The Department of Justice has announced that its Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, will investigate Trayvon Martin's death. This is a positive step.
However, the Sanford Police Department has a history of failing to successfully prosecute crimes when the victim is African-American and the alleged assailant is not. This happened not only in the case of Trayvon Martin, but also in 2005 and 2010. In both of those earlier cases, the white son of a Sanford police officer was involved.
In addition to the Department of Justice's investigation into Trayvon Martin's death, a simultaneous investigation of the Sanford Police Department itself needs to be undertaken. Even the city commissioners of Sanford, Florida have now voted that they have no confidence in the police chief.
Please, sign our petition asking Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the Sanford Police Department's pattern of failing to prosecute violent crimes against African-Americans.
Keep fighting,
Meteor Blades, Daily Kos
Justice for Trayvon Martin
FROM COLOR OF CHANGE
Since Monday, more than 100,000 ColorOfChange members have called on
the Department of Justice to take over Trayvon Martin's case, arrest his
killer, and launch an independent investigation into the Sanford police
department's mishandling of the case. Can you help us get to 150,000 by signing the petition now?
On Monday evening, the Justice Department announced it will investigate Trayvon's case as a federal hate crime.
This is an important step towards justice, but we need to keep the
pressure on until Trayvon's killer is arrested and the Sanford police
department is held accountable.
You can read the email below for more information. Please take a moment to add your voice and ask your friends and family to do the same. Thanks!
- Rashad
|
JOIN US, TAKE ACTION
Three weeks ago, 17-year old Trayvon Martin was gunned down by self-appointed neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman. Despite Zimmerman admitting to following, confronting, and killing Trayvon, he has yet to be arrested or charged with any crime.1
Just minutes before Trayvon was killed, Zimmerman had called police
stating that Trayvon looked "suspicious." Trayvon was unarmed and
walking back to his father's home in Sanford, Florida when Zimmerman
accosted him.
At the crime scene, Sanford police botched their questioning of
Zimmerman, refused to take the full statements of witnesses, and
pressured neighbors to side with the shooter's claim of self-defense.2 As it turns out, Sanford's
police department has a history of failing to hold perpetrators
accountable for violent acts against Black victims, and the police
misconduct in Trayvon's case exemplifies the department's systemic
mishandling of such investigations.3 And now, the State
Attorney's office has rubber-stamped the Sanford police's
non-investigation, claiming that there is not enough evidence to support
even a manslaughter conviction.4
Trayvon's family and hundreds of thousands of people around the country are demanding justice.5 Please join us in calling on the Department
of Justice to take over the case, arrest Trayvon's killer, and launch
an independent investigation into the Sanford police department's
unwillingness to protect Trayvon's civil rights. It takes just a moment:
Walking home from the store shouldn't cost you your life, but when Black
youth are routinely assumed to be violent criminals, being randomly
killed is a constant danger.6 Before Zimmerman decided to get
out of his parked car — gun in tow — to pursue Trayvon on foot that
night, he called the police to identify Trayvon as a "suspicious person"
— apparently because he was wearing a hoodie and walking too slowly in
the rain for Zimmerman's liking. Despite being instructed not to follow
Trayvon, Zimmerman proceeded to confront and fatally shoot the boy in the chest within a matter of minutes.7
The case has been compromised from the beginning. When Sanford police
arrived on the scene, Zimmerman was first approached by a narcotics
detective — not a homicide investigator — who "peppered him with
questions" rather than allowing him to tell his story without prompting.
Another officer "corrected" a witness giving a statement that she'd
heard Trayvon cry for help before he was shot, telling her she had heard
Zimmerman instead.8 And beyond the questions of
professional competence or even the police's disregard for the facts,
Florida's notorious "Shoot First" law takes a shooter's self-defense
claim at face value — incentivizing law enforcement not to make arrests
in shooting deaths that would lead to murder charges in other states.9
Sanford has a history of not prosecuting when the victim is Black. In
2010, the white son of a Sanford police lieutenant was let go by police
after assaulting a homeless Black man outside a downtown bar. And, in
2005, a Black teenager was killed by two white security guards, one the
son of a Sanford Police officer. The pair was arrested and charged, but a
judge later cited lack of evidence and dismissed both cases.10
Please join us in calling on the Department of Justice to arrest
Trayvon's killer and launch an investigation into the Sanford police
department's mishandling of the case and when you do, ask your friends
and family to do the same:
Thanks and Peace,
-- Rashad, Gabriel, Dani, Matt, Natasha, Kim and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
March 19th, 2012
March 19th, 2012
Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org
is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from
lobbyists or large corporations that don't share our values, and our
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here:
References
1. "Witnesses in Trayvon Martin death heard cries before shot," Miami Herald, 03-15-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/
http://act.colorofchange.org/
2. "Orlando Watch Shooting Probe Reveals Questionable Police Conduct," ABC News, 03-13-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/
http://act.colorofchange.org/
3. "Trayvon Martin Case Salts Old Wounds And Racial Tension," Huffington Post, 03-14-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/
http://act.colorofchange.org/
4. "Police: No Grounds For Arrest in Trayvon Martin's Death," WESH-2 Orlando, 03-16-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/
http://act.colorofchange.org/
5. “Trayvon Martin Family Seeks FBI Investigation of Killing by Neighborhood Watchman,” ABC News, 03-18-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/
http://act.colorofchange.org/
6. "Ramarley Graham: NYPD Slays Unarmed Black Teen as Outrage over Targeting of People of Color Grows," Democracy Now!, 02-08-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/
http://act.colorofchange.org/
7. “Trayvon Martin would be alive if Neighborhood Watch rules followed,” Orlando Sentinel, 03-14-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/
http://act.colorofchange.org/
8. See reference 2.
9. "Teen's death suggests review of 'Stand Your Ground Law' needed," Tallahassee Democrat, 03-16-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/
http://act.colorofchange.org/
10. "Five years since Florida enacted 'stand-your-ground' law, justifiable homicides are up, Tampa Bay Times, 10-17-10
http://act.colorofchange.org/
http://act.colorofchange.org/
Sanford police chief steps down temporarily over Trayvon Martin slaying
After weeks of ferocious public outcry over the racially charged vigilante slaying of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., Police Chief Bill Lee Jr. has stepped down from his post "temporarily." The action was taken Thursday afternoon after Sanford City Commissioners voted 3-2 Wednesday that they had no confidence in the chief.
"My role as the leader of this agency has become a distraction from the investigation," Lee said in a brief statement. "It is apparent that my involvement in this matter is overshadowing the process. "Therefore, I have come to the decision that I must temporarily relieve myself from the position as police chief for the city of Sanford," Lee said.The eruption of opposition came about because of the shoddy investigation of the case in which, George Zimmerman, a self-identified "captain" of an unregistered neighborhood watch organization, violated its rules by carrying a pistol when he followed the unarmed Martin, eventually confronting and shooting him. Zimmerman made several bigoted comments during a phone call to police while he was following Martin. Police failed to take his weapon for ballistics tests, apparently interrogated him only cursorily and let him go without arrest after he claimed he only fired in self-defense after being attacked by Martin. A county grand jury is scheduled to convene in the case on April 10. The U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating.
"I do this in the hopes of restoring some semblance of calm to a city which has been in turmoil for several weeks."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/22/1076877/-Sanford-police-chief-steps-down-temporarily-over-Trayvon-Martin-slaying-?detail=hide
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