J Hill,
Canton, OH.
I am the proud mother of three children, two girls and a boy. They are all adults now. Every mother worries about her children. But I feel especially concerned for my son. He has done everything well so far in his life, entering his senior year in college, no kids, hardworking, respectful of his parents, kind. He is sweet, funny, smart, and well-spoken. But when the world looks at him, before he can open his mouth to present himself well, he is a young black male, a potential threat. Although I am trying to withhold judgment in the George Zimmerman trial, I often wonder what prompted him to call police in the first place. We live in a predominantly white neighborhood. When my son was home on break, he wanted to go out for a run early one morning. I discouraged him from running through our neighborhood, afraid someone would see a black man in sweats and a hoodie and mistake him for a criminal. It could literally cost him his life, and it won’t matter to anyone that he was my sweet, handsome son. The killer has a built-in excuse, because he looks “suspicious”. I pray for him every single day!
