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(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Sybrina Fulton is not a household name. But her son, Trayvon Martin, certainly is. Fulton, the mother of the teen who was fatally shot in 2012, took part in Penn's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Commemoration on Jan. 22 for an evening of awards, musical performances and a panel discussion. The crowd rose to their feet when Fulton was introduced at Irvine Auditorium. Many Penn community members and West Philadelphia residents were eager to hear from the woman whose son’s death has gained worldwide attention over the past several years. “It’s still very painful for me. But I know...

Sometimes something just jumps out at you and you have to say it.

ALLENDALE, MI -- Trayvon Martin had an average American family upbringing in southern Florida. He had his faults, but was no criminal, his mother said. Still today, Sybrina Fulton tries to reconcile the memories she has of her son with his death by gunfire in a gated community, as he walked to his father's home from a nearby convenience store. Days before his 2012 death she had been horseback riding with him to celebrate both of their February birthdays. "What could have been to cause my son to lose his life," Fulton said to thousands gathered at Grand Valley State...

George Zimmerman denies throwing a wine bottle at his ex-girlfriend in his latest run-in with authorities since being acquitted of murdering an unarmed black teen in 2013. Zimmerman says in a police report released Monday that in the confrontation with his ex-girlfriend, he didn't throw a bottle at her nor destroy her cellphone as she claimed. Instead, he says, he was only trying to prevent her from entering his home.... ...Police officers say they heard the sound of glass breaking at the home while on patrol and saw broken glass in the driveway.

George Zimmerman was arrested and charged with aggravated assault in Lake Mary Friday night, a Seminole County Sheriff's spokeswoman said. Zimmerman, 31, was booked into the John E. Polk Correctional Facility about 9:45 p.m. Friday where he was being held without bond, sheriff's spokeswoman Kim Cannaday said in a statement. Zimmerman is scheduled for a first appearance in court at about 9 a.m. Saturday. More information about the arrest was not immediately available.

George Zimmerman -- the man acquitted by a Florida jury over the death of Trayvon Martin -- was arrested Friday in Florida

SANFORD -- A Seminole County judge has set $5,000 bond for George Zimmerman, who was arrested Friday night in Lake Mary. The 31-year-old was booked around 9:45 p.m. for aggravated assault -- domestic violence with a weapon. According to Don West, Zimmerman's attorney, his client threw a wine bottle during the incident. Zimmerman is prohibited from contacting the victim, returning to her home or entering Volusia County. He must surrender all firearms by Tuesday, but will not have to wear a GPS monitoring device. He is due back in court at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 17 in front of Judge Donna...

SANFORD (CBSMiami/AP) —The man acquitted in the shooting death of a Florida teen has been arrested again. This time he is charged with aggravated assault, Florida authorities said. The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office says the 31-year-old George Zimmerman was arrested in Lake Mary about 10 p.m. Friday and is being held at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility. The facility’s website says Zimmerman is scheduled for a court appearance at 9 a.m. Saturday.

The New York City group that called for “dead cops” in a widely circulated video is most likely– no joke — the Trayvon Martin Organizing Committee (TMOC). In a piece outing “The Monsters Who Screamed For Dead Cops,” The Daily Beast’s Jacob Siegel cites a “web of circumstantial ties” to the group. The man who shot the disturbing video — showing marchers chanting, “What do we want? Dead cops! When do we want them? Now!” — told Siegel that he saw the group marching with signs reading “No Cops, No Prison.” Siegel produces evidence from Instagram that the TMOC marched...

At a peaceful gathering of the Justice League, they condemned the killings of Officers Liu and Ramos, but also wondered why the slaying of citizens by cops doesn’t spark as much outrage.A modest crowd moved East on 110th Street in New York City on Sunday evening. They walked silently, some carrying Anthora cups illuminated by candlesticks, others holding plastic tea lights handed out by protest organizers. A few carried signs: "IMAGINE JUSTICE," "BLACK LIVES MATTER," "CLAIM HUMANITY." But mostly they just walked, their faces somber, their hands shaking as the snow began to fall. The peaceful vigil was somewhat unexpected,...

With the recent decisions of no indictment involving the police officers responsible for the deaths of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and John Crawford to name a few, America could not be anymore divided in how we analyze these events through our own filters. Current poll data articulates that 65% of minorities believe there is a racial construct within our police and legal system which disproportionately affects minorities while reporting the opposite belief by White Americans at roughly the same percentage. However, I would challenge future pollsters to parse out additional data on party affiliation when polling White Americans because it...

