African-American churches call for justice in the shooting of Trayvon Martin

Jessie Jackson

Jessie JacksonOn February 26, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a Florida high school student, who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain. The story captured national attention, with allegations of racism and calls for more scrutiny into how local police handled the investigation.  ABC News is maintaining a timeline of the case and some of the controversy surrounding it.

The Associated Press reports that today, African-American community churches around the nation amplified the call for justice.   Rev. Jesse Jackson preached a sermon on the teen's death in Eatonville, Florida.  "We have to find a way to bring some understanding here," he told his audience.  "Unarmed and sober, that's what makes him such a perfect case to earn a story," Jackson said, urging structural change.

D. Beeksma

One of the growing crowd of American "nones" herself, Deborah is a prolific writer who finds religion, spirituality and the impact of belief (and non-belief) on culture inspiring, fascinating and at times, disturbing. She hosts the God Discussion show and handles the site's technical work. Her education and background is in business, ecommerce and law.

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  • http://www.houseofbetazed.com Mriana

    As they should.  Trayvon was shot in cold blood.  He had no weapon and he wasn't doing anything but coming home from the store after getting a bag of Skittles. He was also a kid who made good grades in school and was not a problem child.  It is rather scary that a teenager could walk out the door to go get a bag of Skittles and not come home because some loony shot him, for no reason other than (supposedly) racial profiling.  Secondly, if a Black person shot a White person, you know the shooter would be in jail right now, facing charges.  The whole thing is disturbing all the way around and where I live isn't much better.

    A few years ago, in my area, a bunch of White people (as the story goes) hung a young man, who was Black and gay.  This not the same incident that happened 100 years ago, but a more recent one.  The gripe is, nothing happened to the people who killed him.

    Welcome to South of the Mason Dixon line, the Bile Belt, where all sorts of crazy stuff happens and injustices seem to happen often.  Thus, I think it is right to fight for justice for Trayvon, because it should not have happened or at least the person who shot him should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

    • Deborah_B

      Amazing how the hanging did not create national outrage. What a horrible thing! 

      When it comes to racism, I think that the African-American churches can be one of the strongest voices out there for social justice. There are a lot of Catholic churches that stand up for minority rights, as well, particularly with respect to racial profiling of Latinos. It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming months, and whether we will see religion in America shift toward racial equality instead of anti-gay bigotry.

      • http://www.houseofbetazed.com Mriana

         Black Churches and the NAACP.  I signed a petition yesterday with the NAACP which demands justice for Trayvon.

        I'm amazed it didn't create a National outrage too, but this was slightly before the internet caught on with the masses.

  • joe paterno

    ZIMMERMAN HAD NO BUSINESS FOLLOWING MARTIN!!!  AT ALL!!!  Period.

    • Deborah_B

       According to the news stories out so far, that appears to be right.  Didn't he call it in, was advised to stay in his car, and went out and confronted Martin anyway?  Zimmerman's attorney was on CNN with Anderson Cooper and appeared to not know a single thing about the case.