Justice For Trayvon, No Justice For Agents Terry And Zapata By M. Catharine Evans
People Magazine has an angelic-looking Trayvon Martin on its cover this week with the headline "An American Tragedy." I agree. Whenever a mother loses a child, it's a tragedy.
So I searched People's archives for cover photos of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jaime Zapata. Both died in service of their country, both killings involved questionable circumstances, and both Mrs. Zapata and Mrs. Terry are still waiting for answers a year later.
Despite the volatile and controversial circumstances surrounding the slayings of Terry and Zapata, my search turned up zero cover stories at People. None.
Even worse, while I perused the magazine's old online articles, the evening news was on in the background. Al Sharpton was speaking from Sanford, Florida, where 17-year-old Trayvon Martin died in February. Thousands of protesters with signs that read "Justice for Trayvon" gathered to hear Sharpton condemn officials for the lack of information regarding the shooting.
Jesse Jackson, who also attended, said "there is a meanness in our country today."
NAACP president Ben Jealous, who organized the march, shouted that "we're here to save our sons."
Bernard Simelton, president of the Alabama state conference of the NAACP, said things happen like this in Alabama, too, where people get killed and the "police just sweep it under the rug. It just touches everyone."
How moving. Too bad Mr. and Mrs. Zapata, whose son could have been saved if not for the cover-up of a dangerous gun-trafficking operation, can't get any information. It's been only one month for Martin; it's been over a year for the Zapatas.
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