The killing of Trayvon Martin still reverberates 10 years later — in protest, in partisanship, in racial reckoning and reactionary response, in social justice and social media.
While Zimmerman set up a site to seek donations to help his defense, his online detractors were many. Social media brought together multitudes for protests like the Million Hoodie March, as well as celebrities and everyday folk who posted images of themselves wearing hoodies with the hashtag, "I am Trayvon Martin."
Among them: LeBron James, then playing with the Miami Heat, who posted an image of him and his teammates wearing hoodies, their heads bowed."I can only imagine what these parents are going through. And when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids," Obama said.Six weeks after the shooting, Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder; he was acquitted in 2013. But the ferment unleashed by Trayvon Martin’s death continued.
And many of the same demonstrators incensed by Martin’s killing took to the streets to protest the death of Michael Brown, 18 and unarmed, killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014, just weeks after Eric Garner, also unarmed, was killed by police in New York City.2020 death of George FloydBut that public anger also inspired a reaction. There have been those who took exception to Obama’s words of affinity to Martin, and saw the protests as anti-police chaos and disorder.
Others acknowledge that Martin’s death and its aftermath changed the country, but question whether the change was even remotely sufficient.Sharpton, while disappointed that there has not been more federal legislation put into place, said a "cultural change" has happened., the 25-year-old Black man chased and killed in 2020 by three white men. The shooter in that case also claimed self-defense, but an almost entirely white jury found them all guilty.