Father’s Day Video From Trayvon Martin’s Dad, Tracy: Stand for Our Sons. Plus: Stop “Stop and Frisk.”

As news organizations obsess over the sordid details and bald-faced lies George Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, told a judge about the blood money he collected from supporters who think it’s perfectly okay to shoot and kill unarmed black boys, Trayvon Martin’s dad, Tracy, is preparing to spend his first Father’s Day without his son. But instead of grieving alone, he’s created a video asking fathers to stand together to protect their sons from needless violence and fight to change the controversial “Stand Your Ground” law that Zimmerman is hiding behind to justify killing young Trayvon.

Tracy’s video comes just days after he appeared before a special governor-appointed Florida state task force charged with reviewing the “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law, which allows ordinary citizens to use deadly force if they feel they are in danger. Tracy and Trayvon’s mom, Sybrina Fulton, asked the 19-member panel of prosecutors, lawmakers and law enforcement officials to create a “Trayvon Martin Amendment” that would make it harder for someone who starts a fight to end it with deadly force. “You cannot initiate a confrontation and then turn around and say you are standing your ground,” said Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump, no doubt referencing that prosecutors (and pretty much anyone else with sense) believe Zimmerman stalked Trayvon as he walked through the neighborhood, chased him, picked a fight, then killed the unarmed teen when he fought back.

Tracy’s video also comes as the NAACP, faith and labor groups and community organizations like Malik Fraternity, Inc., come together on Father’s Day for a silent march protesting New York’s ridiculous “Stop and Frisk” policy, which allows cops to stop, question, and pat down anyone they suspect might have committed or is about to commit a crime. I’m 99.9 percent positive I don’t have to tell you who is most affected by this city-sanctioned racial profiling policy, but I’ll do it anyway: a recent analysis by the New York Civil Liberties Union revealed that 4 MILLION New Yorkers  have been subjected to police stops and interrogations—on the street, in their apartment buildings, in taxi cabs and basically anywhere a human being can breathe—and 87 percent of those tossed up against walls are black and Latino and young. Meaning African American and Latino boys, teens and young men are being terrorized by the NYPD. With the mayor’s blessing and insistence.

To call attention to the appalling “Stop and Frisk” policy and work together to abolish it, black men will hold a silent march on 110th Street, between 5th Avenue and Lennox Avenue in New York City. “Let’s stand together to show that New Yorkers refuse to let our children be victimized by racial profiling,” the organizers say in a flyer circulating on Facebook. Amen to that!

Below, please find Tracy Martin’s video calling on fathers to help overturn the “Stand Your Ground” law that could let George Martin get away with killing Trayvon Martin. Also, check out this New York Times documentary on one young New Yorker’s tussle with New York’s “Stop and Frisk” policy, which he faced down a whopping 60 times before age 18. Please make no mistake about it: both of these government-approved policies are interconnected and overwhelmingly affect what is most precious to us: our brown babies. Help these fathers stand for our families: spread the word, send a letter, show up to a hearing, attend the march, write about it on your blogs. Let’s do our part to protect our children.

1. Lawyer: Zimmerman Raised More Than $200,000 After Killing Trayvon—the New American Way?
2. His Bail Revoked, George Zimmerman Is Back In Jail Where He Belongs: Justice4Trayvon
3.Teenager Killed in Florida by Neighborhood Watch Brings Terror To My Heart
4. George Zimmerman Charged In Trayvon Martin’s Death: Justice For Black Children