I believe that Trayvon Martin's life might well have been spared if many of us who care about racial justice had raised our voices much, much sooner and much, much more loudly about the routine stereotyping and profiling of young black men and boys.
I no longer believe that we can 'fix' the police, as though the police are anything other than a mirror reflecting back to us the true nature of our democracy.
All the old forms of discrimination, the forms of discrimination we supposedly left behind, are now perfectly legal once you've been labeled a felon.
After years as a civil rights lawyer, I rarely find myself speechless.
Discrimination in virtually every aspect of political, economic, and social life is now perfectly legal if you've been labeled a felon.
In this country, we force millions of people - who are largely black and brown - into a permanent second-class status simply because they once committed a crime.
