Growing Up Black in America

Growing Up Black in America

What does it mean to be a young black male in the United States?

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Three high schoolers, who, like Trayvon Martin was, are young, black and male, joined Melissa Harris-Perry on her show this weekend to share their experiences growing up in New York. They describe the steps they’ve taken to avoid discrimination and profiling, stories of being targeted by police, and their thoughts on the chilling reality of being a black male in America. One of the young men, Diallo McClammy, explains that he wears exactly what Trayvon Martin used to. "That could have been me," he says.

—Elizabeth Whitman 

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Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

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