Last Saturday, a jury declared George Zimmerman not guilty of the murder of Trayvon Martin. Thousands of people in cities across the country reacted in outrage as the U.S. legal system confirmed that a Black boy’s life is worth little in the eyes of the law, and that Trayvon Martin had no right to defend himself against a racist vigilante.
We’ve collected images from a few of the many events held over the past couple of days to protest the decision and express solidarity with Trayvon. We’ll continue to update this page as more reports and images are gathered.
From the Editors, Solidarity, July 15, 2013
New York
Following the announcement of the not guilty verdict, President Obama urged “calm reflection” in response. But thousands of people at rallies in New York and dozens of other cities understand that calm reflection is not going to end the system of institutionalized violence and racism.
Protestors flooded Times Square, blocking off traffic.
Philadelphia
Close to 1,000 people marched to the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. A smaller crowd had also gathered the night before near city hall immediately following the announcement of the verdict.
Trayvon Martin was also eating a snack just before he was murdered. There were many children present at the events in Philadelphia and elsewhere, and some of them even led chants or spoke at the rallies.
Frank Rizzo, former police commissioner and mayor of Philadelphia, was famous for his blatant and often violent racism, including raids against the Black Panthers. Organizers decorated the statue to call attention to the history of state sanctioned violence against Black and Brown people, of which Trayvon Martin’s murder is just one of the more recent examples.
Atlanta
A march was organized in Atlanta the night of the verdict and lasted from midnight until around 1:30. Marchers were encouraged by enthusiastic honking from passing cars.
Miami
Photo by Paul L.
Chattanooga
Community organizers with Concerned Citizens for Justice in Chattanooga used this example of injustice as a teaching moment, discussing examples of police violence in the local community and demanding “solutions that involve jobs and resources, not more imprisonment of Black and Brown people or more law enforcement by the Chattanooga Police Department with its history of abuse against Black people.”
Knoxville
Community members in Knoxville, TN gathered at a vigil to honor Trayvon’s life and call attention to the desperate need for racial justice in the U.S.
Nashville
A common feature of the events organized around Trayvon Martin’s murder and Zimmerman’s trial have been the diversity of the crowds, with not just Black people but many white and Latino and other people uniting to demand racial justice.
Zimmerman’s defense lawyers, and even members of the prosecution team, tried to claim this case was not about racism, but participants in these events understood that ’racism’ is exactly the right name for the system that allows unarmed Black men to be stalked and murdered in their own neighborhoods and declares the murderer innocent.
Oakland
Large protests were held in Oakland, a city with an especially strong history of racial violence.
Los Angeles
Protestors in Los Angeles shut down Interstate 10 for some time during their protest.
Detroit
Over 300 people gathered at the event in Detroit, a city all too familiar with state sanctioned violence against oppressed communities.
A study by Operation Ghetto Storm reports that, on average, a Black person is killed by police once every 28 hours. Trayvon Martin has been the most visible example but far from an isolated one.
Many of the speakers at the event in Detroit were people who had also had family members killed by the police, including children caught in police crossfire.