Brashear Students Honor Trayvon Martin With Simple Act

In a simple, unified act, students at seven Pittsburgh public schools wore hooded sweatshirts Friday to honor a young man they said they could relate to on many levels.

Their act was to raise awareness about the case of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen who was shot and killed Feb. 26 by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. But it also was about more than the case itself.

Students on Friday said the principle of the case is that nobody deserves to have their life taken away, and they wanted to support a teen their own age who met an unfair and early end.

“I get angered,” said senior Chrisarah Johnson, 18. “Some people are looking at this as just a race issue and it’s more than that. It’s about a young man, 17, being killed.”

Johnson said students have been talking in class about the case, but that the conversation isn’t limited to the schools. Students have been talking with each other about the case at home and during their free time. She said many of her friends have asked their parents how they feel about the case.

Senior Michael Smith, 17, said he thinks the problem lies in Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, which allows a person to act physically defensive if threatened with force.

“I read the bill, and the way the law is worded, it’s talking about how you can defend yourself if you’re in harm’s way,” Smith said. “But how do you tell? It’s like saying you can just shoot someone.”

Smith, who mentors freshmen, said he’s talked about the case with younger students during his mentoring sessions. He said the discussion is important because it leads to an understanding of why larger topics, such as voting and community involvement, are so important. After all, he said, in voting, you choose the people who will make the laws that protect you.

He said it’s also important to recognize that Trayvon’s case isn’t unique.

“It’s not just things like this that happen,” he said. “There’s incidents that happen in these neighborhoods that we don’t hear about as much. It might not be exactly like Trayvon, but it’s happening around the U.S. and we need to talk about it.”

Senior Pria Royster, 17, said Trayvon’s case has brought communities together everywhere, and that she hopes to see change take place as a result.

Johnson said the awareness event was to support every family who has dealt with a similar situation.

“I feel like in a way this is for Trayvon, but it’s especially for everyone who’s been in this position, where parents weren’t able to fight as hard as Trayvon’s did, or they fought but they just weren’t heard,” she said.

Building principal Angel Washington said the staff at Brashear has increased efforts to open conversations about race and other tough subjects that affect teens, and that the staff’s openness has trickled down to the students.

She said she’s proud of the mature and responsible way the students chose to raise awareness, and of the conversations they were having about it.

In addition to Brashear, Pittsburgh CAPA, Carrick, Colfax, King, Milliones and Stevens participated in the awareness event by wearing hoodies. Students at Pittsburgh Stevens held a Hoodie March on Thursday morning in honor of Trayvon.

Follow Dormont-Brookline Patch on Facebook and Twitter. For more news, sign up for our email Newsletter.