Grand Rapids , Michigan ( CNN ) -- As the rallies for Trayvon Martin grow , as the media coverage surrounding the tragedy deepens and as the calls for justice get louder , we all must remember one thing : Revenge and justice are not the same thing . The $ 10,000 bounty issued by the New Black Panther Party for the capture of Trayvon 's shooter , George Zimmerman , might feel justified given what we know of the shooting death . But it is not a call for justice . It is a call for revenge . When the group 's leader , Mikhail Muhammad , calls for `` an eye for an eye , a tooth for a tooth , '' it is a call for revenge . Muhammad 's words at a rally -- `` If the government wo n't do the job , we 'll do it '' -- might feel empowering , might feel good . But that sentiment flies in the face of every call for justice that was made as well at that rally . Anyone who is considering taking Muhammad up on his offer , or even embarking on a solitary journey of revenge should , to quote the Chinese philosopher Confucius , `` dig two graves. '' Â . Nothing good can come from a bunch of vigilantes hunting down and possibly harming another vigilante , regardless of how noble the motivation for doing so may appear on the surface . As angry as I am , and as many of you are , what Muhammad is proposing can only make a bad situation worse . He needs to retract the bounty proposal immediately . Enough violence , and images of violence , surround this tragedy already . A `` war '' on stereotypes . The `` fight '' against racism . It feels as if we ca n't even discuss the issue of race as it relates to the Martin case without using words that are linked to violence . Nothing about the word `` war '' connotes healing . Very little about a bounty suggests togetherness . I 'm not just splitting hairs over semantics . It is science that suggests the words we use shape the way we think . And what we think is the precursor to what we do . If we continue to allow words of conflict to define the conversation about race and racial profiling , then I fear we will move on from this tragedy having learned absolutely nothing , like so many times before . I know many people think of Martin as a modern-day Emmett Till , the 14-year-old black kid from Chicago who was kidnapped and killed by a pair of racist white men in Mississippi in 1955 . I tend to see Martin as the new Ryan White , the young man who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1984 at the age of 13 . Before White 's story , the disease was in the public 's peripheral vision , truly discussed only by people who experienced its impact . But once a young , innocent face became associated with AIDS , the country 's attitude changed and we began addressing it more effectively . Â . Opinion : Trayvon 's killing and Florida 's tragic past . Similarly , racial profiling was something only those directly affected would talk about . But the Martin tragedy has the potential to change that -- if we let it . Earlier this week , Will Cain and I were guests of Don Lemon 's on CNN and quickly found ourselves in a heated discussion about whether it was appropriate for President Barack Obama to comment on the tragedy . Over the next eight minutes , we fought and argued over issues of race and racial profiling . We continued the conversation once the TV segment was over . We talked on the way to the CNN makeup room . We talked as we left the building , crossed the street and had a beer . My point is , we talked -- not in an effort to fight but to understand each other . To build something . We 're hardly the perfect example of race relations . In fact , both of us are constantly told via Twitter , Facebook and other social media just how racist we are . But we try to take each criticism with a grain of salt , understanding that at the end of the day , we 're just a couple of men , a couple of fathers who want the same thing : a better world for our kids . And I tend to believe we 're not the only ones . But we do n't get to that place through revenge , because revenge is cyclical and gets us nowhere . No , we get to that better world for our kids by walking the long linear line of justice , side by side , picking each other up when one falls , reaching a hand back when one gets tired , never forgetting that no matter how divergent our opinions might be from time to time , we 're in this thing together . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson .
New Black Panther Party 's bounty to capture Trayvon 's shooter is call for revenge . Comment: Bounty should be withdrawn : Revenge is not justice ; violence solves nothing . We use violent terms to discuss the tragedy , he says : War on stereotypes , fight against racism . LZ says revenge leads to more revenge , but justice will help build a better world .