Benjamin Crump

It has been nearly five years since the story of an innocent, unarmed black teen’s death at the hands of a neighborhood watch volunteer challenged Americans to recognize this uncomfortable truth: It is dangerous to be black in America.

The nightly news has well documented the sad fact that it’s often dangerous for black citizens to have an encounter with a police officer. What made Trayvon Martin's case remarkable is that it apparently extended the license to kill innocent, unarmed black people to other citizens. Now, as we approach the fifth year since Trayvon’s death, we inevitably ask ourselves what his life and death meant and where we go from here.

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Legacy pushes the search for justice

On Feb. 26, 2012, Trayvon was targeted, pursued and shot dead by George Zimmerman in a gated neighborhood in Sanford, Fla., for the simple reason that he was black.

The news coverage of Trayvon’s story was a phenomenon. For the first time in decades, a young black teen’s death was the top news story in the nation. Trayvon’s face was on every major news network, newspaper, magazine and online news site. But how many other young black men are killed every day without generating the slightest bit of notice? The unprecedented public attention and outrage generated by Trayvon’s death is certainly an element of his legacy.

And while Trayvon’s killing might have drawn uncommon public attention, it reflected the sadly common bias of our justice system that white-on-black crime is justified by mere suspicion. A turning point in the Zimmerman case occurred when the judge allowed testimony from a woman who said she had been burglarized six months earlier by black suspects, an incident in no way connected with Trayvon. The admission of that testimony in effect said it’s a fair assumption that black people are dangerous as a group, and that white people could be justified in killing them.

Trayvon’s death was one in a long line of cases calling into question whether black lives matter under the law. Consider 14-year-old Emmett Till, whose white killers saw no consequence for acting on a false accusation. Consider 15-year-old Latasha Harlins, fatally shot in the back of the head in 1991 by a store owner who suspected the girl was trying to steal a bottle of juice. No justice.

Trayvon’s death and his killer’s subsequent acquittal galvanized the Black Lives Matter movement, generating many important conversations across America. Critics of the movement frequently ask, “Don’t you mean all lives matter?” Of course, all lives should matter. But the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that in America today, black lives don’t. Raising that conversation and provoking a hard look at the racial bias that is baked into America’s justice system is another important part of Trayvon’s legacy, though that work is far from finished.

Slow, painful progress

In working toward a better America, Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, rightfully deserve a tribute for their painful and tireless sharing of their story, contributing to a more conscious awareness of discrimination. Their powerful work and sacrifices have re-energized the civil rights movement.

Unfortunately, not all the outgrowths of Trayvon’s case have been constructive. Deadly laws such as “stand your ground,” which in part vindicated Trayvon’s killer, have sprung up across the country, metastasizing to more than 30 states. The deep pockets of the gun lobby continue to fund this kind of legislation that lets everyday citizens off the hook for the killing of innocent people such as Trayvon, sweeping their deaths under the blood-stained rug of racial injustice.

To cure what ails our nation, first we must admit the problem. Black Americans are more likely to be stopped by police, more likely to be arrested, more likely to die in an encounter with police, more likely to serve time — and are often forced to plead guilty to crimes they did not commit. In fact, one in three black men born in 2001 will end up serving time in prison, according to the Sentencing Project. That shocking fact accounts for the destruction of an extraordinary number of black families and imperils the future of the next generation of black children.

While Trayvon's death raised America’s consciousness and pierced its conscience, the progress toward racial equality and true justice has been painfully slow. Trayvon’s life mattered. For his death to also matter, we must change the justice equation in America to ensure that all citizens are treated fairly by police, by the courts and by the correctional system. Let's finally extend equal justice to all.

Attorney Benjamin Crump is a civil rights advocate who represents the family of Trayvon Martin and has worked on dozens of other high-profile civil rights cases.