trayvon-martin

  • We are outraged and heartbroken over today’s verdict in the murder trial of George Zimmerman.
  • We stand with Trayvon’s family as they continue to grieve, and we are called to act.
  • We call immediately for a Department of Justice investigation into the civil rights violations against Trayvon Martin.
  • We will continue to fight for the removal of Stand Your Ground laws in every state.
  • We will continue to the fight outlaw racial profiling, whether it comes at the hands of law enforcement professionals or armed citizens.
  • This case has re-energized the movement to end racial profiling in the United States.
  • In just hours after the verdict, more than 130,000 people have signed the petition asking for DOJ Civil rights charges against Zimmerman. Sign the petition: http://www.naacp.org/sign-the-DOJ-petition

BACKGROUND ON NAACP INVOLVEMENT

  •  This has always been about the rule of law. The NAACP’s overriding concern in this case has been securing the arrest of George Zimmerman and a thorough investigation and trial.
  • Trayvon was the victim of two practices that disproportionately affect black men and boys. First, he was profiled as suspicious and singled out by Zimmerman as a potential threat. Second the circumstances of his untimely death were neglected by the police after he died.
  • A trial and conviction were not always assured. George Zimmerman was only arrested and charged because of public support for Trayvon Martin and his grieving family.

CASE BACKGROUND

On the evening of February 26, Trayvon Martin—an unarmed 17-year-old African American student—was confronted, shot, and killed near his Sanford, FL home by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain.  immerman was not originally charged with a crime, because police claimed they could not prove he didn’t act in self-defense.

Sanford PD’s officers have suffered a series of public missteps in recent years.

  • In 2006, two private security guards—the son of a Sanford police officer, and a volunteer for the department—killed a black teen, Travares McGill, with a gunshot in his back. Even though they admitted to never identifying themselves, the guards were released without charges.
  • In 2010, Justin Collison, the son of a Sanford PD lieutenant, sucker-punched a homeless black man outside a bar, but officers on the scene released Collison without charges. After video evidence surfaced, the police chief was forced to retire.
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