JACKSONVILLE, FL—My name is Justice Toure' and I'm 10 years old and sell The Burning Spear newspaper.
I started this job because of my mama, who homeschools me, but I really think I sell this paper because of Troy Davis.
When I was almost 5 years old, Troy would call us on the phone on the weekend because my mama was helping Troy's sister, Martina, to get his freedom.
When Troy called us he would tell me "don't ever go to jail, it's not a good place for anybody."
He was executed last year and everyone knows that was wrong, even the Pope.
People that buy the newspaper from me are mostly people who have their own shops, like Caribbean restaurants, African supermarkets, reggae stores, beauty salons and barber shops and a lot of guys at the flea market that sell teeth grills, clothes, incense, oils, music, sneakers and haircuts.
They always give me advice on how to be a good businessman.
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My mama lets me sell the papers at our events for the New Jim Crow Movement that is fighting to stop the "cradle to prison" pipeline.
I sold papers at Trayvon Martin's events because I am a young black boy.
I sold papers at Marissa Alexander's events because her two kids are like me and my sister, YaYa, because we would not like it if our mama was in jail for 20 years and she did not even hurt anyone.
I also sold at Mumia Abu-Jamal's birthday in Washington, DC, because Philly and those police were wrong for putting Mumia on death row, and now the city is in trouble.
Cristian Fernandez, who is almost my age, is real young to be in prison with grown-ups.
All of these people, except Mumia, are under Angela Corey, the state prosecutor in Jacksonville.
I think she thinks she is God.
I am only 10 and I know that there are racial disparities.
I have even been treated differently by teachers and adults because I am a black boy.
Most boys my age get scared when we know police come to our neighborhood.
Instead of feeling like we are protected by the police, we feel like they always watch us, like they want to attack us or kill us.
I've seen movies about Patrice Lumumba, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, who were killed.
They were our real African Heroes, not just made up movies.
Troy said that the prisons are for no one, but I say it should never be for black men and boys.
Emmett Till, a boy killed at my age, finally got justice.
Everybody says I've got a lot of work to do with a name like Justice.
I guess that's why I sell the Burning Spear.
