Photos by Lillian Reid
More than 150 people in black shirts or hoodies marched Sunday afternoon from Civic Space Park to Phoenix City Hall and back in response to a 17-year-old’s death in Florida last month.
Trayvon Martin was shot by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman, 28, on Feb. 26. Zimmerman claimed he acted in self-defense. Martin, unarmed and wearing a black hoodie, was returning to his father’s fiancee’s house after purchasing Skittles and a bottled iced tea from a nearby convenience store.
Zimmerman has not been charged or arrested.
Scottsdale mother Jenni Troy said she felt “anger and devastation” when she first read about the case online. She created the Facebook event “Arizona Hoodie March for Trayvon Martin” with the help of her friends Natalie and Elizabeth Mason.
“I hope people realize how ignorance and racism needs to stop. It’s 2012,” Natalie Mason
said. “I want a lot of people to report racism, child abuse, to put an end to things – and to deal with the police department in Florida.”
After Troy made the Facebook page, she contacted Channel 3 News to let people know about the march. She said she would consider another event after seeing how the march went. Similar events have been held in Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
“I think we need to show everybody’s support in this, and that races can come together positively and not fight,” Troy said. “I’m happy everyone is here.”
People carried signs saying “No racial profiling. Justice for Trayvon” or “Our sons are Trayvon Martin.” A group of girls pinned empty Skittle packages on their shirts. Around 5:11 p.m., the crowd enclosed the stage at Civic Space Park and had a moment of silence for Martin before marching. Participants stayed on the sidewalk and police helped direct traffic.
State Sen. Leah Landrum-Taylor, D-Phoenix, attended the march in support of justice for Martin. She said she cried and thought of her children upon hearing about Martin’s story.
“I am here for my children. Everyone is concerned for the safety of their child because of the danger from what happened to this young man walking home,” Landrum-Taylor said. “We will never know what Trayvon Martin could have been.”
Miles Lynk and his wife attended the event and marched to show their support toward Martin’s family.
“I think it’s important to show solidarity with the family of Trayvon and all African-American families. President Obama said it best: ‘If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,’” Lynk said. “You can’t make judgments just on the appearance of a black man wearing a hoodie. That tells nothing about the person he is.”
Meshell Edwards, 41, and her friends designed their black hoodies to say “suspicious” on front and “RIP Trayvon Martin” with a cross on the back. She heard about the case from a friend, and it “touched a chord” in her heart as a mother of a 10-year-old son.
“I once heard losing a child is like having an amputation. You learn how to deal with it, but you will never be the same,” Edwards said. “That family lost their child and that there’s no justice yet is just wrong.”
Edwards said she hopes that Martin’s family is encouraged by the march.
“We can’t bring back their son, but we’re showing people do care, people do know and people are supportive of them,” she said.
Contact the reporter at alicia.m.canales@asu.edu
