NEW YORK — From Miami to New York, from Los Angeles to Oakland, thousands of people attended rallies Saturday to honor Trayvon Martin and to protest racism and laws they say let the man who killed the teenager go free, a verdict that has proved as contentious as the shooting itself.
The gatherings had a common theme: to demand repeal of so-called stand-your-ground laws that permit use of deadly force in the face of perceived threats, even if retreating is an option; and to demand that the Department of Justice file federal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman, who said he shot Martin in self-defense.
But they also provided a cathartic moment for demonstrators of different races, ages and genders, who shared their views of racism in America as they crammed together, often in searing heat, at rallies organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.
"This is a huge issue in this country, and this seems like a good opportunity to make sure that the conversation goes far beyond the tragic death of Trayvon Martin," said Peggy Earisman, who is white. Earisman, a lawyer, attended a protest outside police headquarters in Lower Manhattan that drew several hundred people.
"This is clearly not the end," Earisman said of the uproar over a jury's acquittal last week of Zimmerman, who was charged with second-degree murder in Martin's Feb. 26, 2012, shooting in Sanford, Fla.
In Washington, Joyce G. Davis, who is black, was among about 500 people who gathered outside the federal courthouse for a rally. The protests are "for the whole country to know that racism still exists," Davis said. "We have to continue to fight for equality and justice."
Davis brought her nephews, Derrick Almond, 15, and Dominic Almond, 11, who carried Skittles and cans of Arizona iced tea, which Martin was carrying the night he was shot.
"They could have been Trayvon Martin," she said of the boys. "They are Trayvon Martin."
Across the country, crowds waved signs calling for boycotts of Florida and joined in chants of "No justice, no peace." On Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation's capital, cars responded to signs urging them to "Honk 4 Trayvon."
Many protesters wore hooded sweat shirts, just as Martin was wearing the night he encountered Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, in a gated community. "Zimmerman would have given me a ride home," read the sign carried by one young white man clad in a sweat shirt, the hood pulled over his red wavy hair despite the hot day.
Zimmerman, 29, said Martin, who was staying with his father's fiancee in the gated community, attacked him, forcing him to pull his gun and fire. Police accepted Zimmerman's assertion, and he was not arrested until Florida's governor appointed a special prosecutor to the case. A jury, which did not include any African Americans, cleared Zimmerman.
In Manhattan, not even the singer Beyonce and her husband, Jay-Z, could upstage Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, who was greeted with loud cheers and applause as she appeared at the gathering. Fulton struggled for words as she stood in the midday sun and described her incomprehension at the outcome of the case.
Fulton said Martin was simply a child trying to go home that night after buying the candy and soft drink at a convenience store.
"I think sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle because as I sat in the courtroom, it made me think they were talking about another man. And it wasn't. It was a child," she said in a halting voice as people in the crowd encouraged her with calls of "Don't cry!" and "We love you!"
Sharpton led the crowd in a chant of "I am Trayvon Martin!" and "No justice, no peace!" before challenging people to protest stand-your-ground laws and demanding that U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. pursue a civil rights case against Zimmerman because, Sharpton said, "Trayvon Martin had the civil right to go home that day."
Najee Ali, a leader of the Los Angeles march, agreed as he led hundreds of protesters who snaked through downtown. Ali urged them to not view the case as a "black and white issue."
"It was a right and wrong issue," he told a crowd of about 400. "Any time a young man goes to the store to buy some Skittles and some ice tea and then he is followed, he is profiled, he is murdered — that is wrong."
David Henderson, an African American, attended the rally with his 13-year-old son, Darius, who he feared was not fully aware of the dangers he faces as a black teenager.
"I brought my son here to give him a reality check," Henderson said as Darius smiled shyly. "It hurts that this is 2013 and we are still telling our kids these things, but we are. Being at this demonstration drives all of that home for him."
A few feet away, Jane Wilson also viewed the protest as a teaching tool for her son, Preston Lucy, 10. But she is white, and the message she hoped to drive home to her son was different.
"It's important for my son to know that a lot of the things he takes for granted — that he can walk down the street with a bag of Skittles and not be a suspect — this is a privilege not every kid has," Wilson said. "It's important that my family be here to support justice for all."
