Vol. 76/No. 18      May 7, 2012

Printed below is a message protesting the murder of Trayvon Martin sent to the Justice for Trayvon Martin Foundation on behalf of participants in the 8th Nicolás Guillén International Colloquium and Festival of Music and Poetry held in Havana, Cuba, April 2-6. The conference marked the 110th anniversary of the birth of Nicolás Guillén, Cuba’s national poet. Guillén was black and much of his poetry highlights the African roots of Cuban culture.

Justice for Trayvon Martin!

In 1955, another child—Emmett Till—was murdered in the U.S. South. That year, Nicolás Guillén wrote an Elegy that began: “In North America/ the mariner’s rose/ has its southern petal stained with blood.” Today the South turns red again, with the treacherous murder of Trayvon Martin, a black student, only 17 years old, attacked without cause by a self appointed “neighborhood watchman” in Sanford, Florida, who has not been charged for such a hideous crime. The event that led Guillén to say in 1955: “A dead child, murdered, alone/ black,” has been repeated, almost 60 years later, in a society that claims to be a model of democracy and justice.

The participants in the Eighth Nicolás Guillén Conference and Festival of Music and Poetry,” held in Havana, April 2-6 of this year, demand that the U.S. government and the responsible authorities arrest and prosecute George Zimmerman, the murderer of Trayvon Martin, and stop all racist attacks in that country, which are protected by laws that seek to justify them.

We also want to extend to Trayvon’s family and to the Black community in the United States our solidarity and our commitment to continue fighting against any manifestation of racism, discrimination, and exclusion.
 
 
Related articles:
Trayvon Martin killing sparks fight against pro-vigilante law
Event recalls Harry Moore, Black rights fighter in Florida
Illinois rally protests killing by cops
Conference discusses legacy of struggle by blacks in Cuba
Havana event takes up fight against discrimination  
 
 
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