City where boy died forms injustice group
in the city where Black teenager Trayvon Martin was killed by a neighbourhood watch volunteer nine years ago have agreed to form an advisory committee to study how race, class and gender can lead to social inequities.
The 15-member “Race, Equality, Equity and Inclusion” group will be made up of residents, people who work in Sanford and business owners, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The committee “will be charged with taking a look at racial tension within the city and how the disparities in services, public and private, impact people of colour more than they do their white counterparts,” Andrew Thomas, Sanford’s community relations and neighbourhood engagement director, said during a recent commission meeting.
They’re being asked to deliver a report detailing its findings to the city commission in about eight months. The group will make recommendations on improving inequities that may exist in Sanford, including within governmental services related to housing, healthcare, education, criminal justice and employment, the newspaper reported.
Martin, who lived in Miami, was visiting his father when he was shot Feb. 26, 2012, during a confrontation with George Zimmerman while walking home from a convenience store. Zimmerman claimed self-defence and was later acquitted during a jury trial.
A resolution approved by commissioners Feb. 22 said: “The city of Sanford recognizes racism and social inequities unfairly disadvantages specific individuals and communities and saps the strength of the whole society through the waste of human resources.
The collective prosperity of the City depends upon the equitable access to opportunity for every resident regardless of the colour of their skin or social status.”