In Atlanta, the city with the highest concentration of historically black colleges in the country, the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin has struck a angry chord.
Students from Clark Atlanta University, Spelman and Morehouse colleges and other local schools, will rally on the steps of the Capitol at 5:30 p.m. Monday to protest the shooting death of the Florida teen and to call attention to a law that some say has allowed Martin’s shooter to remain free. Georgia has its own version, known as the "Stand Your Ground" law.
The unarmed Martin was shot and killed Feb. 26, by a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman, who has not been charged, said he shot Martin in self defense. But tapes of 911 calls made after the shooting appear to conflict with his description of what happened. Martin was talking on his cell phone and walking home from the store when Zimmerman saw him.
The Justice Department and FBI now are investigating the killing, and a state grand jury is being convened to determine if charges should be brought. President Obama even weighed in Friday saying that it was important that “every aspect” of the case be investigated to determine what happened.
“If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon," the president said.
“Many college students are now reconsidering this case and our place in America,” said Rashad Raymond Moore, a senior philosophy major at Morehouse, the country’s only all-male black college. "We realize that our status as college students is no different than Trayvon's or any black male walking the streets.”
In Florida, police have cited the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law in deciding not to charge Zimmerman. The law says citizens can use deadly force against attackers.
In 2006 Georgia passed its own "Stand Your Ground" law that extended Georgians' right to use deadly force to defend themselves, which at the time were restricted to a person's home and car, to public places such as parks, sidewalks and parking lots.
John Monroe, vice president of the gun-rights organization Georgiacarry.org, said the Georgia law has little to do with the Martin shooting.
“If somebody shot somebody unjustly, they should be prosecuted. That doesn’t bear on the right to defend themselves or not,” said Monroe. “If someone is attacked they ought to be able to defend themselves with the best thing available at the time, which is what the law in Georgia is.”
Markel Hutchins, an Atlanta activist and organizer of Monday’s rally, calls the Georgia law “regressive public policy.”
“If we did not do something, what happened in Sanford could happen in Sandy Springs,” Hutchins said. “What we have been reduced to is reacting. But we can be proactive and we can make a strong statement to amend the Georgia version of that Florida statute.”
Martin’s death and the decision by police to not charge Zimmerman has triggered dozens of protests around the country.
“What is the value of black life and bodies here in America?” asked Moore. “Many have raised the argument that if the situation were reversed, Trayvon would be under the jail. If Trayvon were a dog, animal rights groups would have had Zimmerman locked under the jail.”
Aside from the rallies, hundreds more – black and white – have posted photographs of themselves on social media sites like Facebook, wearing black hoodies, which is what Martin was wearing the night he was shot.
This Sunday, Rev. Raphael G. Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church, will deliver his sermon in a hoodie. Members of the choir, ministers, deacons and deaconesses as well as church members are also expected to don hoodies.
“First and foremost it is a tragedy,” said Tyler Joshua Green, a 19-year-old sophomore religion major at CAU, where a separate rally will be held Wednesday. “Not just for him and family, but for the race. That we still have issues like this and racism is alive and well. But there is still hope and justice and people trying to find that and keep that alive. With any tragedy, there is something to be gained out of it.”
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