I am Aliyah Shell

My facebook is filling up with students and former students making comments in support of Trayvon Martin - that he was a good student, that he was active in his church, etc. I know very little about Trayvon except that I think the gun escalated whatever was happening that night. The only person who really knows is Zimmerman.

I believe in the judicial process so he is innocent until proven guilty.

So, before the defense has started, before the prosecution has finished, a group of people are inciting riots, saying they are going to riot if the trial doesn't go the way they think it should. (I particularly loved the comment from one person that he had a list of stores where his riot would start. Huh?)

I delete these from FB - it is inappropriate.

I want to comment (if I could without starting an argument) that I could take this more seriously if we knew why Trayvon had been suspended for 10 days. In my school, that is usually the step before a tribunal and expulsion.

I could take it more seriously if there were the same outrage over the death of Aliyah Shell (here and here).

I could take it more seriously if there were the same outrage over the death of Antonio Santiago and the relatives who tried to cover up for the shooter.

I think Trayvon gets more press because the teenagers identify with him. But I think they should look at the other shootings and think.

When I was in high school we had to collect 50 articles about traffic accidents and write about the cause of each. (This was the year before most of us got our licenses). Maybe we should require kids to collect articles about shootings involving teenagers and analyze them. Doubt it would be possible.

I don't think this has anything to do with race and everything to do with priorities, rational thinking, consequences. I have no idea how to word it.