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John Moore / Getty Images
Demonstrators chant in support of slain teenager Trayvon Martin at the Million Hoodies March on March 21, 2012 in New York City.
John Moore / Getty Images
Tracy Martin (left in orange shirt), and Sybrina Fulton,(R), parents of slain teenager Trayvon Martin, pray at a Million Hoodies March on March 21, 2012 in New York City.
Hundreds of protesters marched from Manhattan's Union Square, calling for justice in the killing of Trayvon Martin, 17, who was pursued and shot on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Florida by "neighborhood watch" member George Zimmerman, reportedly because the teenager's hoodie made him look suspicious.
Under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, Zimmerman has not been charged with a crime in the shooting.
A rally in Miami, closer to where the Sanford, Fla. shooting took place, was also held to show unity with Martin's family.
Related links:
- Trayvon Martin supporters urged to send Skittles to police chief
- Neighbor comes to defense of Trayvon Martin's shooter
- Nightly News: Outrage across US over Trayvon Martin shooting
Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Protesters hold cans of ice tea and Skittles which is what the 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is reported to have been carrying when he was killed by neighborhood watch person, George Zimmerman on February 26 in Sanford, Florida, on March 21, 2012 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle / Getty Images
People march together on March 21 as they show their unity with the family of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was killed on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla.
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You have two evils at work here. The hate-filled neighborhood watch guy who got out of his car and executed a young man and the racist cops who did not charge the murderer because he mad the encounter sound like self defense. Where is the investigation? Would things have gone this way if Zimmerman had followed and executed a cop? Would this have worked out the same way if a black man had executed a white kid in this manner? The word "unlikely" just doesn't seem anywhere near strong enough. The police chief and his lackeys need to be released from their jobs so they can do something they are qualified for: cleaning out-house holding tanks for example.
There is a long history of racial hatred in the South and I can see that Southerners have a long way to go before they can call themselves human.
The police have a lot of explaining to do. About a lot.
As a result of the police letting him go, Mr. Zimmerman was never arraigned before a judge who may have denied him bail based on danger to the community and risk of flight. The police knew that. The police let him go.
Where is Mr. Zimmerman?
This law was not meant to protect the aggressor of a situation, which Zimmerman clearly was. He didn't feel threatened until AFTER he got out of his vehicle and cornered the kid, who, by listening to his last phone call, was fearful for his life, which under Florida law, allows one to fight back against a threat to your life/safety. So what if he may have punched Zimmerman first - he is legally allowed to do so in this case. You can't start a fight, then pull out your gun and kill your opponent and claim self defense. If you started it, you take responsibility for your actions. Zimmerman fails to do so.
He deserves to spend some quality time with a cellmate that makes him his girlfriend.
What kind of sadistic monster would wish rape upon anyone?
One who needs to be in a cage himself. That's you.
The chief of police allowed the non arrest of Zimmerman here is a video of his son:
go to youtube and type in the name justin collison and select the first video in the list
3 fights in one night(sucker punches) and He is protected by His "Police of Chief" Father. Resign or get fired tommorow, YOUR CHOICE
Blood is on the hands of the Lawmakers that allowed this law to continue to be in effect.
really people !!!!!!! get off your soap box already!!!! if you dress getto you get getto !!!!!!
Did you even read the story, if so you're an idiot.
getto is getto !!!!!! weather your are black, white or tan.. IDIOT!!!!
Sugar and Spice and everything nice, Huh?
C'mon Kitty, have a heart. How threatening can a kid be with a bag of Skittles in one hand and a can of iced tea in the other be?
You're Cold Blooded, Ice Water in your veins or maybe a bad experience in your past.
Kitty - it's kind of "ghetto" not to know the difference between "weather" and "whether."
(You're probably a secret hoodie wearer.)
Wearing a hoodie is not ghetto. Ghetto is when you spell a word like "ghetto", g-e-t-t-o. Einstein.
What is getto? Your comment doesn't make any sense. Go back to school before you call someone else "ghetto".
It is truly a sad, sad thing when you can kill a child and the investigation is wrapped up before the next morning.
Innocent until PROVEN guilty.
Do you think He's innocent?
Trayvon should have been judged by the same standard...thats the point Kronkite.
Until there is a criminal charge and a trial by jury, no one can sit in judgement. That's the point, TreeHugger. It doesn't matter whether I think the man is guilty or not. Like it or not, that is our system of justice. Everyone should let it proceed on course and trust in a jury verdict if and when that time comes.
Regardless, it's a tragic story for the young man who lost his life.
