Trayvon Martin's Father Cleaning Up Gang-Related Past

Trayvon Martin's Father Cleaning Up Gang-Related Past

on Sun, 30 Jun 2013

If the apple supposedly doesn’t fall far from the tree, Trayvon Martin’s father Tracy has beenpruning his tree of his past to make sure his son’s image isn’t tarnished by it. Photos have emerged of Tracy Martin after his son’s death in which there is a tattoo on the side of his neck with an undefinable word; a later photo shows that tattoo was erased, replaced by a tattoo with two hands clasped in prayer. Other photos show Martin alternatively posing with a group that brandished the Crips gang finger signs or stood with a different group in front of raining dollar bills; both pictures featured Martin making a hand sign that The Conservative Tree Housesays are gang-related.

Martin recently told the black-interest blog The Root, “(y)ou can’t prepare your child to contend with the warped mentality of someone else. You can only teach them to be good and live by the laws of the land. George Zimmerman acted in a deranged way — and all the evidence supports that. I know how society negatively portrays black boys, and my son Trayvon wasn’t naive. He wasn’t blind to stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. But I shouldn’t have to tell my child to fear walking to the store to get snacks just because he’s black.”