Ta-Nehisi Coates has published a story in The Atlantic that should be required reading for every citizen; as a matter of fact I would be fine with it being a requirement to prove that you have read it to vote in any election in this country.
At taste:
The moment Obama spoke, the case of Trayvon Martin passed out of its national-mourning phase and lapsed into something darker and more familiar—racialized political fodder. The illusion of consensus crumbled. Rush Limbaugh denounced Obama’s claim of empathy. The Daily Caller, a conservative Web site, broadcast all of Martin’s tweets, the most loutish of which revealed him to have committed the unpardonable sin of speaking like a 17-year-old boy. A white-supremacist site called Stormfront produced a photo of Martin with pants sagging, flipping the bird. Business Insider posted the photograph and took it down without apology when it was revealed to be a fake.
It only takes a few minutes to read it; take the time, you will be glad you did. It will take longer to digest it; I am still working on that. As a middle aged white guy I think it is going to take some time, but I am working on it.