Trayvon Martin’s slay rocks nation
IT WAS a shot heard ‘round the world. The Feb. 26 death of unarmed Florida teen Trayvon Martin — gunned down by overzealous community watchman George Zimmerman — set off an explosive and racially charged global debate on hoodies, weapons and Florida’s controversial Stand Your Ground law.
Martin, a 17-year-old African-American, was walking toward his stepdad’s house in a middle-class gated community in Sanford, Fla., when he crossed paths with Zimmerman, 28, a chronically underemployed insurance broker who fantasized about being a cop and acted as a volunteer watchman in the complex.
Zimmerman, who has been charged with second-degree manslaughter, zeroed in on Martin when he spotted the teen — wearing in a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled up — “cutting in-between houses,” and “looking at all the houses,” according to logs from a police call in which the dispatcher told Zimmerman to stand down.
Zimmerman maintains that the rangy teenager — who stood 5-feet-11 and weighed 168 pounds — attacked him, knocking him on his back, breaking his nose and hitting his head into the sidewalk. Zimmerman pulled his weapon and fatally shot the teen.
The nation reacted with immediate outrage — but split largely along racial and political lines.
Donations came pouring into Zimmerman’s website defense fund from sympathetic gun supporters who back the Stand Your Ground law that says people have the right to shoot first in self-defense and ask questions later.
Meanwhile, Martin’s family and black leaders organized “million hoodie marches” in New York, Sanford and elsewhere, alleging that Martin had been racially profiled, and that local police initially gave Zimmerman kid-glove treatment.
“My son is your son,” said Trayvon’s mother, Sybrina Fulton.
“This is not about black and white — this is about right and wrong.”
Zimmerman’s trial is scheduled for June 2013.
Ginger Adams Otis