If wearing a hoodie is a personal threat, then most everyone has had the opportunity to be shot dead out of self defense. Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old from Florida was killed because of suspicious behavior. The only reasons for suspicion found after his death were wearing a hoodie, holding a bag of skittles, and the color of his skin.
The shooter, George Zimmerman, was in no position to accuse Martin of any suspicious or non-suspicious act. He was merely a volunteer neighborhood watch captain appointed by his neighbors. According to ABC News, since August of 2011, Zimmerman has called the police seven times. Five out of the seven calls included a description of the suspicious person being either black or African American. Unfortunately for Martin, Zimmerman’s definition of what passes for suspicious is incredibly broad.
Zimmerman allegedly had a head injury and a bloody nose justifying his shooting, but Martin was found unarmed. Even if Martin attacked Zimmerman, the use of a gun was unnecessary. He started off by following Martin closely, even though the police advised him not to pursue Martin.
The unbelievable part of this incident is that Zimmerman was not arrested, drug tested, or questioned. He shot a boy and walked away a free man. We can be sure that if the roles were reversed, Martin would have been interrogated and arrested at the scene.
After the shooting, information about Martin getting suspended from school for possession of marijuana became public. This information provided some people with justification that Martin was indeed capable of violence. Realistically though, this information is completely irrelevant. Do you know any violent marijuana smokers?
Many are standing up and fighting for Martin’s justice. President Barack Obama spoke about the murder and his compassion for Martin and his family. He tried to put himself in the shoes of the Martin family and said, “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.”
In order to reveal the truth and provide justice, Zimmerman should be given a fair trial. With all the confusion over the information released by the media, a trial by jury would be the only way to provide not only clarity to Americans but allow Zimmerman to be judged fairly by his peers. However, the real issue is that he has not even been arrested.
The grand jury planned to meet on Tuesday, April 10 to go over the incident and consider the case at large. To no surprise, the meeting and discussion was cancelled. Plies, a rapper from Florida, said it best in his tribute song to Martin by saying, “I never thought wearing no hoodie could cost you your life and I never thought you could just kill somebody and get out the same night.”