Seattle rally demands ‘justice’ for Trayvon Martin

More than 200 people gathered in Seattle Wednesday to call
for “justice” in the case of Trayvon Martin, the African-
American teenager shot to death by a neighborhood watch
captain in Florida.

Those in the crowd at Westlake Park included Seattle NAACP
President James Bible and Cedric President-Turner, Trayvon
Martin’s 18-year-old cousin. Seattle Seahawks players Josh
Portis and Roy Lewis also made brief appearances on the
rainy afternoon, calling the crowd “a beautiful sight.”

It was the second time in a week that protestors here
gathered to demand the arrest of George Zimmerman, the man
who claims he acted in self-defense when he shot the
unarmed 17-year-old inside a gated community in Sanford,
Fla., on Feb. 26.

“At this stage, many people in our society are heartbroken
more than anything else,” said Bible, who believes
authorities in Florida will decide to prosecute Zimmerman
after a thorough investigation. “Right now we’re
frustrated, and sometimes that frustration turns to
anger.”

Many in the crowd Wednesday wore hoodies, the same attire
Trayvon Martin wore the night he was killed. Zimmerman
told authorities that the teen looked “suspicious.”

“It’s not right. It’s not right to shoot a kid wearing a
hoodie because he looks ‘suspicious,'” said a woman in the
crowd, who brought her 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old
son, both wearing hoodies. “It doesn’t matter what you
wear, and I just want them to know that.”

On Sunday, around 2,000 people marched to Seattle’s Martin
Luther King Jr. Memorial Park with chants of “We are
Trayvon,” and “Justice for Trayvon.” Similar marches have
taken place around the country in cities like Atlanta,
Phoenix, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Montgomery, Ala.