 259
White Women in the Jury Box Monica J. Casper 263
Perversities of Justice Linn Washington 269
'No Rights That Any White Man Is Bound to Respect': What It Feels Like to Be Black in America Kevin Alexander Gray 273
V Aftermath
A Memory: Poem about Police Violence (poem) June Jordan 291
When Will It End? New York Daily News, July 15, 2013 295
How the System Worked: The US v. Trayvon Martin Robin D.G. Kelley 297
Investigate the Racial Context Behind Trayvon Martin's Death Rev. Jesse L. Jackson 301
Tried for His Own Death Jesmyn Ward 303
Extract: 'We Will Not Be Moved' Phillip Agnew 305
An Open Letter to White People About Trayvon Martin Kyle 'Guante' Tran Myhre 309
Obama Dog-Whistles Over Trayvon Margaret Kimberley 311
George Zimmerman Is Entitled to Civil Rights Protections, Too Michael Meyers 315
Trayvon and White Madness Glen Ford 319
'Sometimes You Have to Shout to Be Heard' Rodolfo Acuna 323
Extract; 'Just Being a Regular Teenager' An interview with bell hooks Quassan Castro 327
No Innocence Left to Kill: Explaining America to My Daughter Tim Wise 331
A Symphony for Trayvon Martin Yotam Marom 337
Am I a Race Traitor?: Trayvon Martin, Gender Talk and Invisible Black Women Jasmine Nicole Salters 341
Extract: On Second Thought President Barack Obama 345
Extract: 'President Obama Is a Global George Zimmerman' An interview with Dr. Cornel West Amy Goodman 351
VI Coda
Remembering How to Grieve (poem) Asam Ahmad 363
The Race Is On: Arabs, Blackness and the American Imagination Moustafa Bayoumi 367
Anxiety Is Killing Us: So What Do We Do About It? Dani McClain 385
The Master's Tools: A Grassroots Fight Against Police Violence, Case Study Jordan Flaherty 389
Really the Invisible Man Blues Dave Marsh 397
Anyone's Son (poem) Tara Skurtu 403
Contributors 405
