Civil rights groups are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to file civil rights charges against George Zimmerman after he was acquitted in the killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida. A petition launched by the NAACP gathered more than 225,000 signatures in the first few hours after Zimmerman was acquitted, temporarily causing the group’s website to crash. The Justice Department responded Sunday that it is continuing to evaluate evidence from an ongoing federal probe, as well as evidence from the state trial. We speak to the Rev. Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and Phillip Agnew, executive director of Dream Defenders, a coalition of young people of color in Florida formed after Martin’s death. They have called for a “Takeover Tuesday” protest in Florida’s capital of Tallahassee on July 16. “I think we need to look at the environment that created a situation that grew a George Zimmerman and snuffed out a Trayvon Martin,” Agnew says. “The fact is, our society programs people to be afraid of young people — young people of color specifically.
Join us in defending the truth before it’s too late
The future of independent journalism is uncertain, and the consequences of losing it are too grave to ignore. To ensure Truthout remains safe, strong, and free, we need to raise $44,000 in the next 6 days. Every dollar raised goes directly toward the costs of producing news you can trust.
Please give what you can — because by supporting us with a tax-deductible donation, you’re not just preserving a source of news, you’re helping to safeguard what’s left of our democracy.