[email protected]
Staff writers Alexei Koseff in Washington and Devin Kelly, Kurt Streeter and Ruben Vives in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
The gatherings had a common theme: to demand repeal of so-called stand-your-ground laws that permit use of deadly force in the face of perceived threats, even if retreating is an option; and to demand that the Department of Justice file federal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman, who said he shot Martin in self-defense.
But they also provided a cathartic moment for demonstrators of different races, ages and genders, who shared their views of racism in America as they crammed together, often in searing heat, at rallies organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network.
"This is a huge issue in this country, and this seems like a good opportunity to make sure that the conversation goes far beyond the tragic death of Trayvon Martin," said Peggy Earisman, who is white. Earisman, a lawyer, attended a protest outside police headquarters in Lower Manhattan that drew several hundred people.
"This is clearly not the end," Earisman said of the uproar over a jury's acquittal last week of Zimmerman, who was charged with second-degree murder in Martin's Feb. 26, 2012, shooting in Sanford, Fla.
In Washington, Joyce G. Davis, who is black, was among about 500 people who gathered outside the federal courthouse for a rally. The protests are "for the whole country to know that racism still exists," Davis said. "We have to continue to fight for equality and justice."
Davis brought her nephews, Derrick Almond, 15, and Dominic Almond, 11, who carried Skittles and cans of Arizona iced tea, which Martin was carrying the night he was shot.
"They could have been Trayvon Martin," she said of the boys. "They are Trayvon Martin."
Across the country, crowds waved signs calling for boycotts of Florida and joined in chants of "No justice, no peace." On Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation's capital, cars responded to signs urging them to "Honk 4 Trayvon."
Many protesters wore hooded sweat shirts, just as Martin was wearing the night he encountered Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, in a gated community. "Zimmerman would have given me a ride home," read the sign carried by one young white man clad in a sweat shirt, the hood pulled over his red wavy hair despite the hot day.
Zimmerman, 29, said Martin, who was staying with his father's fiancee in the gated community, attacked him, forcing him to pull his gun and fire. Police accepted Zimmerman's assertion, and he was not arrested until Florida's governor appointed a special prosecutor to the case. A jury, which did not include any African Americans, cleared Zimmerman.
In Manhattan, not even the singer Beyonce and her husband, Jay-Z, could upstage Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, who was greeted with loud cheers and applause as she appeared at the gathering. Fulton struggled for words as she stood in the midday sun and described her incomprehension at the outcome of the case.
Fulton said Martin was simply a child trying to go home that night after buying the candy and soft drink at a convenience store.
"I think sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle because as I sat in the courtroom, it made me think they were talking about another man. And it wasn't. It was a child," she said in a halting voice as people in the crowd encouraged her with calls of "Don't cry!" and "We love you!"
Sharpton led the crowd in a chant of "I am Trayvon Martin!" and "No justice, no peace!" before challenging people to protest stand-your-ground laws and demanding that U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. pursue a civil rights case against Zimmerman because, Sharpton said, "Trayvon Martin had the civil right to go home that day."
Najee Ali, a leader of the Los Angeles march, agreed as he led hundreds of protesters who snaked through downtown. Ali urged them to not view the case as a "black and white issue."
"It was a right and wrong issue," he told a crowd of about 400. "Any time a young man goes to the store to buy some Skittles and some ice tea and then he is followed, he is profiled, he is murdered — that is wrong."
David Henderson, an African American, attended the rally with his 13-year-old son, Darius, who he feared was not fully aware of the dangers he faces as a black teenager.
"I brought my son here to give him a reality check," Henderson said as Darius smiled shyly. "It hurts that this is 2013 and we are still telling our kids these things, but we are. Being at this demonstration drives all of that home for him."
A few feet away, Jane Wilson also viewed the protest as a teaching tool for her son, Preston Lucy, 10. But she is white, and the message she hoped to drive home to her son was different.
"It's important for my son to know that a lot of the things he takes for granted — that he can walk down the street with a bag of Skittles and not be a suspect — this is a privilege not every kid has," Wilson said. "It's important that my family be here to support justice for all."
[email protected]
Staff writers Alexei Koseff in Washington and Devin Kelly, Kurt Streeter and Ruben Vives in Los Angeles contributed to this report.