There is no criminal charge, because the police refused to arrest a suspect. That does not mean guilt-free. Innocent before proven guilty applies AFTER a person has been arrested; in this case, you are saying that the police should not arrest ANYBODY for ANYTHING.
No, Elizabeth. That is not what I'm saying. If the police believe there is evidence that a crime was committed then they must make an arrest. The district attorney will determine if they believe the evidence available is significant enough to stand up in court to get to trial. And, then and only then, will a jury have an opportunity to evaluate the evidence and make a determination of guilt or innocence.
Since, at this point, all the public has to go on is information fed to them by various media outlets who, IMO are incapable of reporting facts without skewing the story one way or another, it is unfair to "judge" anyone or anything.
This does not change the fact that a young man lost his life. And, it is entirely possible that his life was taken by an act of murder. If that's the case, then let's all hope that the guilty party is brought to justice. To come to a conclusion that someone is guilty before there is a trial isn't the way our system works.
You are entitled to your opinion as is everyone else. In the end, the only opinion that will carry any weight is the opinion of a jury.
And now the police are changing evidence and erasing tapes: There needs to be a Federal investigation of this police department.
So Kitty in your assesment,if this was a non-minority kid in an NYU hooded sweatshirt walking down your street you would be equally flippant?
again, getto is getto !!! look around you!!???
wow...i better tell my blond haired, blue-eyed daughter to stop wearing hoodies to school. It's ghetto. For that matter, I better stop wearing them too. Maybe I should post flyers at school - sounds like it's dangerous. (Seriously...pull your head out of your ass.)
And someone should tell Hollister that hoodies are "ghetto." Maybe they'll charge less for them.
Everybody has been wearing hoodies for the last 45 years at least! I don't know what they wear in your city, but in most places in this country they are simply warm outer-wear.
Really? Hoodies are ghetto? I wear one as a light weather jacket..... I`m a 55 year old white female. I am anything but ghetto. You need to get your racist self to therapy.
This is very sad. I know Trayvon had to be scared. Minding your own business, walking home from the store. If this had happened to me at 17 I would have be terrified if somebody was following me and pulled out a gun. I wish someone who made one of the 911 calls had actually taken a step to intercede in the situation and there might have been a different outcome. I guess it's hard to say what you'd do in that situation until you're in it. But I'd like to think I'd have the courage to try and assist if someone was calling for help. I hope there is justice in the case and I know this family is suffering a great loss.
But the first thing guns kill is courage, because if he didn't see a neighbor clearly, he might have killed more people, and those people knew it. They were scared of him too; I wonder how he acts in the neighborhood. I have had a gun pointed at me; trust me, it is one of the most difficult things to face in your life.
Are you kidding? Zimmerman would have shot two people instead of one and claimed that both of them attacked him.
I'm sure you're probably right but I'd like to hope there are more people that would want to come to assist a person in need of help than to fear a coward with a gun. When you let fear stop you from standing up then it wins. I just would like to think, maybe it's naive, but I'd like to think there is more courage and good in the world than bad. Like I said I may sound naive but that is what I'd like to hope for.
I dont know Mr Zimmerman. Outside of his whole "Charles Bronson thing" he may be an OK guy. I do know that on the face of the matter he is wrong and should have at least been arrested & afforded his day in court. You can not just shoot people.
Well... I'm my city... shooting people is something that apparently is acceptable. And no, I will not get sucked into the race thing. It is what it is...
Thank God I live and work in the burbs...
The burbs? My parents lived for 50 years in an up-scale town, and across the street from them lived a man and his daughter who was schizophrenic. He didn't believe in meds for her, and he shut her in the house, but she would get out and threaten the neighbors. He also drove down the street at 50 in a residential neighborhood. It took a long time for the court system to hear the case, and they still only got promises from the father. Finally, the father died of a stroke (in public), and the ambulance came for the daughter to take her to live in the state mental institution. She had a lovely smile on her face.
You should be required to take anti-psychotics for one year before you are allowed to advocate forcing them on anyone else. I can guarantee that you would not advocate it then. On the other hand, you probably would not object to them, either, because your brain would be too fried to raise an objection. Do some research. You're dangerously ignorant.
Unruly mobs solve nothing, like the spoiled child that doesn't get what he/she wants. Just and level heads will and should prevail in this matter while all the shouting and chest thumping is just wasted effort! So drop the attitude and the mob mentality because we're starting to look like the Middle East!
The civil rights movement was not won by "just and level (white) heads" but by the shouting and chest thumping of the mob mentality.
Who is unruly? People are just tired of the criminal justice system taking the lives of young minority men for granted. There would not have been any rallies if the shooter had been arrested initially like he should have been. Inaction on the part of the police led to the unrest.
