No matter what side of the fence people stand on regarding George Zimmerman’s guilt or innocence in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, I thought there was one thing that was understood across the board: His death was a tragedy. That obviously isn’t the case from a new trend that’s popped up on the web mocking the 17-year-old’s murder.
Following in the footsteps of other ridiculous pose trends like planking and owling is the most disturbing and disrespectful of them all: Trayvoning. Photos have surfaced on the Internet of teenagers—all white from what I’ve seen so far—laying on the ground in hoodies as though they’re dead with a can of iced tea in one hand and a bag of skittles in the other, mocking the items the slain teenager purchased from a corner store minutes before he was shot and killed.
What’s even more disturbing is there are Trayvoning Facebook pages where these individuals are posting their pictures and asking people to share and like the page to increase its popularity. So far, there are only 24 likes on one and 67 on the other, but that’s still 91 too many. On one page it’s clear from the comments that the participants think this is a fun and cool thing to do, the other seems to have a backward goal of raising awareness which really isn’t warranted at this point and definitely can’t be achieved in this way. I can’t think of anyone’s murder—black or white—that has ever been mocked in such a disrespectful way and this act is just further proof that it’s impossible for America to see a black boy as a victim.
I get that social media sort of changes the sensitivity rules in some ways but we’re still talking about a death and I highly doubt any of these people were rallying in their cities or pushing for charges to be brought against Zimmerman. They’re trying to make a joke out of something tragic and it’s just not funny. I personally reported these pages on Facebook and anyone who comes across them should too. We can’t stop these fools from posing and taking pictures but we can stop it from spreading on social media.
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Following in the footsteps of other ridiculous pose trends like planking and owling is the most disturbing and disrespectful of them all: Trayvoning. Photos have surfaced on the Internet of teenagers—all white from what I’ve seen so far—laying on the ground in hoodies as though they’re dead with a can of iced tea in one hand and a bag of skittles in the other, mocking the items the slain teenager purchased from a corner store minutes before he was shot and killed.
What’s even more disturbing is there are Trayvoning Facebook pages where these individuals are posting their pictures and asking people to share and like the page to increase its popularity. So far, there are only 24 likes on one and 67 on the other, but that’s still 91 too many. On one page it’s clear from the comments that the participants think this is a fun and cool thing to do, the other seems to have a backward goal of raising awareness which really isn’t warranted at this point and definitely can’t be achieved in this way. I can’t think of anyone’s murder—black or white—that has ever been mocked in such a disrespectful way and this act is just further proof that it’s impossible for America to see a black boy as a victim.
I get that social media sort of changes the sensitivity rules in some ways but we’re still talking about a death and I highly doubt any of these people were rallying in their cities or pushing for charges to be brought against Zimmerman. They’re trying to make a joke out of something tragic and it’s just not funny. I personally reported these pages on Facebook and anyone who comes across them should too. We can’t stop these fools from posing and taking pictures but we can stop it from spreading on social media.
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are you fucking for real right now
Jesus Christ, this is terrible.
Jesus christ, I'm quitting the universe.
What in the holy fuck did I just read.
i hate that there are people stupid enough to do this, but they aren't stupid enough to do it on a busy highway during rushhour.
What the ever loving shit.
Douchebags.
And someone tell me I'm not the only one who saw those pictures and felt the strongest urge to stomp on their heads, since they'd so kindly laid them down on the ground for me.
Sick bastards.
Gonna throw up now.