Trayvon Martin, Then and Now

I have from the very beginning off this sordid affair, complained of the journalistic malpractice of the MSM in continually trying to portray Trayvon Martin as the most innocent of youths. The government joined in this fiction, as well. Throughout the trial, the prosecution referred to Trayvon as a "child", a "boy on his way home", etc.

While the early pictures of Trayvon as a young teen, almost a choir boy in appearance, may have been excusable in the first day or two of the incident, when information and resources can be quite sketchy, and perhaps none others were available, it is inexcusable in continually referring to Martin as anything other than a young man, which, indeed he was. While I was the youngest child in my family, it is perfectly acceptable for my Mother to refer to me as her "baby", but if the NYT does so in a news story, it would be journalistic malpractice.

Compare the picture of Trayvon used on People magazine to the one Trayvon himself posted on social media:


At what point does it become incumbent on the news media to provide current photos to illustrate their stories?

It is shameful to try to play upon people's emotions by trying to portray Trayvon as a helpless child. Were Trayvon alive to hear it, he would no doubt be indignant over it. Perhaps, even become belligerent over it! Trayvon's supporters do him no honor in pretending he was something other than he was. Can't a seventeen year old "child" even join the military if he has his parents' permission? Can seventeen year old "children" be tried as adults when they commit adult crimes? Get real.

Time to end the fiction. Trayvon was a young adult, one who may or may not have may some bad choices in his life. Regardless of George Zimmerman's guilt or innocence, Trayvon Martin was no choir boy. It is dishonest to imply otherwise.