Universities have gone gaga for Trayvon Martin, heralding the young man’s death\u00a0as an\u00a0iconic symbol of\u00a0a racist, unfair America, according to a long and growing list of events hosted on college campuses across America since mid-August.<\/p>\n
The fall semester has barely just begun, and panel after panel after panel of scholars at institutions across the nation have been convened to critique what organizers contend are this country\u2019s inherent and stronger-than-ever racist tendencies among white people and its alleged broken and biased legal system.<\/p>\n
In Chicago in mid-August, for example, \u201cqueer and feminist professors\u201d gathered to talk Trayvon.<\/p>\n
At the event,\u00a0Professor Erica Meiners from Northeastern Illinois University expounded on her theory<\/a> that the \u201cweb of interconnected histories and contexts that made it possible for George Zimmerman to shoot Trayvon Martin and walk away cannot be separated from white supremacy, colonialism, heteromasculinity, and capitalism.”<\/p>\n Soon after, the University of Oklahoma on Aug. 29 hosted a panel<\/a> dubbed simply \u201cAfter Trayvon.\u201d It kicked off with a spoken word presentation called \u201cI Am That Ni**er,\u201d performed by a student.<\/p>\n Topics broached by professors on the seven-member panel included \u201cWho was on Trial? Martin or Zimmerman?” \u201cWanted Dead or Alive? The Perilous World of Black Boys and Men,\u201d and \u201cImplicit Bias and Micro-Aggressions,\u201d among other subjects.<\/p>\n About a week later, over at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, another Trayvon Martin panel <\/a>took place. This one included an attorney, Lewis Unglesby, who told the crowd: \u201cI remember hearing someone say \u2018This case is not about race and not about guns.\u2019 \u2026 Well hell yes it is, it\u2019s only about those two things. What else is it about? Children and lollipops and Skittles?\u201d<\/p>\n Another panelist, associate law professor Donald Tibbs, added: \u201cYou know, people say the \u2018Trayvon Martin case,\u2019 which is not even a case really \u2026 because he was shot and killed in the street, but Zimmerman, he got a case.\u201d<\/p>\n The very next day at Washington University in St. Louis, the panel<\/a> discussion \u201cConversations on Gender and Blackness in the Age of Trayvon Martin\u201d opened up the school\u2019s African-American studies fall colloquium series. It was hosted under the larger theme of \u201c50 Years Since the March on Washington: Reflections on Then and Now.\u201d<\/p>\n In mid-September, Arizona State University kicked off a two-part panel series dedicated to Martin. Part one<\/a>, hosted Sept. 11, was titled \u201cThe People vs. Zimmerman: Race, Symbolism and Violence.\u201d The panel explored \u201cracial stereotypes and biases in America from historical and modern perspectives\u201d and aimed to help \u201ccombat the ever present prejudices and hatred found both domestically and abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n Hosted by ASU\u2019s Center for the Study on Race and Democracy, the second<\/a> Trayvon Martin panel will tackle \u201cthe intersection between race and law in the United States.\u201d That\u2019s set for Oct. 23.<\/p>\n Last week, the University of Arkansas\u2019 Center for Multicultural and Diversity Education kicked off its new \u201cDiverse Perspectives dialogue series\u201d with a Trayvon Martin review<\/a>. University of Arkansas senior Chris Caver told the campus<\/a> newspaper the discussion \u201creally stressed disadvantages African Americans still face in the judicial system.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to the panels, other displays of university-based affection have included in early September Alabama State University\u2019s marching band\u2019s <\/a>spelling out of \u201cTRAYVON\u201d during its football game halftime show. It was reportedly done as a show of solidarity.<\/p>\n And Florida Atlantic University this semester launched<\/a> a new elective that aims to take a critical look at the state\u2019s \u201cStand Your Ground\u201d law. It\u2019s taught by an assistant public defender. Another Trayvon Martin course debuted this semester at George Mason University\u00a0called<\/a> \u201cRace and Politics, Trayvon Martin.\u201d<\/p>\n Late last week, a University of Maryland official decried the Trayvon Martin shooting as evidence that, in his words<\/a>, \u201cit is legal to hunt down and kill American children in Florida.\u201d It was the way the scholar kicked of an emailed invite\u00a0for students to come\u00a0hear former NAACP chairman Julian Bond speak.<\/p>\n Jennifer Kabbany is associate editor of The College Fix.<\/em><\/p>\n Click here to LIKE The College Fix<\/em> on Facebook<\/a> \/ TWITTER: @CollegeFix<\/a><\/p>\n IMAGE: Werth Media<\/p>\n