Early this February, in a central Florida town, George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, shot and killed Trayvon Martin. Reportedly, Zimmerman had been following Martin for ‘suspicious’ behavior and as Martin returned from inside a convenient store, the two got into an altercation outside. Zimmerman says he was attacked and claimed self-defense; Martin’s family refutes his claims.
Besides rising fame due to discrepancies in the case and new evidence, the case has risen in the civil rights realm, and has activists using Martin’s case to bring up the role of race in the initial incident. The Pendulum said, “Civil rights groups are now swarming upon this incident, using Martin as a martyr to gain the attention of the continuing profiling of minorities in the country.”
Outcry began after police investigators decided not to charge Zimmerman on the base of self-defense. Rumors circulated that because Martin was African-American and Zimmerman, Caucasian, the decision of the investigators to release Zimmerman was bias. Responding to how race might have played a role in Zimmerman’s release, Velma Williams, a member of Martin’s neighborhood and a member of the black community, said, “People were getting suspicious, saying we knew that was going to happen based on history”.
About a week after the shooting, race riots spurted not only in Sanford, Florida, but in other cities like New York and Washington DC, where the case now resides.
What do you think readers, is Martin’s name being used in vain by civil right protestors? What are your thoughts on racial profiling in the US?
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