Dear Trayvon,
I wish we could’ve met, because I would love to have known the muse behind me wanting to become a lawyer and the inspiration that made me want to save Black men more than I want to save myself at times. I think it’s ironic how my platform is geared towards saving Black men from mass incarceration and police brutality, but I haven’t had a Black man save me. I guess your passion is where your pain is.
I thank you, for allowing your story to resonate within me. I thank you, for making me believe in something bigger than myself. It shook me, terrified me – how could he do that to you? Trayvon you planted a seed in me, a seed that I knew wasn’t going to end with a conversation I had on the couch with my mother and my sisters. I knew that this seed would grow into something way deeper than social media coverage, and wearing black on your birthday. I knew I would have to go college, go to law school, pass the BAR in Florida – everything that I was willing to do because I know that there is a purpose.
There were some before you, some after you, even my own cousin, but your story was different. It was February 26th, 2012, you just turned 17 two weeks earlier; I was 15, this was different for me. The way people marched for you, the way they handled your case, the charges they gave him knowing that it would be impossible to prove, they set you up. But, I knew you needed me and I needed you. I knew that this shouldn’t be happening to people who look like me, and to people who are in the same age range as me. I knew they told us that we were inferior but I knew that it wasn’t said because it was true, it was said to cripple us. They wanted us to believe that we weren’t big or smart enough to change a system that never protected us in the first place.
But they must’ve thought we didn’t protect each other either. They should’ve been scared of the fire they created because now they have young professionals risking their lives and positions for the sake of justice. I wish I could’ve met you. You know you’re an Aquarius and so is J.Cole, And if you don’t know me and J.Cole are married, and just like me, he too was shook by this situation. We probably would’ve been great friends because Gemini’s and Aquarius get along well. I’m going to tell my future son about you, and make sure to let him watch your story from beginning to end I think he would love to know the inspiration behind himself as well, and my future husband probably will get tired of hearing my cases, but he will be proud to know its a Black woman still rooting for him and fighting for him when he doesn’t have the ability to.
Black men, are so powerful but somewhere between the drugs, the guns, and the lack of education the power starts to diminish and you kings suddenly forget your worth. Trayvon I wish we could’ve met, but then again I’m glad we didn’t because your death has sparked a change in me, it gave me a reason to fight, a reason to voice my opinion, I hope you’re proud in the end. I hope you understand how much weight your name holds in history, I hope you understand that your crown didn’t fall off the day you died, you’re still a king, Black man no matter how many different pictures the media tries to paint.
-Love your sis Yinde