“After Trayvon: Black Boys Speak”

May 4, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
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By Zach Campbell
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Kevin Powell asked nine young black and latino males in Brooklyn if they ever feared being attacked as was Trayvon Martin. They all answered yes.

Powell, an MTV reality star turned author and public speaker, filmed their responses at the House of the Lord Church in Boerum Hill. The video, released on YouTube, seeks to address racial profiling in the U.S. by airing an uncut conversation among those most affected by it.

The video is a candid look at the experiences of the nine young men, aged 9-17, with profiling and racism while growing up in Brooklyn and Queens. With Powell as moderator, the boys discuss Trayvon, their own feelings of vulnerability and fear, education, leadership, and violence in all forms.

They describe being singled out as "suspicious" by the police, based on how they look, dress or act.

“When you even pass a cop, they'll think you're doing something bad," says 9-year-old Amaru. "So they'll probably take out a Taser, or a gun, and then they'll probably lie and say, 'I didn't shoot him, he shot himself.'”

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