Thursday, March 22, 2012

Million Hoodie March in honor of Trayvon Martin


Yesterday in NYC, protesters organized a Million Hoodie March in honor of the teen murdered in Florida, Trayvon Martin. Hip Hop Wired reports:

In conjunction with the United Nation's International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a group of revelers will gather in New York City (March 21) to march in solidarity in support of growing public outcry regarding the tragic shooting of 17-year old Trayvon Martin in Florida.

The loosely organized “Million Hoodie March” will be took place at Union Square between 6pm to 9pm EST. Attendees were encouraged to wear their favorite hoodie, the same article of clothing Travyon Martin was wearing when George Zimmerman shot and killed him in a suburb just outside of Orlando during NBA All-Star Weekend.

The event exploded onto social media platforms Facebook and Twitter, with the latter network's hashtag system displaying several variations on tonight's theme. The tags “#millionhoodies” and “#wyhwtm” have made their rounds on many timelines on Twitter, with some members of the site taking photos and videos adorned in their hoodies.

Activists such as outspoken west coast media personality Davey D has shown support of the Hoodie March and a quick click of the hashtags showing that others are joining the effort as well.

Details on the case continue to emerge:

As the media attention regarding the murder of 17-year old Trayvon Martin at the hands of armed Neighborhood Watch captain George Zimmerman in Florida last month swells exponentially, new details have emerged at a rapid rate. Earlier this morning, it was announced by Florida's state attorney that the matter will be heard by a grand jury as part of an investigation focused on the sketchy details that led to the teen losing his life.

The announcement of the grand jury investigation came on the heels of an exclusive ABC News report where a female friend shared details with the Martin family's attorney of a phone call she had with Trayvon just five minutes before he was shot. ABC obtained exclusive copies of the 16-year old girl's phone records, and she told attorney Benjamin Crump of the conversation she had with Trayvon while he was returning to his father's fiancé's home in Sanford.

"He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man," Martin's friend said to Crump. "I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run but he said he was not going to run."

According to the friend, Martin did take off but was apparently cornered by Zimmerman, who initially made a call to dispatchers to report the boy for suspicious activity within the gated townhome community. After telling dispatchers he was tailing the teenager, he was instructed to cease his search but disobeyed and confronted the boy. The female friend said she heard a conversation between Zimmerman and Trayvon and then a scuffle before the line went dead.

The Martin family has been unified in their fight to see criminal charges levied upon George Zimmerman. They maintain that the watch captain acted out of line and unjustly murdered Trayvon. For Zimmerman, the odds are continuing to stack negatively against him.

Recently released 911 call recordings helped to reveal chilling audio surrounding the fateful night. Screams, shouting persons and two loud bangs that the Martin family has categorized as gunshots are all audibly present on the tapes. Trayvon's parents have also confirmed that one of the screams heard before the gunfire bang was that of her son.

Rev. Al Sharpton plans to visit Sanford this coming Thursday to stage a rally along with his activist arm National Action Network. Dr. Jamal Bryant of the Empowerment Temple also intends to stage a rally this month in the small town just 20 miles north of Orlando. Also joining the cry for justice is the New Black Liberation Militia, who voiced their intentions of making a citizen's arrest of George Zimmerman.

No comments:

Post a Comment