A group of about 100 people protesting the death of Trayvon Martin marched from Turlington Plaza to the FBI’s downtown office Monday afternoon.
A month after Sanford police said George Zimmerman, 28, shot and killed unarmed Trayvon Martin, 17, some simmer with anger at the fact that Zimmerman hasn’t been charged with a crime.
The protest was inspired by the Feb. 26 incident, when Sanford police said Trayvon was walking home from the store, carrying a packet of Skittles and an iced tea.
Zimmerman called police and told them he was following a person who looked suspicious.
The two fought and Zimmerman shot Trayvon.
Zimmerman told police he acted in self-defense.
Under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, citizens have the right to use deadly force in self-defense if they are attacked in a place they have a right to be.
Florida is one of 24 states with similar self-defense laws — statutes that have been called into question in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin case.
“There is no reason why I shouldn’t be able to walk out my front door because I’m black or Asian or Hispanic,” said 22-year-old Jarrod Allen, a UF political science senior and protester.
Across the country Thursday, demonstrators, including those at UF, called for Zimmerman’s arrest and a full investigation into how the Sanford Police Department conducted the case.
Chrisley Carpio, 20, planned the event after organizers at Florida State University and Florida A&M University, who also held protests today, contacted her.
She said she’s infuriated that Zimmerman remains a free man.
“I was too outraged not to do something,” the history sophomore said. “It ended up organizing itself.”
About 25 people gathered at 1:15 p.m.
Thirty minutes later, the number swelled to more than 125.
Diana Moreno, 24, UF alumna, was one of the protesters.
She said she experienced racism firsthand when she moved to America; people would make fun of her traditional Ecuadorian bag and her heritage.
She walked around with a sandwich board sign that read, “I am not dangerous. Racism is. #justicefortrayvon.”
A man who declined to be identified approached Moreno and defended Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense.
The conversation grew heated, and Moreno’s voice cracked.
“It’s an emotional incident,” she said, and she pointed to the unidentified man as he walked away. “These are the people who carry guns and look at everyone like suspects.”
Speeches on Turlington began over a bullhorn at about 1:30 p.m, and the group walked to the Institute of Black Culture an hour later, while police stopped traffic in all four lanes of University Avenue at Northwest 15th Street.
Kevin Jenkins, a 30-year-old Ph.D. student, spoke to the crowd at the institute and urged them to express their angst this fall at the polls.
“This is the time to exercise your right to vote,” Jenkins said to a chorus of agreement. “That’s when we’ll have justice.”
The crowd crossed University Avenue again, and then walked in the avenue’s right lane one mile to the FBI’s downtown office.
Police blocked off all the intersections in the protesters’ path, including the one at University Avenue and Southwest 13th Street.
Once the group arrived at the FBI office, Jenkins urged protesters not to enter the building, and demonstrators decided to send a delegation of 15 people inside.
Dave Schneider, UF Fall ‘11 alumnus, said he handed a list of demands to officials that included the arrest of George Zimmerman, permanently firing Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee and urging the FBI to investigate the killing as a racially motivated hate crime.
Contact Shelby Webb at swebb@alligator.org.
Students for a Democratic Society and its supporters protest for justice for Trayvon Martin on University Avenue on Monday afternoon.
