06/03/2026
Yesterday’s verdict in the case involving Cyrus Carmack-Belton reminds me of the first time I ever heard about a Black child being killed and the people responsible walking away without accountability: Trayvon Martin.
I remember being young and trying to make sense of how a child could lose his life and somehow become the one put on trial in the court of public opinion. I remember the outrage, the heartbreak, and the promises that things would change.
Yet here we are, years later, having the same conversations. Different names. Different circumstances. The same feeling that Black children are too often denied the innocence, protection, and justice that society extends so readily to others.
From Trayvon Martin to Cyrus Carmack-Belton , the years between these tragedies should have represented progress. Instead, they feel like a painful reminder of how little value is placed on Black childhood when accountability is absent.
What hurts most is the pattern. The normalization. The way people move on while families are left with empty seats at dinner tables and communities are left carrying grief that never fully heals.
Black children deserve to grow up. They deserve safety. They deserve the benefit of the doubt. They deserve justice. And every verdict that seems to say otherwise sends a message that many of us are tired of hearing.
I refuse to become numb to it.
