by Jaaye Person-Lynn, Esq.
Though the Trayvon
Martin Rally that was held at West Angeles Church's North Campus on April 26,
2012 was very well publicized, I had missed the memo.
Atty Ben Crump for Trayvon Martin's family, Ben Jealous, Nat'l head of the NAACP and more. |
After I read who was to
participate, Rev. Sharpton, Rev. Jackson, Trayvon Martin’s family and a host of
celebrities, I knew my friend Fred Martin’s tragic story would be taken further and
that I would personally leave more inspired to continue the work of finding the
killers and reaching our goal of raising $25,000 for Fred’s children at www.wepay.com/donations/mac-martin-kid-s-fund. I did leave inspired, but it wasn’t quite
what I expected. (Fred Martin, his best
friend Joey Hickman and his 8 year-old son “Tre”, AKA Fred Martin III had been
clearing out Fred’s grandmother’s garage to make room for a motorcycle. Two gunmen walked up on foot and opened fire. Fred dove on top of his son to save his life,
but lost his own in the process. He is
our hero. Joey and Tre were hit too, but survived.)
Family of Trayvon Martin at West Angeles COGIC in L.A. |
All the speakers
were great, on point, motivating and inspiring.
Though a few were a bit longer then they needed to be, no one was there
grandstanding. But something was missing. Even as I sat on the stage with the speakers
and the families, I felt a bit removed from the event. After the rally was over, I thought
about it and realized the reason I felt something was missing was because it
was a national event and I am a local dude.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not taking anything away from the event. The Trayvon Martin Foundation is a national
foundation and the purpose of the rally was to launch the foundation. It did what it was supposed to do.
Besides the
families of the victims, the vast majority of the speakers were not Angelenos
and have boarded flights back to wherever they came from. Yes Supervisor Ridley-Thomas was present, yes
Councilman Parks was present, yes Najee Ali was present, but none of them
addressed the crowd. I’m not suggesting
they should have, given it already went long, by 30 plus minutes. I’m just
pointing out it didn’t feel like The Empowerment Congress Summits feel. It couldn’t have though. All of the Empowerment Congress organizers
are local. You know they will be here
tomorrow and the next day.
Atty. (left) and family of Kendrec McDade. Najee Ali, is to the right. |
What the rally
inspired me to do was to seek out more local organizations surrounding the
issues of Black men losing their life unjustly.
It should not take Rev. Jesse Jackson or Rev. Al Sharpton to speak up for Fred or more recently
the unarmed Kendrec McDade, killed by police in Pasadena. They are our
friends, brothers, sons, and family.
Fred Martin is truly a hometown hero and his hometown needs to speak up and
act for him. Then, when our National
leaders come to LA, we can pack out the house and we will all feel inspired
knowing things will be followed up on.
Fellow Hamptonians. |
Me with members of Fred Martin's family |
Today, I attended
the “20 Years Later: A Day of Dialogue” put on by Community Partners. It was
very much informational and very much local.
There is also the Empowerment Congress, Cease Fire LA, NAACP LA, NAN LA,
The Urban League, 100 Black Men of LA and Long Beach, your church, your block
club and you! No one should lead our
struggle but us. There is a group
forming that meets at the Scientology Center led by Brother Tony Mohammed and
Pastor Louis Logan on Tuesdays at 6:30pm.
I’m not saying the
local organization isn’t there, I’m just saying it needs to be taken to the
next level. We don’t need a new
organization, we need to work with what we have and max them out until a new
need is developed.
I am Fred Martin!
I am Anthony Dunn! I am Kendrick McDade!
And so are you! Let’s act like
it!
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