Joining a growing campaign to combat racism, members of the Osgoode Hall Law School community — including dean Lorne Sossin — today donned hoodies in memory of Trayvon Martin.
Martin, an unarmed black teen walking home from the store, was shot dead by George Zimmerman on Feb. 26 in Florida.
“Over the ensuing weeks, the pervading rhetoric has been that this would not have occurred if Trayvon was not wearing a hoodie. In response to this rhetoric, communities across North America have donned hoodies in memory of Trayvon and to trouble the notion that it was the hoodie that led to his death,” The Black Law Students Association at Osgoode said in a press release.
“As black law students, and as members of the broader Osgoode community, we encourage fellow members of the legal community to end impunity for racial profiling. Wearing a hoodie is not an invitation to shoot, or to investigate an individual and neither should their race. Today, we stand in solidarity with Trayvon and his family.”
The association noted that the “smear campaign” being waged against Martin speaks to the pervasiveness of racism in the American legal system.
