EBONY magazine is making a statement with its September issue. The magazine is releasing four different covers declaring “We Are Trayvon.” The first features Martin’s family–Sybrina Fulton, Tracy Martin and their son Jahvaris Fulton. Three others versions featured director Spike Lee and his son, Miami Heat player Dwyane Wade with his sons, and actor Boris Kodjoe and his son. They all pose wearing hoodies. The issue includes an interview with the Martin family, and a look at how Lee, Wade and Kodjoe plan to talk to their sons about growing up as young black men in America. The right wing reacted quickly. Some conservative outlets castigated the magazine for taking the “easy” approach instead of grappling with the reality of violence committed by African-Americans. Responding to calls for a boycott of the issue, EBONY hit back with a pithy tweet of its own.
We have so many Tea Party readers and followers. To lose all zero of them due to our September cover would be devastating. — EBONY (@EBONYMag) August 7, 2013
Colin Jones