Posted on 07/18/2013 12:31:43 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
"When there's no justice done, it just hurts."
That's what SEIU 32BJ member Louis Medina, a security officer in Manhattan, had to say about the not guilty verdict issued last weekend in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
Trayvon, a 17-year-old African-American, was walking back to his father's house from the store in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012 when he was racially profiled, shot and killed by George Zimmerman.
Zimmerman, an armed Neighborhood Watch volunteer who pursued the unarmed teenager as Trayvon returned home, was found not guilty on manslaughter and second-degree murder charges by a Florida jury on Saturday.
The case sparked a national debate about race, racial-profiling and civil rights. President Barack Obama weighed in last year, saying, "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." The case brought racial profiling and Stand Your Ground laws, which allowed Zimmerman to go free after the shooting, to the forefront of the public dialogue, and SEIU members responded by passing a resolution at the 2012 member convention in Denver.
Such laws "pose a threat to all of our communities but have a disparate and devastating impact on people of color, in general, and minority youth in particular," the resolution stated.
After the not guilty verdict for Zimmerman, peaceful protests were held across the country with thousands gathering in New York, Washington DC, California and elsewhere to call for Justice for Trayvon. Protestors and major organizations across the country called on the Justice Department to reopen its investigation into the case, calling the death of Trayvon a violation of civil rights. The most fundamental of civil rights -- the right to life -- was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin," wrote the NAACP in a petition urging the Justice Department to take action.
SEIU members reacted with sadness and disappointment at the verdict.
"It is a tragedy. I'm a great grandfather, I've been on marches in Brooklyn, I've seen this. History keeps repeating itself. To me it's even worse because we're supposed to be in the age of enlightenment, a new racial awareness, and it's not happening," said Leroy Abramson, a security officer from Coney Island, Brooklyn and a member of 32BJ.
"No parent should live in fear that their child could be shot because of the color of his or her skin," said Monica Russo of 1199 United Healthcare Workers East-Florida, which represents members in the Sanford, Florida area where Trayvon was killed.
"May God bless Trayvon Martin's soul and give our communities the strength to carry the mantle by tirelessly confronting racism and injustice in Florida and across the country, in Trayvon's name," Russo added.
For 32BJ member Vivian Olivera, the verdict brought her own children to mind. "I'm the mother of two grown sons and I worry. They are Hispanic, and this easily could have happened to them. There is an imbalance of justice," said Olivera, a cleaner who lives in the Bronx. "I think that the verdict is atrociously unfair. You took the life of a person and you walk away. You took away his chance to be an adult and you took that away from his parents too."
Those fighting for racial equality and against systemic racism and laws that perpetuate it, like voter suppression, stop-and-frisk, and stand your ground are not going quietly into the night after the verdict.
The NAACP and SEIU have circulated a petition calling for the Justice Department to prosecute Zimmerman on federal civil rights violation charges in Trayvon's death.
On Saturday, vigils will be held at federal court buildings across the country. To find an event near you, or to organize one, click here.
"It's been 50 years since the March on Washington, they sent the affirmative action case back to the lower courts, they knocked down the Voting Rights Act, and now this," said 32BJ member Leroy Abramson. "We've fought too hard for this to be happening now."
It’s time to abolish the Civil Service and ban public employee unions.
Trouble is, they have their facts all wrong. What part of the trial didn’t they watch? Probably none of it, but got their information from the MSM. Lands, how I hate the media in this country. They are culpable for what has been done to the Zimmerman family and I hope they pay dearly for it
It's no wonder there are so many uninformed liberals around. If they rely on garbage like this for their information they would believe that nothing happened between the time Trayvon was "racially profiled" and the time he was "shot and killed".
Agitators agitate without facts.
What’s ironic is these groups are perfectly ok with the govt targeting and politically profiling Conservative & pro-Israel groups.
But justice was already served. They just want “justus” to be served. Ie. Zimmerman murdered.
George is in hiding, and I for one, would not want to compromise his whereabouts. Just pray - God hears and He knows where George is - that’s all that matters.
SEIU had their hired goons at Seminole CH on Saturday when verdict announced. Someone called into a local radio station and saw that their signs had the SEIU logos and lettering on them
Their idiot members have no clue that SEIU is a big pusher of Illegal Alien Amnesty
This is the average knowledge level of the facts on the Zimmerman trial by these baffons, “Trayvon, an unarmed 17 year old shot to death by a Creepy A.. Cracka named Zimmerman”. That and a few misinformation snippets provided by th MSM over the past year and some change. It is ridiculous.
Other then the creepy cracker comment this is exactly what the media has been saying about the affair form months. the local CBS affiliate ALWAYS referred to St. Skittles as "unarmed teenager, Treyvon Martin." You'd think "Unarmed Teenager" were his first two names.
Evidence is overwhelming that Martin was beating up Zimmerman when he got shot.
I finally said this on an argumentative facebook thread and it ended the thread:
Zimmerman shooting Martin was the equivalent of a woman shooting a rapist in the middle of the act.
Handguns are the great equalizer. It is why so many women carry them in their purse.
Oops. I said “moral equivalent”.
And it was. End of argument.
Someone should take a poll of SEIU membership to see which members are in favor of eliminating oxygen and hydrogen from drinking water, in the green effort to keep water drinkable.
Another SEIU “no-mind” speaks up.
True. Unarmed is the operative word in every mention of TM. birth announcement from 17+ years ago. “Today the Martin family got a new addition. An unarmed baby boy, Trayvon was born at 6:45 am.”
Hopefully with a great alarm system, and multiple weapons stashed all over the place, with armed bodyguards.
I’m sure sharpton and jackson are scrambling to find his address.
In this case, the lies spread like wild fire on social media. MSM is a crippled old man compared to twitter.
Industrial grade STUPID!
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