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradicts every thing you said today.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson And so I will. Not so long ago, right-wing bloggers blasted me for being a liberal sellout for my fierce defense of Trayvon Martin. During George Zimmerman’s trial, my email inbox...

Joe Scarborough is mad as hell and not etc. “Someone needs to tell me why Michael Brown has been chosen as the face of black oppression,” Scarborough said, arguing the left’s martyrdom of Brown mirrored the right’s lionization of George Zimmerman. “There are so many great people to embrace as heroes in the black community, that deciding you’re going to embrace a guy who knocked over a convenience store and then according to a Grand Jury testimony acted in ways that would get my children shot? …That’s your hero? That’s the reason you want to burn down black businesses?…Really? This...

All day people gathered, waiting, daring to hope, that maybe this time black lives would matter. Minutes passed. Then hours. And, as darkness descended on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, the now enormous crowd continued to wait patiently -- trying its best to remain optimistic. Perhaps, despite so many decades of history, black people really could find justice in the American legal system. That such a faith still flickered was, itself, remarkable. Everyone standing outside of the Ferguson police station awaiting news on whether the grand jury would indict police officer Darren Wilson well remembered what happened on February 26,...

Taaffe to testify to Grand Jury that he couldn’t be sure “racist call” was from Zimmerman.Earlier this month we posted news that Frank Taafe, a self-proclaimed “friend” of George Zimmerman, was going to testify before a Grand Jury that he now believed Zimmerman had a racist motivation for the shooting of Trayvon Martin. This news came just days before the hotly contested November 4 election in which the Democrats took the same kind of beating that Trayvon delivered to Zimmerman, but without the benefit of being armed. (See: Key Witness for Zimmerman Grand Jury Changes Story.) Taaffe’s Grand Jury appearance,...

A federal grand jury met today in Orlando to hear testimony about whether George Zimmerman violated Trayvon Martin’s civil rights when he shot and killed the 17-year-old nearly three years ago in Sanford, Florida. The timing here is, to say the least, suspicious. A day after an Oct. 30 Orlando Sentinel article first reported the impending session, the Washington Post conceded that “Justice Department investigators have all but concluded they do not have a strong enough case to bring civil rights charges against Darren Wilson.” To charge Wilson gratuitously would enrage the nation’s police. The luckless Zimmerman has no such...

The Orlando Sentinel newspaper is reporting that it appears as if no actual witnesses showed up for today’s Federal Grand Jury convened to determine if civil rights charges should be brought against George Zimmerman for his self-defense shooting of Trayvon Martin. The DOJ had subpoenaed Frank Taaffe, a self-declared “friend” of Zimmerman’s, to testify before the Grand Jury. In the days following the shooting Taaffe told FBI investigators that based on phone discussions with Zimmerman he did not believe there was a racial motive for the shooting.

Conservative Black Activists Comment on Washington Post Report that Federal Civil Rights Charges Will Not Be Filed Against Darren Wilson in Death of Michael Brown. Washington, DC - Activists with the Project 21 black leadership network say a new Washington Post report that the Eric Holder-led Department of Justice will not charge Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson with federal civil rights charges in the shooting death of Michael Brown is evidence that the time has come for healing. “Protestors called for the Eric Holder-led Justice Department to investigate this case. It seems to have concluded its investigation. What more is...

In May 2012 FBI interview Taaffe denied any talk of race with Zimmerman.We wrote yesterday about the “October Surprise/Get Out the Vote” announcement by a flailing Obama administration that the Department of Justice will be holding a Grand Jury hearing next Wednesday regarding possible federal civil rights charges against George Zimmerman. The only named witness for Wednesday’s hearing is Frank Taaffe, a self-declared “friend” for George Zimmerman. Earlier this year Taaffe suddenly announced that he believed Zimmerman had a racial, not merely self-defense, motive in killing Trayvon Martin. This would be more than two years after the shooting occurred. One...

ORLANDO, Fla. - A federal grand jury is expected to hear testimony Wednesday surrounding the George Zimmerman case. The hearing is related to whether Zimmerman violated Trayvon Martin's civil rights when he shot and killed the unarmed teen in Sanford in 2012. At least one witness has been subpoenaed to testify. That man is believed to be Zimmerman's former neighbor, Frank Taaffe....