. . CRIME AND CRIMINALS: MURDER HOMICIDE : UNITED STATES: STATES: FLORIDA: Anger over Trayvon Martin's Slaying Transcends the Issue of Race . . Anger over Trayvon Martin's Slaying Transcends the Issue of Race By Sandy Banks March 24, 2012 http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-banks-20120324,0,6872957.column . .The shooting of the Florida teenager provokes rage that cuts across society, uniting John and Ken with the Rev. Al Sharpton. But the furor is not just about skin color, it's about justice.
.It's an outrage even if you look past race even if Florida vigilante George Zimmerman does claim a Latino mother and a few black friends.
.Zimmerman's ethnicity can't excuse the killing of Trayvon Martin. And it doesn't obliterate the racial slur that Zimmerman muttered on the 911 tape as he chased down the black teenager.
.The case has roiled the Orlando, Fla., suburb where Trayvon was shot to death last month by Zimmerman, a Neighborhood Watch leader who became alarmed when he spotted Trayvon walking through the gated condominium complex that Zimmerman spent aimless days and nights patrolling.
.Zimmerman hasn't been arrested, claiming self-defense under Florida's Stand Your Ground law. Now protests are spreading across the country, turning Trayvon's death into a national symbol of racial prejudice and violent bias.
. But this is not just about the color of skin, but the color of authority. .It's about a neighborhood bully allowed to carry a gun, encouraged by a reckless law to wield it and absolved by local police, who had barely begun to investigate before declaring the killer "squeaky clean."
.Does race play into it? Certainly. I have no doubt Trayvon would be behind bars if he'd been the shooter in that scenario.
.But what is moving America now owes its resonance to a bag of Skittles, a can of iced tea and a hoodie pulled low against the cold.
.And the heartbreaking photo we can't seem to avoid, of a bright-eyed kid in a Hollister shirt smiling broadly into the camera, who was shot to death walking to his dad's home by someone who felt he didn't belong.
.It took weeks for the Florida case to find its way to the national stage. Now the details seem to be everywhere.
.Social media is tailor-made for its compelling iconography who can't relate to a teenager armed only with Skittles and AriZona iced tea. And Zimmerman becomes distastefully real in his scruffy police mug shot, from an arrest in 2005, and his sullen voice on the 911 tape when he reports a "suspicious" man wearing sneakers and a hoodie.
. snip .Anger in suburban Sanford was immediate. Since then, thousands have turned out for rallies, the police chief has temporarily stepped down and separate federal and state investigations have begun.
.The national push got its start with an online petition begun by Trayvon's parents demanding that Zimmerman be prosecuted. It drew 600,000 signatures in one day. Now, busloads of people are traveling to Florida protests from Southern cities like Atlanta. And hundreds took to the streets in New York City, chanting "We are Trayvon Martin" after a "Million Hoodie March" was posted on Facebook.
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