More than 2,000 people rallied and marched through the streets of downtown Los Angeles Monday to call for the arrest and prosecution of George Zimmerman for the slaying of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin and to send a message to his grieving parents.
Not only are L.A. protesters seeking justice for Martin’s killing with thousands of others across the country, but they are also joining a national sentiment that’s telling Martin’s parents that he did not die in vain.
Jim Lafferty, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles, sent out a message to Martin’s parents that their son had become a martyr, inspiring a whole new movement.
“This is, of course, not what you planned for your son by way of his contribution to this world, but sadly and happily his death is not in vain,” Lafferty told the crowd. “We are in the streets today all over America because of your son. So, in grief, I hope you can take some solace in knowing in his death, his tragic, unjust death, he has served this world as few get a chance to serve it.”
He continued: “I am 73 years old and I know what it takes to win victories of this sort. I know why the trades union, women’s civil rights and anti-war movements won; it wasn’t because some damn politician woke up one morning and came to his senses.
“It was because tens of thousands of people like you folks here today came and stayed in the streets and said we won’t leave these streets until justice is done. History is on our side; justice will surely come and Trayvon did not die in vain.”
Martin was shot and killed Feb. 26 in Sanford while walking from a store where he had just purchased a bag of Skittles and iced tea for his younger brother.
According to reports, Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in the gated community, called police to report “a suspicious” person when he saw Martin walking back from the store.
Despite a police dispatcher instructing him not to confront Martin, Zimmerman allegedly approached the teenager.
Witnesses say a scuffle ensued before Zimmerman shot the unarmed teen in the chest with a semi-automatic pistol, killing Martin. While Zimmerman admitted to police that he killed Martin, he claimed it was self-defense and Sanford police have refused to arrest and charge him.
A day after the downtown protests, the California Legislative Black Caucus Chairman, Sen. Curren D. Price Jr., and ranking Caucus member Sen. Roderick Wright, issued a statement on Martin’s slaying.
“The California Legislative Black Caucus today expressed their sadness and frustration with the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, the lack of an arrest in his murder and various recent comments placing blame on the victim or his choice of clothing,” the statement read. “The tragedy of a young man’s untimely and unfair death is being compounded each day by the hateful and hurtful comments of those seeking to deflect blame from the neighborhood vigilante who killed him, and by the failure of law enforcement officials to seek justice for his murder.
“The recorded evidence clearly shows that Mr. Zimmerman pursued Trayvon Martin — as Trayvon walked unsuspecting to his father’s home to enjoy his Skittles and iced tea — against the explicit instructions of law enforcement.”
Wright further stated: “Today, Mr. Zimmerman’s supporters are trying to sully the reputation of a slain teen to turn public opinion in their favor. Meanwhile, irresponsible members of the media are blaming Trayvon’s choice of clothing for his death, but we challenge you to consider whether or not Mr. Zimmerman would have pursued and confronted a White teen in a hoodie, or if he would have presumed him to be a neighbor.”
Downtown L.A.’s protest, part of a nationwide “Mass Million Hoodie March,” congregated at Pershing Square on the corner of Hill and Fifth streets and then, shortly after 6 p.m., made its way to nearby steps of City Hall.
The event was initiated and sponsored by a host of community and activist groups and individuals, including ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism), Justice for Trayvon — LA, Vamos Unidos USA, KIWA (Korean Immigrant Workers Alliance), Najee Ali of Project Islamic H.O.P.E., retired Laker and Utah Jazz player Byron Russell and actor Bill Duke.
“I’ve heard some asking, why are people so angry, kids die all the time,” said Peta Lindsay, of ANSWER. [But] if that was a White child who was killed, do you think somebody would be in jail? That’s why we’re angry, because this system does not care about Black lives.
“Just look at Oscar Grant, he was executed in front of many witnesses in the open BART Station and Mehserle [Johannes Mehserle, the former BART officer who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter] served less than one year for the crime.
“We’ve got to organize and protest. We’re all outraged and we’ve seen from history that the organized outrage of the Black community can change history. My parents lived through the civil rights struggle; they won it in the streets and we can do it again.”
Paulette Gibson, president of the Compton Chapter of the NAACP, also issued a defiant call to arms.
“Justice in America is not equal and we all know that,” she said. “[But] we’re here to let Florida and all across America [know] that we’re not taking this anymore. We need to stand up and realize that they’re writing laws to hurt our community.”
Gibson added: “They’re not hanging us like they used to; they’re using the legal system to do it. So we’re gonna demand justice for Trayvon [and] for every African-American across this country.
“We’re not going to stop until justice stands. It wasn’t self-defense; if you hunt somebody down, you go after somebody [then] you’re not too afraid. If he wants to know what that’s like, then you come to Compton. What we’re saying is America do the right thing. We want to stop these laws they are passing to give them rights to just shoot us down.”
On the steps of the city council building, Geraldine Middleton, stood with two of her three sons and put the rally and march in perspective.
“Well, first I am here because I want to see justice done in this case for Trayvon,” she said. “I have three sons, so this hits really close to what I deal with on a daily basis as a mother of three Black boys.”