Then why is there not a "rally" in Chicago where this past weekend ten minorities were shot to death including a six year old year old girl? On top of that 39 others were wounded but all of this is overlooked because it isn't important and we certainly don't want to smear Obama's hometown. This country has such a double standard as we look at the mobs in Afghanistan and call them creatures out of the 13th century and there are factions of this civilized nation that behave in the same manner.
If not for the assistance of the media, legal council, celebrity politicians, and a whole lot of people (black ,white, and everything in between) on facebook & twitter Trayvons family would have gotten ZERO assistance from the local police and district attorneys office. FACT
Did I miss something? How can a “neighborhood watchperson” have the right to shoot someone in cold murder when he’s not actually defending himself or another who is directly in harm’s way? This is so wrong on too many levels!
He wasn't even a Neighborhood Watch Person. He appointed himself as a Captain in the Neighborhood Watch all by himself.
No Neighbor elected him, but that's not the point. From what I have read, he is nothing more then a Trigger Happy Vigilante who went way to far even after the Police told him not to pursue this kid...
Ted... you forgot to mention that George ZImmerman's father also said he's good boy...
Kind of reminds me of my teen years going deer hunting with high school buddies. Didn't see anything all day. By the end of the day they had to shoot "something". Did a lot of damage to road signs and cabins.
In my opinion, this is a case of a trigger happy Neighborhood Watch guy who was filled with anger and took it out on an innocent kid... an easy target representing people he dislikes. Shameless bastard!!!
I’d like our justice system to do its job at some point here…
Where do da riots be at?
Demonstrations are certainly needed; not riots that destroy property of the poor. There are marches, petitions, and write to the justice dept: whitehouse.gov
Demonstration do nothing to change racist attitudes. Nothing does. They have to go the way of the dinosaurs and die out. However, nothing is mightier than the green.....boycott the state of Florida, even for just one summer, and all of a sudden that stupid law will change and who knows the murders that have occurred since 2005 when it was passed my actually be revisited. Money does make the world go round.
As for Zimmerman..... he better have moved out of the country. Anyone who sees him on the street will feel threathened, call 911 to say that and then shoot him. Karma baby.
If they only got this upset about Black on Black violence..... So far all this is phony racist outrage based on no facts. People need to wait till all the facts are out.
Phony racist charge based on no facts? You can't be serious? A self-appointed neighborhood watch commander carrying a lethal weapon followed a young Black man armed with skittles and a can of iced tea through his neighborhood even after being told by the police not to, then gets out of his car with his gun, then confronts and shoots the young Black man who's understandably terrified by the gun-wielding creep who's stalking him.
How many more facts do you need to conclude that this was an unjustified, senseless killing by a racist, genius?
BOYCOTT FLORIDA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tourism is their bread and butter.
No Trial, No Disneyland!
It`s Disney World Ted. But also SeaWorld, Universal, Busch Gardens, Cypress Gardens, the Keys, the national parks, the beaches, and so forth and so on.
THE STAND ALONE LAW...By white Republicans
I see how this law works.
An armed, lets say, white supremacist sees a b l a c k guy in a hoody (or not, doesn't really matter). The b l a c k guy is just happens to be walking towards him going in the opposite direction. The white supremacist pretends that he is being threatened. He approached the b l a c k guy and says, stop, I'm calling the police (he has the police on speed dial).
While the white supremacist is on the phone, the b l a c k guy becomes frightened and began move quickly past the white supremacist. He shoots the b l a c k guy claiming self defense because he stood his ground but for an instant felt threatened, hence another legal justified killing of a b l a c k man.
Where is the outrage over the 19 year old black youth that was driving drunk and ran over and killed a beautiful white ballerina young women walking in a marked crosswalk.. The law states that he was not even legal to drink let alone be driving a weapon of such deadly force. I hate to say it but people will do stupid things, it does not make it right or just but as long as people walk this earth, than stupid things will happen. I wish everyone would stop playing the race game it is not doing anyone any good.
I am sure that the youth was charged with vehicular homicide, drunk driving, underage drinking, and given a prison sentence. Of course that situation was wrong.
The problem here is that nobody has been charged, arrested, or at all inconvenienced except the victim.
This and other anti-minority actions the TEA-GOP-Republican parties have made may make it easier for those who question the shooter's intent, to vote for president Obama in protest. The Black community has seen the hatred in Florida and many will vote for president Obama because they can. Make no mistake, the Terrifying Errant Activist(TEA) party are alive and thriving in local and state politics. The Tea Party has strongholds like Virginia, Colorado, Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida and Texas and want to lull the population to sleep while they maneuver their people into power. They are very active locally and control monies, local infrastructure and power. Everyone in America should get involved at the local level should take control locally and hold your politicians to account for everyone, not just the well-to-do, but everyone.
