In 1955, a young black man in Money, Mississippi, went to the store to buy some candy. Fifty-seven years later, another young black man in Sanford, Florida, did the same.
Both trips led to a murder — one of Emmett Till and the other Trayvon Martin.
It wasn’t right when it happened in 1955, and it wasn’t right in 2012. Responding to these injustices was a focus of Rosalyn Brock’s address to the 104th annual convention of the NAACP tonight. She spoke of the need to keep our convention theme in our minds and hearts — “We shall not be moved.” Here’s how we do it:
Hundreds of thousands of people have signed the petition urging the Department of Justice to file federal charges, including civil rights charges, against George Zimmerman. We need you to join them.
Do not allow yourself to be moved. Sign our petition to the Department of Justice today.
Standing for justice requires courage, but we are confident we have no shortage of that.
Courage is a group of young NAACP leaders channeling their hurt and frustration over an appalling verdict into a decisive call to action: to stop the violence. Whether on the South Side of Chicago, or a gated community in Sanford, Florida, we must end gun violence, no matter what the perpetrator looks like.
It’s Rosa Parks refusing to get up from her seat, and Medgar Evers refusing to take his. Titans of our civil rights movement who stood their ground, and who we celebrate this year on the 100th anniversary of her birth, and the 50th anniversary of his assassination.
And courage is refusing to allow two black boys to be vilified for walking while black, and rejecting the notion that our children are seen as potential threats instead of the loving sons and daughters we raise them to be.
Courage will not skip this generation, and we shall not be moved. Right now, we need you to make this point loud and clear to the Department of Justice by signing or sharing our petition.
Sign the NAACP petition to the Department of Justice: