“Hoodies up” for Trayvon is the main call to action that has become popular over the past few weeks in attempts to bring attention to and seek justice for the death of Trayvon Martin. Thousands of people, including celebrities and public officials have raised the hoods of their sweatshirts in order to honor Martin.
Trayvon Martin was a 17 year-old, unarmed teenager who was shot and killed in Sanford, Florida on Feb. 26, 2012. Martin was walking home from a convenience store when he was followed and confronted by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman.
Zimmerman is a man of mixed ethnicity while Martin was a young African-American male. For several reasons many are assuming that the attack was racially-motivated. I don’t know if that’s the case but that is not what bothers me the most; it’s the fact that Zimmerman was never even arrested.
How is it that a man who intentionally killed an unarmed minor free? I’m well aware of the fact that Zimmerman claimed self-defense, which seems highly unlikely, but even if that is the case, he still should have been arrested on sight.
Zimmerman made a 911 call after first seeing Martin, claiming that he looked “suspicious.” Apparently being a young African-American teenager while wearing a hooded sweatshirt makes you some type of criminal.
Zimmerman proceeded to follow Martin even though the 911 dispatcher told him not to. The encounter between the two ultimately resulted in Martin being shot and killed. When officials arrived, Zimmerman told them he was attacked so he defended himself.
What I’m having trouble understanding is why self-defense with a weapon would even be necessary.  Even if it was self-defense, Martin didn’t have a weapon and Zimmerman is about two times his size so I’m sure he could have defended himself without the use of a deadly weapon. Then again, Martin was carrying a bag of Skittles and an Arizona ice tea so, I guess people have a lethal fear of Skittles nowadays.
Other 911 calls were made from witnesses in which you can clearly hear Martin screaming for help before the gunshot. Many others came forward and offered to speak about what the witnessed but never received a response back from officials.
The fact that the woman who flour-bombed Kim Kardashain was arrested on sight, but George Zimmerman has yet to be detained, reduces the faith I have in our judicial system tremendously.  What are we to do when the people we are supposed to trust the most with our safety and well-being aren’t even attempting to seek justice?
Regardless of the reasoning, a young, seemingly innocent boy was killed and the man that did it is still walking the streets. People are protesting and fighting for further investigation within this case and it should not be that way. We should not have to beg for justice.