Opinion
NAACP continues to seek for federal charges in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s murderer’s acquital
At a nearby hotel, the high school and college delegates, the future of the 104-year-old civil rights organization, reacted viscerally. Jealous found some in tears, some angry.
Jealous had intended for his keynote speech to address the body blow delivered on June 25 by the U.S. Supreme Court in repealing provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 which required federal pre-clearance of changes of voting practices in jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination.
Instead, the speech he delivered reflected the second blow delivered by the jury.
“These are not only times of great possibility, they are also times of great peril. We hear it in the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder. We see it in the verdict handed down in Sanford two nights ago. And we feel it every time we watch one of our young sons – or nephews – walk out the front door and pull up his hoodie over his head,” Jealous said.
Verdict reveals that though times have changed racial injustice still prevails greatly
Lenwood Graham, 18, a high school senior from Laurinberg, North Carolina, said youth leaders at the convention talked to them about “how we should not let our anger or emotions cloud our judgment and make wrong decisions.”
“I just want to change laws,” he said.
