What has changed in the year since Trayvon Martin’s death? Let’s see.

Although the anniversary of Martin’s death was last week, it wasn’t until this month last year that the story made its way into the national spotlight.

I wrote about the story at the end of March and wanted to reflect this year around the same time. However, this reflection couldn’t wait until the end of March again.

Too much has occurred.

It’s sad to say that while Martin himself will never be forgotten, his case has been reduced to one of the many gun tragedies that have overwhelmed the American public in the last year. And while racism was the original focus, it is clear that this is no longer the main issue.

Bullets do not have a preference in whom they target.

On Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Fla., the 17-year-old African-American was walking home from a convenience store when he was shot by self-proclaimed neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman. For quite some time, Zimmerman remained a free man, and because he is of Caucasian and Hispanic descent, the story quickly catapulted race issues into the national conversation. Many argued that if the altercation had been of a black man attacking a white man, Martin himself would have been quickly apprehended and reprimanded for his transgressions. Or even if Martin was white and the suspect black, the police would have attempted to do more to bring justice to the killer. 

The case seems so distant, but thinking back on it I remember how outraged people were. I also remember how outraged I was.

There were numerous protests and vigils around the country, including on this campus, in which marchers demanded justice for Martin and called for the arrest of Zimmerman. Many stood in solidarity with his family by wearing hooded sweatshirts at these protests and posted Facebook pictures of themselves in their hoods.

I too remember participating in one of the protests on campus and strived to shed light on the issue by making it the focus of one of my weekly online blogs. My blog echoed the tune of many and stated that the story of Martin had to be perceived as a race issue. I wrote, “The Trayvon Martin story only hints at an underlying theme of racism but it reveals a failing justice system, which is supposed to equally serve its citizens regardless of skin color.” 

My involvement with the story continued, and I kept researching the issue. Many critics of the case had went as far as to equate Zimmerman’s killing of Martin with the 1955 death of Emmett Till, a young African-American Chicago native lynched in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman. My findings went on to conclude that while an equal comparison may not be appropriate, both cases clearly have racial aspects involved.

But a lot has changed since 1955 and even since February 2012. And though upset by the initial context of the Martin case, this past year has shown that race is only a minor element of a huge national problem.

Understand that I am not going back on my research findings, nor am I changing my stance on Martin’s case. However, it is important to see the bigger picture.

In this last year, we have watched many different scenarios regarding gun violence play out. Unfortunately, many of them have had the same ending, regardless of the skin color of the person in front of or behind the trigger. The many different cases that have occurred have shown that bullets don’t aim for specific races.

In that movie theater in Aurora, Colo., the bullets didn’t particularly care about the color of the person they hit. And in Newtown, Conn., the bullets showed no mercy as they took away innocent schoolchildren.

In Chicago, the bullets are constantly flying as the death toll seems to do nothing but rise each day. The death toll in January reached 42, one of the deadliest starts to the year in over a decade.  

Many will argue about what gun cases receive news coverage, but the truth is that it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if it’s a white-on-black crime or vice versa. 

Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Martin and has pleaded not guilty and claimed self-defense. This time last year, I was confident and hoped that Martin would receive justice. I thought we would learn from his story. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. At the beginning of this column, I asked what has changed in the year since Martin’s death. Sadly, the answer is nothing.

Ta’les is a senior in Media. She can be reached at [email protected].