Oakland has more than its share of Trayvon Martins Chip Johnson On the East Bay

Khadafy Washington Foundation founder Marilyn Washington Harris poses outside her office, on Thursday, March 29, 2012 in Oakland, Calif. After her son was killed in 2000, Harris created the Khadafy Washington Foundation for non-violence. less Khadafy Washington Foundation founder Marilyn Washington Harris poses outside her office, on Thursday, March 29, 2012 in Oakland, Calif. After her son was killed in 2000, Harris created the Khadafy Washington ... more Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Beck Diefenbach, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Oakland has more than its share of Trayvon Martins 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The slaying of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin has jolted the American public from its apathy, and there is righteous public outrage from coast to coast.

Martin's death at the hands of a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla., has become a national issue that has drawn comment from President Obama and other national leaders. In California, state lawmakers Thursday donned hoodies to demand justice in the case.

Much closer to home, Oakland residents have held rallies to demand action in the Florida case, which has raised multiple troubling issues, including the question of whether Martin was deemed "suspicious" by his shooter because he was an African American youth wearing a hoodie. The admitted shooter, George Zimmerman, is a white Hispanic.

Meanwhile, Lakisha Hill of Hayward wondered if anyone will speak up for her boy.

Charles Hill III, 16, was gunned down in East Oakland after an argument outside a party one week ago.He is one of 28 homicide victims in Oakland this year.

Lakisha Hill, his mother, was one of several people who have lost a son to violence in Oakland and contacted Marilyn Washington Harris, seeking answers, comfort and support. Harris began an antiviolence foundation soon after the death of her own son, Khadafy, in 2000.

Is there any difference?

"They want to know what the difference is between Trayvon and their child," Harris said. "They want to know why the churches and our mayor are concerned about the death of a young man 3,000 miles away when there are so many Trayvons right here in Oakland, California."

The answer she gives grief-stricken relatives they can't always accept.

"I tell them there is no difference, it's just that some people choose to follow what the in-crowd is working on instead of working on the problem right in front of them," she said. "I tell them it's not personal."

Pain and anguish is a reality Harris knows all too well.

Harris' only son, Khadafy Washington, was shot and killed while riding his bicycle in West Oakland. A year after his death, Harris started the Khadafy Washington Foundation for Non-Violence, a nonprofit group that has provided support and grief counseling to homicide victims' families for the past 11 years. Her son would have turned 30 March 3, she noted.

In Oakland, there is no shortage of demands for sympathy, guidance and grief counseling.

"You don't have to look outside of town to fight for the right thing," Harris said. "It's right here."

Social networks' power

Harris said she has learned about the power of online social networks by watching Martin's case unfold on the Internet and in media outlets across the globe.

"She (Trayvon's mother) helped me understand why people use Facebook and Twitter," Harris said. "What it takes us a week to get - they got in a couple of seconds. She put it online and took it viral."

For Harris, the work is never ending. This week, she is helping three families, including Hill's. In addition, she has taken on the case of a 16-year-old boy who died while in custody at the Alameda County Juvenile Justice Center in San Leandro on Monday. She is also working with the family of Rondale Gurley, 31, who died in a shooting early Saturday morning.

The grieving, heartsick mothers who have contacted Harris in the past two weeks didn't do it out of spite or anger or jealousy, but from a collective pain that anyone who's ever been through such a tragic loss is all too familiar with.

"Our hearts go out to her because she suffers from what we all suffer from," Harris said of Martin's mother, Sybrina Martin."There are no color boundaries when it comes to our children."

But when an Oakland mother who has lost a child sees local churches and activists gearing up, determined to do something about a killing so far away, and seemingly oblivious to the near-daily tragedies occurring in their own city, it hurts, Harris said.

"They need to be doing something every day," she said.