In the small town of Cash, Mississippi, a 14 year old black boy, Emmett Till, visiting from Chicago, was accused of making untoward advances on a white woman. Chances are that he was whistling while black in the wrong neighborhood. Beaten and lynched, Till’s lifeless body was thrown from the Tallahatchie bridge. His life inspired, among others, Rosa Parks who soon refused to surrender her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
Trayvon Martin was visiting Sandford, Florida, where his father’s fiance lives. Accused of “being up to no good,” chances are he was shot for being black while taking a shortcut through the wrong neighborhood. He was returning home with some skittles and a coke. As in the case of Till’s murder, no one has yet been brought to justice for Martin’s slaying. As of now, the buses still run in Montgomery.