By Virginia Cooper

Trayvon Martin might be gone in presence, but his short-lived life will be remembered as a sign of racial tension.

In February 2012, Martin was shot by George Zimmerman, a member of the local neighborhood watch and several months later Zimmerman was ruled innocent of all charges by a court of law.

From the moment you read it, this case appears to be morally wrong, and it is. A man shoots a 17-year-old boy only because he “appears” to be violent. English teacher Matthew Couch says, “No, I don’t believe there was a reason for Zimmerman to shoot Martin other than being scared of a black kid in a hoodie, but according to evidence there was a reason.”

Martin was just a teenager walking home and that day he happened to have his hoodie draped over him in a more suspicious way. To Zimmerman, he fit the stereotype of a violent black kid looking for a fight. Thus, the racial discrimination begins. Not only did Zimmerman identify Martin as suspicious because of his skin, but he also identified him as a gang-related teenager. Zimmerman has shown our nation and the world just how prejudiced our country still is.

Zimmerman pleaded to the court that Martin was approaching him in a foul manner, and felt he needed to shoot the young man in self-defense. Well, the Stand Your Ground law says that if a person is in a life or death situation that can only be handled by self-defense, then the police are not allowed to make an arrest. We could say that Zimmerman got lucky this time, but this only opens our eyes to how corrupt that law is.

Wheat Ridge senior Erika Porras says, “This case has improperly raised tension for racial prejudice as it doesn’t address the right issues.” Whether or not, you believe Zimmerman was guilty is a matter of belief, but the bigger issue is how racism has prevailed again to be discussed in our system of law. The Stand Your Ground law is a popular law in Florida, and even more states are looking to seek this law in their state. This shows how corrupt our system of law is, even though an innocent boy was murdered, the law still remains popular and highly in favor.

The Dream Defenders, a group created in honor of Martin, has initiated itself hoping to terminate the Stand Your Ground law and show how prevalent racism is in our country, especially in Florida. The group has not had much success, but they are gaining more popularity. Will the popularity hold enough of our attention to change laws in our country? History teacher Stephanie Rossi says, “I do not think Trayvon Martin will stay around long in our history, and it’s sad but it’ll fade into old news soon enough.”

Emmett Till is the perfect example of how quickly Trayvon might disappear. Till was a young boy from Chicago and was killed for supposedly flirting with a white woman in Mississippi in 1955. He was taken from his great uncle’s house by the white woman’s husband and was beaten, shot, and then thrown into a river. The case sparked racial prejudice in media, because it was an open-casket funeral where anyone was able to see what had happened to Emmett Till. All over the media the pictures lingered and for several decades his name was still mentioned. Although today, he has been erased from history books, barely mentioned in history classes, and is now an old shadow of what racial prejudice stood for. The fight for Emmett Till has faded away, and now it is a matter of whether Trayvon Martin will have the same effect in history.

Will Trayvon Martin be an emblem for us to keep fighting, or will he be a boy forgotten in history? I believe Trayvon Martin will live as long as we decide he should. I hope that he does change laws in our country; just because he is no longer here does not mean his spirit cannot change anything. Trayvon Martin should be more of a reason for us, as a country, to fight and end racism. Whether we forget about him soon or forget about him in the distant future, we will always remember what he stands for. A majority of our nation hopes he will live long in history and the media, but just like Emmett Till he might be put aside soon enough. I hope this will not be the case. Instead I hope that the tragedy of Trayvon Martin lives on and changes our perception of racism in our nation.