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| Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune Paul and Jeanne Miller with their son, Jeremy, 16, in front of their home in Flossmoor, Ill., on Friday, March 23, 2012. |
Published: Saturday, March 24, 2012, 9:15 PM
Updated: Saturday, March 24, 2012, 9:26 PM
CHICAGO -- When their son was about to enter his teens, Paul and Jeanne Miller of Flossmoor, Ill., decided it was time to have the talk.
As a black male, they told him, some people will make judgments about you and view you with suspicion based solely on your race.
Recently, as Jeremy, 16, was preparing to get his driver's license, his father told him what to do if he were ever stopped by police: Keep your hands visible on the steering wheel at all times. And when he asked to take part in "Assassins," a popular suburban game where teens stalk each other with air soft guns, his parents' answer was an unequivocal no, lest someone mistake the toy that fires plastic bullets for a real weapon.
The story of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin's death in Sanford, Fla., a suburb of Orlando, has struck a particularly sensitive chord with black parents such as the Millers, many of whom said they live with a nagging fear that their teenage boys could be harassed or attacked.
"We live in a fairly affluent interracial neighborhood with fantastic people who don't see color, but I know there are people out there who do," said Paul Miller. "I constantly tell him 'Don't forget you're black.' I don't want him to run into that guy who does see color one day when he's walking down the street."
Martin was shot to death last month by a man on a neighborhood watch patrol who confronted the black teenager because he thought he looked suspicious in the gated community. Martin, who was unarmed, was walking back to his father's house after going to the store for a can of tea and candy.
George Zimmerman claimed he acted in self-defense when he shot Martin, and was not charged in the shooting. READ MORE
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