The tea party is funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, and they are able to do a lot of research, advertising, and they are pushing their way into many states. There are some tea party chapters whose members are entirely made up of people who are also members of a white supremacist organization, such as in Morristown, NJ.
I have to strongly disagree with you on your statement, I am not a Tea-Party activist but I am very conservative, I do not believe in big government and I do not believe that they have the answers to our problems. I feel states can take better care of their own if left alone and only given guidelines by the Feds. I think every person that can legally vote should vote and not vote for a party but vote for the person that they feel has theirs and their loved ones best interests in mind. I very much dislike the notion that one must vote party line…..I vote for the person that I feel would be best for our country whether it is Local, State or Fed office they are running for. I think people should educate themselves on the issues or person that want their vote and make a informed decision before giving their vote
@Concerned Citizen USA-3335498 while my own views side closer to liberal, I agree entirely with your view that one should not vote on a party, and instead vote for the person they believe, after research, holds their interests in view.
Now, on the subject of this case. What has happened here is a tragedy, but the law that Zimmerman is trying to hide behind is not applicable for this situation. This has been said by everyone, including the republican house member who pushed the bill forward. I will not judge Zimmerman as guilty, because I believe in innocence until proven guilty. I will say though, that the evidence points to him and the the police department has not only failed to do its duty, but has actively subverted its own purpose.
Better watch out Floridians...remember what happened with Rodney King...I see the same happening here.
If Zimmerman isn't charged with something I see riots in our country's future...sad but true.
I worry that the Grand Jury will indict Mr Zimmerman due to political pressure and then he somehow is acquitted by a sympathetic jury that hold similar biases toward young minority kids. It could truly get hot in Florida this summer and I'm not talking about global warming! Goodnight all; have to be up and at work at 7am so I wont be a "drag on the economy"...
Today the police department has changed the record which was the teen chased Zimmerman back to his car . . . and they have already edited the tape. The Police Chief has to resign.
No more discussion and no more explanation are needed. Prejury and falsifying records are manifested as the police department just announced today.
There is a need of FBI investigation and taking over the case.
Everybody needs to write to the Justice Department demanding that they investigate.
If we really want to stop the insanity the law has to be changed in Florida. The only way to do that is to put pressure on the state where it hurts the most. Companies need to cancel all conferences and the like that are to be held in FL and We the People need to boycott by not visiting Florida this summer and as long as it takes. Yes, that means giving up all the cool tourist attractions. But waht is more important? Enabling murder that goes unpunished by giving them our dollars or telling them that murder is unacceptable. The United States is a beautiful country and there are lots of places to go visit. (We can even avoid all the other states with make my day anywhere I happen to be laws).
I also feel that this man should be arrested, but regarding hoodies? I`m a grandmother currently raising my 16 yr old grandson & I must say/type I will not allow him to put up his hoodie/hood while in public. I feel it`s out of respect for other people that he keep it down. Also many of our banks & rx will not allow people to enter their doors with their hoodies up because of the increase in robberies. To be honest.. when I see a person with their hoodie up I get nervous & wonder what their trying to hide or what their up to. I`m sure I`m not the only one that feels this way & let me just add that "I love all children".
While I don't agree with profiling by race or wearing certain clothing, our bank has a sign posted as you walk in..."take off hoods, sunglasses and stay off your cell phone." But the boy was coming home from the store, in the rain...if I was wearing foul-weather gear, would I be in trouble for putting my raincoat's hood up? 45 year old white woman...would I be viewed the same way?
My guess it it depends on where you live whether or not this "hoodie issue" is a problem. WHere I live, half or more of young people wear them and it seems not to have any gang connotation...just like when I grew up (in the 70's) and wore what was then called "hooded sweatshirts".
Jeans, sneakers/running/tennis shoes, tee shirt, hoodie if it's cool or raining (it was both that night in Feb in Orlando...cool and raining)...in my area that is almost a uniform for boys age 10-20, without any gang connotation. (if it had one, the connotation is so diluted by the high percentage of kids that dress that way that it is rendered harmless and meaningless).
We should also remember this poor boy was not local. He belonged in the development (visiting family, his Dad) but he spent much time in Miami, not Orlando area. Where he spent his life might have slightly different ideas of hoodies...maybe like where I live.
The poster LG seems to live in my area, yet insists it isn't common to wear hoodies and it would stick out and have a meaning quite often. He lives in an 'upscale suburb", I live in a mixed race mixed income city neighborhood (not innercity) and just that distance may cause us to have different experiences.