Trayvon Martin and Mark Duggan

Bill Crane compares the workings of the justice system for Trayvon Martin in the US and Mark Duggan in the UK – and notes the role of “colourblind” ideology to prop up racism in both cases.

As an American who moved to Britain four months ago, I saw similarities between the cases of Trayvon Martin and Mark Duggan as soon as I began reading about the latter after arriving here. I read how, like Trayvon, Mark was immediately suspect – and portrayed as a gangster and thug – because of the colour of his skin. I read how Mark Duggan had been transformed from a loving father and peacekeeper in his community to a monster, a gang-banger with drug convictions and robbery convictions by a media eager to justify his murder

► Read “Trayvon Martin and Mark Duggan” here.