My name is Ursula Brantley and I'm a 26-year-old single mother from Shreveport, LA.
It was April 29, 1992 and the city of Los Angeles was in complete disarray. The entire black community had taken its last pimp slap to the face , and the reaction to the vivid abuse was pure anger and destruction. After four white police officers were acquitted of charges for the beating of African-American Rodney King, the city went haywire, breaking out into riots which left 53 dead, nearly 3,000 injured, and a trail of damage adding up to over $1 billion.
Fast forward 20 years, and instead of a grown man being the icon of racial tension, the symbol is now a young boy who wasn’t even yet legal, Trayvon Martin. In 1992, media coverage was nowhere near what it is now, so most of the black community’s education on social issues came from hip-hop artists. Now we get breaking news alerts sent straight to our smart phones. Cities and towns across America held protests to show their support for the young boy, who instantly became a part of our families. We all let our voices be heard, expressing our opinion about how 28-year-old George Zimmerman seemed to receive a free pass from the Sanford, Florida Police Department.
Everybody, including President Obama, had a thing or two to say about the case, but it was the hip-hop community and social networks that made Trayvon Martin such a viral phenomenon.