City removes Martin memorial
Some say a tribute to the slain teen became an eyesore. Others want it returned.
Less than a week after Trayvon Martin’s shooting death, community members created a memorial outside the gated Sanford, Fla., neighborhood where he died, leaving laminated photos, silk flowers and other trinkets in the grass.
Then it rained. The grass grew. Teddy bears rotted.
Residents started complaining, officials said, that the memorial defined their neighborhood. They called it an eyesore.
The city of Sanford let the memorial stand for more than four months. But on Monday, Sanford employees boxed up the tribute and carted the items to the city museum. Now they’re in storage, with a display date “to be determined,” City Manager Norton Bonaparte said. (Other city officials say the items are too ratty to be displayed.)
“It had gotten incredibly shabby. It just looked horrible,” said Patty Mahany, a city commissioner whose district includes the subdivision where Martin died. “It was no longer a fitting memorial.”
The move has prompted anger among black community leaders who say dismantling the tribute is like scrubbing the shooting from history.
“It’s more of a psychological thing,” said Vera June, legal advisor for Concerned Citizens of Sanford, the group that organized the tribute. “With the memorial gone, people will try to forget what happened.”
That’s partly the goal, Mahany said. Residents of nearby gated communities and parents of children at the elementary school across the street say they’ve looked at a daily reminder of death long enough.
“At some point, you’ve got to give it up and move forward,” Mahany said.
Martin, 17, died Feb. 26 after being shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman. The fact that Zimmerman wasn’t initially arrested resulted in nationwide protests, the eventual firing of the Sanford police chief and a Justice Department investigation.
A special prosecutor assigned to the case charged Zimmerman with seconddegree murder in April. He was released from jail Friday after posting bond for the second time.
Zimmerman had spotted Martin out for a walk, followed him and called police, describing the black teen as a suspicious person. An altercation ensued. Zimmerman, who is white and Latino, says he fired in self-defense.
No one was informed that the memorial would be taken down, said Francis Oliver, curator of a black history museum in Sanford.
But Bonaparte said in an email that the plans were announced. A city employee contacted Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the Martin family, about dismantling the memorial, Bonaparte said, and offered to let the family keep any items.
“I think he is trying to make the right calls and do the right thing,” June said of Bonaparte. “Sometimes you get things wrong.”
Concerned Citizens met with Bonaparte to request that the items be put back, June said. The city will notify them of its decision by Monday. Concerned Citizens said it would like the teddy bears, flowers and crosses to remain in place until the one-year anniversary of Martin’s death.
The most appropriate permanent memorial, June said, would be an educational exhibit on race and violence.