Chanting At The Trayvon Martin Million Hoodies March

Edited by Azizi Powell

Trayvon Martin's parents enter Union Square. ONE MILLION HOODIES March.



Uploaded by kbee on Mar 22, 2012

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This is Part I of a two part series on chants used during the March 22, 2012 Trayvon Martin Million Hoodies March in New York City, New York.

Part I of this series showcases three selected videos of that march and provides text documentation of the chants from those videos. Part I also includes my overview of the structural types of chants used during those marches

Part II focuses on chants from the Trayvon Martin Million Hoodies March that were reported in news reports & tweets. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/03/chanting-at-trayvon-martin-million_24.html for Part II of this series.

These posts are provided for their historical, folkloric, educational, and motivational values.

This two part series isn't meant to be a comprehensive report of every chants that was used during the Trayvon Martin Million Hoodies March. However, I believe that these posts provide a good representation of the themes used for the marches' chants and of the types of chants that were used.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/03/chanting-at-trayvon-martin-march-rally.html for the related pancocojams post on "Chanting At Trayvon Martin March & Rally In Sanford, Florida".

My thanks to all those who organized and participated in that march. My thanks also to the video uploaders.

RIP Trayvon Martin, and all others who have died because of racial profiling.

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TYPES OF CHANTS
The participants in the Trayvon Martin Million Hoodies March appeared to use three types of chants. In descending order of usage with #1 being the most often used, it appears to me from my review of a number of videos and news reports, and from reading a long tweet report of that march, that those types of chants used were
1. unison repeating one word or a phrase
Example: "Justice For Trayvon!"

2. call & response repeating a word or words
A person says the first part of the chant, and others respond back to him or her with the second part of the chant.
Example:
Caller- "Tray"
Responders- "Von"

3. unison repeating a rhyming verse
Example: “The cops
The court
The Klu Klux Klan
They all are part of
the Marxist Plan”

I only came across three other examples of a rhyming chant that was reported from this march. Those examples are given in Part II of this series. However, since I have not reviewed every news report, video, or tweet feed about the Million Hoodie March, there may indeed be other examples of rhyming chants that were used during that march.

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SELECTED VIDEOS

Video #1: Trayvon Martin's parents enter Union Square. ONE MILLION HOODIES March.*
This video is posted at the top of this page.

"ONE MILLION HOODIES MARCH. Trayvon Martin's parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, enter Union Square in New York to speak to the crowd. 21 March 2012"

*"Hoodies" is a American vernacular referent for a hooded sweatshirt

[Chant – “Justice 4 Trayvon”]

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Video #2: Million Hoodies March for Trayvon Martin , Reactions - Union Square, New York City



Uploaded by AllThingsHarlem on Mar 22, 2012
Interviews and reactions to the Million Hoodies March for Trayvon Martin at Union Square, New York City on March 21, 2012.

The turnout for Trayvon Martin was huge. The voices of our youth were loud and clear "we are all Trayvon Martin." We no longer need to feel like lone voices crying in the wilderness, our youth have come, the people are awakening. Death to ignorance and inhumanity!

[Chant: "We Are All Trayvon Martin."]

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Video #3:Trayvon Martin 1,000,000 Hoodies March with The Source



Uploaded by thesourcemagazine1 on Mar 22, 2012

-snip-
Examples of chants in this video:
“We all are one”
[This is sung more than chanted.]

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"Do I look suspicious?

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"Do I fit the profile?"

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"Justice!
(Now!)
Justice!
(Now!)"

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A call & response chant with the response given in parenthesis:
"Tray
(Von!)
Tray
(Von!)"

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"Justice for Trayvon!"

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This is the end of Part I of this post. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/03/chanting-at-trayvon-martin-million_24.html for Part II of this series.

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My prayers go to the family and friends of Trayvon Martin & to the family and friends of others who have died because of racial profiling.

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Viewer comments are welcome.