Two deaths, both in Florida and both highly controversial. And the reactions to the two could not have been more different.
Trayvon Martin, 17, was fatally shot in a Sanford, Fla., gated community on Feb. 26 of this year. Everyone who hasn’t just beamed in from a distant planet knows who killed Martin: George Zimmerman, who has admitted to the slaying but contends Martin attacked him first. Zimmerman said the beating Martin gave him was so severe that he feared for his life, and had to fire his weapon in self-defense.
Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, didn’t buy Zimmerman’s story. They didn’t think Sanford police conducted anything that even resembled a fair and thorough investigation either. They lawyered up. The lawyer got in touch with some people who made sure the story of Martin’s death and the lack of police follow-up made national news.
It did, in a big way. Rallies, including a “Million Hoodie March,” were held in several cities, with participants demanding “justice for Trayvon.” Inevitably, Jesse Jackson showed up in Florida, repeating the “justice for Trayvon” plea.
Just as inevitably, Al Sharpton showed up, wearing his look of righteous indignation as only he can. Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton were at the headquarters of Sharpton’s National Action Network the night Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey announced Zimmerman was being charged with second-degree murder.
Also dead is Robert Champion, who was only 26 at the time of his demise. Champion was a drum major in Florida A&M University’s marching band. He died Nov. 19 of last year. He was beaten as part of a hazing ritual after he boarded a bus to return to school.
Yesterday, prosecutors announced charges against those involved in Champion’s death, and they will include felony as well as misdemeanor charges.
Both Martin and Champion were black. Both were young. Both died under circumstances that were mysterious and questionable.
Now let’s review how each death was different.
Martin had thousands protesting his death, demanding justice. Many of the protesters have been black, and they’ve made it clear how riled up about Martin’s death they are.
Champion’s death has caused barely a ripple in the black American consciousness. There have been no demands of “justice for Robert Champion.” There have been no rallies, no “Million Drum Major” marches.
The differences inspire a few questions: Wasn’t Robert Champion just as black as Trayvon Martin? And isn’t he just as dead?
Forty-six days passed between Feb. 26, when Martin was killed, and April 11, when Corey announced second-degree murder charges against Zimmerman. That’s less than two months.
In Champion’s case, the same process took from Nov. 19, 2011, until May 2, 2012. That would be 166 days, or more than five months.
It appears to me that someone needs to call the Egregious Double Standards Police. What makes the likes of Sharpton and Jackson — and the bona fide nut jobs in groups like the New Black Panther Party — so hot for “justice for Trayvon Martin,” while all but ignoring justice for Robert Champion?
And let’s not forget how some Florida A&M students and black Florida legislators reacted when Gov. Rick Scott suggested the president of the university step down until the investigation was complete. They made Scott — a white male Republican — the villain, and not Champion’s murderers.
When and if Robert Champion gets justice, it won’t be because of anyone in the “justice for Trayvon” crowd.
Examiner Columnist Gregory Kane is a Pulitzer-nominated news and opinion journalist who has covered people and politics from Baltimore to the Sudan.
